In one book, CACHALOT, just for my own amusement, every character is based directly on someone I have known.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I think every character I've ever come up with has been based on someone or something I've known.
All of my characters are a little bit based on people I know in real life. You know when you do that you have to change the character a little bit in case your friend or your relative reads the book, because you don't want them to know you wrote about them... They might get mad.
It's really a misconception to identify the writer with the main character, given that the author creates all the characters in the book. In certain ways, I'm every character.
All characters come from people I know, but after the initial inspiration, I tend to modify the characters so they fit with the story.
I think, above all, the characters in my novels feel universal to the readers.
Your source material is the people you know, not those you don't know, but every character is an extension of the author's own personality.
I've always thought a novelist only has one character, and that is himself or herself. In my case, me.
I always get inspiration from whatever characters say about my character.
As a novelist, I tend to know significantly more about my characters than I do about my friends.
Very few of my characters are based on people I've known. It is too constricting.