Why do people not like characters based off them?

In my latest story I'm attempting to write I started drawing inspiration from people I know as I'm writing what I know and as I mentioned this to some of the people they said they don't want me to. I don't mean to exaggerate them or anything just make a character with their kind of personality.

I think they're probably afraid that you might paint an unflattering picture of them. That's... Probably the most likely explanation.

I would recommend keeping it subtle and not telling them that at all. I've done it before; you're better off just letting them figure it out for themselves.

It's honestly kind of stalker-ish. I mean, imagine going up to your friend and you say to her, 'i wrote a story about you... you died at the end...'

I've definitely done it in the past, I just don't say anything to them.

As I say about everything: the key is SUBTLETY.

I base most of my characters in some ways off of people I know (or characters I like). But the trick is to do so with vague hints and clues. You want to make it so obscure that the character SEEMS different on the surface.

To quote Einstein: "The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."

People I know are generally my muse, but I don't tell them. Why? Because after a while the resemblance is sketchy at best and I don't want them telling me how to write "their" character.

As King Zeal said, subtlety is important. If they can't tell, who cares?

I agree that there's a somewhat creepy vibe about it. I always was uncomfortable with the fact that the main characters of my comics were named after people I knew - if they were actually based off of them, it would disturb me a great deal more. You're effectively writing these people's lives for them, or rather, how you perceive them to be. I'd be extremely unsettled if I ever learned someone was doing this with me.

Edit: I do think that drawing inspiration from real people is all right - in fact, it's a good idea, since real people are obviously more complex and interesting then fictional characters. When it stops being inspiration and starts "being" that person, though, it gets that stalker-ish feel.

edited 21st Jul '11 6:59:07 PM by nrjxll

Yeah, the one book I've read on writing I've read talked about doing this, to make more realistic characters, and frequently having people very irritated by it. They don't appreciate it because:

A) They think it's creepy.

B) They're worried they'll come off badly

C) They're sure you'll end up with someone that is not at all like them, which is probably true in some ways. But their picture of themselves is also probably inaccurate, so really, unless you make it too obvious, they'll probably never notice.

edited 21st Jul '11 8:53:06 PM by deathjavu

Thanks for the advice folks.

Yeah there is something creepy about it. Lots of people would find it awesome but if I found a someone writing a story about me, I would flip out. It's a bit like running into you're own doppelganger.

I would find it presumptuous that someone thought they knew me well enough to dictate what I would do and say.

I prefer to say that one of my characters is inspired by a real person—ie, that person has one or more traits that I wanted to incorporate into a character. People might be more open to that approach, since it's more like "You have a trait I found interesting" and less like "I've created a duplicate of you."

@OP: Because it is, in my opinion, a highly unprofessional act. Not to mention lazy. You're mixing in your life with the work you're writing, which does a disservice to the reader.

What? That's not only wrong, but insulting.

Absolutely wrong. Inspiration is everywhere, there's no reason to call it "unprofessional."

I think your mistake was telling your friends .

It would have been interesting for you to write the story, have them read it, and see if they ask you...

"Is this me?"

So you admit it then?

edited 22nd Jul '11 12:11:00 PM by Pyroninja42

How on Earth is it unprofessional in any way? At least explain it.

The people you know are, in the final analysis, probably like the people most of your readers know, and the familiar is not that terribly fascinating.

There's also a serious trap in doing this in speculative fiction; the people you know aren't from the setting you're using. This can make them look unrealistic because they're not shaped by the experiences they should have had in that world.

But basing your characters on real humans helps to give them more human characteristics. It makes them easier to empathize with, and I'd disagree that the familiar is less interesting.

Besides, no one is saying that we should make characters complete duplicates of real people.

Oh, okay, it's "easy". Yes, it is easy, but it's not original. It's perfectly possible to make a perfectly human character without it being based on an actual prototype human being.

Very few things are completely original.

Taking inspiration from something that's actually significant to you in the first place also adds to emotional investment in your work. What's originality at the expense of not being able to express whatever it is you want to express in writing?

It's impossible to make a character that is completely different from all of the 6.8 or something billion people in the world AND every fictional character ever (probably also in the billions). There's just no way.

So you might as well write what you know.

It's a bad idea to go either way 100%. Base too much off of actual people, and you can end up with characters that are not built for the world they were put in. Base too little, and you end up with shallow characters.

^^But see, it's not just an emotional investment for you. To carry the analogy further, basing a character off someone you know in real life would be the equivalent of taking that person's money to invest it in your own goals.

It's okay to borrow ten bucks for gas (singular details like big brown eyes, a preference for high heels, or a running joke you two share), but when you actively cultivate a physical and mental resemblance to the person it's like taking their wallet.

edited 22nd Jul '11 4:21:10 PM by Leradny

Emotional investment in a work is a trap that leads to poor writing. I've discussed this not more than day ago on this very forum, where you all too easily project things that do not belong to the time, setting, or place of your work. If you want to become invested, do so in the quality of it.

You describe a crutch to us and claim it good; but it is a poor state to forever lean upon a crutch. We bid you cast your crutches away and walk free, to a place of creativity not fettered or bound by the reality around you. It is perhaps a frightening thing to be presented with total choice, but then, if we were that scared of it we wouldn't be writers.

I agree with this a lot, as my post suggested. Basing some details off a real person is fine. Basing the whole character off of a real person? Not so fine.