Putting real people in stories, or more accurately writing characters inspired by real people, is a way to keep characters genuine and multi-layered. For me, characters are often reflections of interactions and experiences.
Werewolves don’t exist, but my fictional pack leader will have traits of people I’ve seen and admired or even hated. The same goes for angels, demons, vampires, doctors, soldiers, teachers, and all other characters I’ve written about. That’s the pro of using real people as inspiration. The characters will react in a realistic way because someone, somewhere has reacted that way in real life.
The con of using real people to create fictional characters is making sure that your character isn’t a copy of an actual person, but an individual. For me, that’s usually not difficult because once I start writing, characters take on their own distinctive personalities, even if they’re inspired by others. They might physically resemble one person, have talents like another, and react to situations like someone else.
In a way it’s impossible not to use real people for inspiration. In my opinion that’s how writers work. We observe and use what we need to hopefully provide fictional characters with realistic personalities.
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Exactly–how can we not be inspired by the fascinating/despicable people we meet?
I don’t use physical descriptions based on real people, except in the instance where I describe a heroine as resembling a young Sophia Loren or something like that.
You have some excellent pros and cons for using real people in stories, Kate. I think we as writers observe or people-watch differently. For me, I’d like to get inside of them to know what makes them tick, and not only see what is on the outside.