Making New Friends as You Write

One of the aspects of writing I enjoy the most is the discovery of new characters, ones I hadn't planned on or ones that decide to play a much larger part in a story than I had anticipated. I write stories "into the dark." (That's not my term. It belongs to Dean Wesley Smith.) I start with a situation and characters and some vague idea where the tale might end. My best ideas come while I'm putting pen to paper. The vague endpoint becomes a moving target. The story meanders in unexpected directions and usually becomes much longer than anticipated.

In The Great Contagion, my most recent novel, I thought it would be fun to have a pooka who took the form of a stoat. I didn't know what I would do with Slynid, but once he appeared he demanded a starring role. He became a critical player in several chapters. Merliss would not have survived without him. The story would have suffered without him. I can't imagine any new Merliss tales without him. I would detail his feats but I don't want to fill this post with spoilers.

Other characters emerge out of necessity to play a bit part but then they won't leave. Liesael came about because I needed some members of a family with a sick patient that Merliss and the cunning men were visiting. Liesael revealed a love interest in Fendrel, the cunning man's apprentice, and slipped a love charm into his satchel. She later came to stay with Fendrel and nurse the cunning man when he became ill. Liesael doesn't play the prominent role that Slynid does--more of burr in Merliss's fur--but she grew from a mere decoration to a significant player.

Late in the novel, Merliss escapes through the woods, traveling from one scene to another. I thought to add some interest with a chance encounter with another cat. Tawk is the name of a very timid feline who barely escaped his own death. Tawk gave me a chance to depict events in other villages. Merliss finds him annoying and an object of pity. I thought Tawk's first scene would be his last but like Liesael, he refuses to leave the story and tags along to the very end.

Slynid, Liesael, and Tawk will certainly appear in future Merliss tales. I don't know where they came from but I'm very glad they appeared. I know I couldn't have planned them or their exploits ahead of time. Writing is a lot about trusting that the characters you need will appear when you need them. And you have to let them do what they will, even if it throws a wrench in your original plans. The fun part is getting to know your new characters.

Characters And Creative Control

Writers always get questions about their characters and whether or not they’re based on a real person, someone the author knows. The answer is often that the characters are a combination of personalities of different people the author knows. It’s definitely safer not to name names, but I have a few that I want to share.

In my Indigo Eady Paranormal Mystery series, my main character, Indigo Eady, is half English, half Native American. It was no accident that she shares a last name and characteristics (black hair, blue eyes, similar ancestry) with my grandmother, Juanita Gwendolyn Eady. My grandmother was Scotch-Irish and Cherokee. Having raised my sister and me a lot of the time, she was a big influence in my life. I wanted to honor her, and that was the best way I knew how. I also have a church in Givin' Up The Ghost named after my mom, and a bartender with the name and physical attributes of my dad.

Now take my character Badger, the love interest of Indigo Eady. I knew he had to be cute, but a little scruffy. And real; kind and tough, but with a little hot-headedness in order to get by in the world. He had to be like Sam (Jared Padalecki) on Supernatural.

 

Then there’s Chance, from A Guilty Ghost Surprised. He’s a ghost dog that hangs out at a haunted mansion to protect the ghostly owner, who can't move on. The character Chance is based on my daughter’s real life dog, also named Chance. Of course I sought her permission to use Chance in the role. It might have been strange to see your dog on the cover of a book, not to mention between the pages, as a ghostie.

Luckily, I have an awesome illustrator, Corona Zschusschen, who understands my quirkiness with such things as putting my granddog on the cover of my book, and making Badger look like the hunky Sam.

 

Check out the likenesses from A Guilty Ghost Surprised on the left, compared to the photos on the right:

 

Jared Padalecki photo courtesy of Creative Commons

The illustration of Badger is uniquely him, but with the similar facial features of Jared Padalecki. Much as I'd like Jared/Sam on my cover, there could be some copyright issues if the likenesses were too similar.

 

With the illustration of Chance, I had no copyright worries. As you can see, it's completely Chance, facial features and all.

 

Creative control of this sort is the best part of being an indie author; we can put loved ones in our books and on the covers.

 

What about you?

Do you base characters on
people (or pets) you know?