Blogger: Etta Wilson
Location: Books & Such office, Nashville
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Interviewers often ask authors about the connection between a fictional character and the author’s mother, father, husband, wife, child, and the author him or herself. Just last week I read an interview in which the author went to great pains to deny that the main character in her most recent book had anything to do with her own life. I do think some authors develop characters that are the opposite of themselves or in situations or locales that are outside the authors’ experiences. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have the quasi-human or demonic characters from authors such as Ted Dekker or Anne Rice in her earlier years.
Nonetheless, I’d have a hard time creating a young male Muslim character from Iraq. In other words, I would have no connection in age, gender, religious faith or nationality with my character. To what extent could I realistically identify with him and paint the details so necessary for maintaining “the fictional dream”?
Well, there is the fact of human love and compassion. I think this is clear in both of Khaled Hosseine’s books. (I’m just starting the second, A Thousand Splendid Suns.) Some point of human identification must be established for readers, and emotional content is the card that trumps outward form and appearance. We all start life with the capacity for feeling, and out of that infant shell develops personality and the will to act–or, as fiction writers say, character and plot.
In your fiction writing, how much do you draw on people you know–or yourself to create characters?
I don’t consciously draw my characters upon myself or people I know. However, I BELIEVE most authors use a little bit of other people in their characters, even if they don’t mean to do this. Part of the characters are real and other traits can be imagination.
Cecelia, you’ve done exactly what I hoped writers would do in asking themselves about the source of their character creations and how they imagine them. And I suspect your answer is the same as that of many others. Thanks.
Etta
My characters are often combinations of character traits of people I know.
Etta, one of the reasons I am beginning to write fiction is perhaps what government officials might call “plausible deniability.” (smile).
In non-fiction, even if it is written only third-person, the very inclusion of ideas means that you are giving them some sort of credence; that you are asking the reader to consider a concept and accept or reject it according to your own personal purpose in writing the article or book. Thus the author is reflected in that.
But ah! fiction! You can have all kinds of characters who don’t have to promote or counter the “point” of the book. One example of this is a character who provides “comic relief.”
On the other hand, the characters who drive the plot and the theme of a work of fiction must, at least to some degree, advance the purposes of the author.
I thought I was being really good about concealing that until I went to a friend’s house. He and his wife were reading the manuscript of my new novel, Latter-day Cipher as he recovered from surgery. His wife met me at the door and I knew the “jig was up,” so to speak, when she greeted me with, “Hi, Selonnah!” (the name of a character in my book.)
So much for mystery, huh?
Thanks for these posts, Etta!
Latayne C Scott
http://www.latayne.com
Latayne,
Great point about comic relief. Humor sells at almost any time. As for not recognizing yourself in your own character, the Robert Burns quote came to mind:
“Oh, would some power the giver give us
To see ourselves as others see us.”
Maybe that power is fiction for some of us.
Etta
Absolutely, every character I create is a part of me and a part of someone, or usually parts of several people, that I’ve known either very well or to some degree. How can they not be? If I had existed in a bubble, right from birth, could I create believable characters? I doubt it. I think the question is not how much of our characters are based on ourselves or the people we know, but whether or not we’re conscious of it when we write. In my earlier writing days, I, too would have denied that some of my characters–some of them main characters–had anything to do with me or anyone I’d known. But after time had passed, I would see that yes, I or someone I knew was in those characters.
On the other hand, being too conscious of it is restricting. I think we need to be aware of it enough so that our characters have heart, but unconscious enough about where the character is coming from so that they breathe on their own.
Pam, thanks for your comment about finding the balance between being aware of our characters’ source and letting them breathe on their own. After we give a character his or her start, they often can take it from there. But if we (or they) get stuck, it’s back to the original source for a little more inspiration.
Etta
My characters show traits I liked or disliked about people I meet every day. For instance, in my fantasy book where culture clashes with culture, there’s a mother-daughter clash. One mother has expectations for her daughter based upon her culture and traditions. The daughter came from the present culture and is having a hard time understanding the culture of her parents. I drew their traits from people I knew going through similar situations as well as my own personal experience.
Sometimes, I sit in a meeting and a new person is at a meeting. I might think they would make a great hero in a story in looks and mannerisms. I draw on the positive traits I associate with people I admire in some of my heroes as well as bring in some negative and/or annoying traits to make them more human.
The heroine in every story has a little of me in it. However, the heroine always has some personality traits I don’t have, but often wish I had in me. lol. I believe without personal experience an author cannot write a good piece of fiction. Good research does help, but without shedding the tears, sharing the smiles, or walking in that persons shoes it is often hard to connect with the reader. Going through hardship often makes for great stories that connect and/or help a reader get through their own storms. Fiction can be amazing this way!
I read a book whose theme was on forgivness. It was spell binding and I nearly cried at the end of it. It was so good and it helped me in my own little storm at that time.
Nikki
Nikki, interesting that you should mention “almost crying”. When I was a romance editor, I always knew I wanted to publish a story if it made me cry.
Etta
Exactly! Or made you smile at the end, reluctant to close the book.