I’m always interested in how other writers, and even other artists, work and find and develop inspiration. So where do you find characters for your novels? Do you pull mostly from people you know? Are you inspired by characters in books or movies? Do you scroll online for inspiration?
Inspiration for my characters fall into two broad categories–inspiration for their physical features and inspiration for their personalities. When I see a face that catches my attention, whether I see it in person or online, it usually suggests a personality to me. For me, the face and personality have to work well together or the character will fail. If I decide this character will be a major one, I explore their personality based on my experience of human nature. So while the character’s physical appearance is inspired by a 1940’s movies star, her personality is based on a mom I know from my kids’ school.
One of my favorite places to find faces is old movies. Eighty years ago, producers cast roles differently from the way they do now, so you’ll see actors who can look different from the ones working now.
Let me know in the comment where you find characters for your novels.
Here are more tips for creating characters.
So far, my characters have come from dreams.
I’ve found characters in all sorts of places, but not in my dreams. Do you dream them fully developed or are the characters shadowy and you have to consciously work with them in your stories?
I usually get into my new character’s head from his/her internal monologue/attitude, and then from there, I try to picture their physical appearance, and around that same time I like to do some general personality categorization (Myers-Briggs, enneagram, etc).
I like reading psych books on people’s behaviors, traits, and personalities while I envision what those persons may look like. Many of my Ridgewood characters have come from those visions.
Certain characters I write about came from people I have seen in places. Jan Barrio, who is in three of my novels, is based on a girl I saw at the Fort Niagara swimming pool. Dave Linblad, who is the protagonist of my novel Intercepted, is based on a guy I saw in an advertisement for clothing.
It’s interesting how a face inspires us writers. I based a character on a man I saw at a soccer game. All the coaches were dad’s of the elementary school-aged players and wore over-sized t-shirts, baggy shorts, and baseball caps. This man caught my attention because his hair perfectly styled and wore a navy blue windbreaker and white shorts that fit him well.