Of course, every character in a story has her or his roots in the writer's own psyche. I once had a dream about a serial killer who carved mathematical equations into his victims' eyelids. I don't want to think too closely about what that says about me.
(I've never done anything with that character, so if you want him, feel free!)
I also pick up names and quirks from my friends. One of my exes had a last name that meant "storm". So I gave a character the last name of Tempesta.
One of my dear friends is named Coral. I based a character on her personality, and called that person Amber.
Yes, I tell my people when they make an appearance in a story. :)
How do you find your characters?
Linda's Literary Lair! Books for the intelligent, sexy, and curious.
I'm not sure how I FIND my characters, they just sort of appear. When they do I let them tell me their birth date and location then I do an astrological analysis of them, and the aspects affecting them at the time of the story. Occasionally I do Tarot readings on them too. :)
ReplyDeleteOnce I tried doing the Sun Signs like Cherry Adair suggested, and it just didn't work for me. The copy I'd gotten was way out of date and disturbingly sexist. Did you know that female Scorpios did nothing more than wish they had been born boys???
ReplyDeleteI could see the Tarot readings being a good tool, though!