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Q&A "Real people don't make good fictional characters". Really true?

Sure! You'd be surprised how many great fictional characters were based on people the author met, people interesting enough we idiomatically call them "characters".(Well, maybe you wouldn't be surp...

posted 6y ago by J.G.‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T08:20:18Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/34377
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar J.G.‭ · 2019-12-08T08:20:18Z (almost 5 years ago)
Sure! You'd be surprised how many great fictional characters were based on people the author met, people interesting enough we idiomatically call them "characters".(Well, maybe you wouldn't be surprised if you appreciate how writing benefits from reflecting human nature.) For example, Basil Fawlty was inspired by a real hotel manager encountered in holiday. The key is using the traits that make someone interesting in real life as a starting point for character design. You have to change or invent some details: not to make them even more interesting, but to plant them into your world, alongside your other characters. (For example, how much do you think John Cleese knew about that real person?)

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2018-03-18T07:42:25Z (over 6 years ago)
Original score: 12