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Would you cast a friend in a novel?
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Characteristics, background and sayings have all made partial involvement in my stories. No direct characters but lots of hints. Locations too have made it in. I once explained that the way a friend flicked her hair was in a book. Not sure if she appreciated it though.
Nothing overt though.
I base most of my characters off of my friends or people I know. I never use their names (I usually ask them which name they would prefer), but the characteristics tend to be fairly accurate. I've found most to be quite game. The idea that they could be immortalized in a novel is appealing, I guess.
Yes I did. Actually most of my characters are based on friends. And they know it and love it. In my next novel, even though its set in the 12th century, I have added two characters, a mother and daughter - based on one of my beta-readers and her daughter. The daughter was born with Down Syndrome and her mother is very much trying to raise awareness about her condition so it was very easy for me to add a character that also had Down Syndrome to my cast of characters.
She will of course be a beta-reader for this novel so it will give her to chance to shape the story and educate me about Down's and hopefully also raise awareness.
I mostly use my friends' names for my female characters. And my characters are already their own person, and would be hard to change. But here's a strange story...Years ago, I wrote a romance novel about a mother with twin girls. One of the twins was very energetic, said whatever was on her mind, a handful always getting into things. When I got pregnant with my daughter, I named her after that character. She turned out to be just like her--let me tell you, that's eerie. It's like that character jumped right out of the page and into my arms:)
Groovy wrote: "When I got pregnant with my daughter, I named her after that character. She turned out to be just like her..."Cool story, bordering on prevision -:)
While on one hand I would like to remember things I've said and done with friends, instead of just having the memories drift into the ether, I find it to be very stressful. Since I like my friends, I feel the need to 'do them justice', to some extent- that adds an extra burden. It also seems to limit the story- I'm too sentimental/superstitious to, say, kill them.
No, a love interest yes. Have done it, yes.
maybe-depends on what kind of character i needed. and i'd have trouble killing them.
Caitlynd wrote: "maybe-depends on what kind of character i needed. and i'd have trouble killing them."a few friends of mine at work are fans of The Walking Dead. so i wrote a horror story with them in it. even though i turned them into zombies, i haven't killed them yet.
Can and have. I invented a character for a (now defunct) story about hackers in the late 2000s. The character was a blend of two friends of mine, a Thai/Filipino child who was the son of 1st generation immigrants who grew up in Puget Sound and went on to become a slacker/programmer/white hat hacker. All of his experiences - coming from Asia, growing up in North America - were things I channeled from those two friends of mine.
I used some of their personalities (both friends and family) to help me with my characters.
I did, in a way. In a spy fiction novel I used two CIA agents that two of my friends imagined for a RPG spy game we played together. I also used a couple of times the names of friends, with their prior consent, in a novel.
No. In my novels, everyone is fictional. The problem with casting friends, as I see it, is they may not like what they see and I may lose that friend. I can't afford that.
Since he brought me a nice bottle of Hudson Baby Bourbon, quite a potent stuff, if you ask me, I'll cast him on this thread for a starter -:)
Would you? Painters do it regularly and association with the scene in Titanic comes to mind..
If I remember correctly, Michael featured some of his acquaintances in his novel.
What about you: would you give an episodic or main role to a friend in your literary enterprise ?