Should Fictional Characters Be Drawn Directly From Life?

We are told repeatedly in creative writing classes, our instructors try their best to stick it up to us in matter of fact that we ought to create believable and realistic characters. In other words, characters that ain’t different from us; people that have something in common with our readers’ personalities.

But Are Fictional Characters Drawn Directly From Life?

“If they ain’t drawn from life ain’t they bound to be flat out, stiff and uninteresting puppets filling up the plot?” Someone might wonder.

And I reply, “Yes, definitely.” You’ll get no argument from me there. The issue I present is whether we should presume to recreate real personalities (famous or otherwise) in our work.

Not so long ago, I read someplace (possibly, on Wikipedia) that the creator of Dracula, Bram Stoker, while writing his book borrowed all the personality traits of his best pal and dumped ‘em into his fictional character’s (Dracula’s) profile.

Ian Fleming worked for the British intelligence agency and started writing his James Bond series after he retired from service. During his service period, he worked with two people who used Bond as surnames (as far as I know, both men were not related).

Fleming himself has owned up to using the personality traits and personal escapades of the British spies he worked with in creating his famous character. James Bond is actually not one singular spy’s makeup but many.

The king of horror, Stephen King mentioned in the introduction to his novel, Lisey’s Story that his wife and her sisters were the inspiration for the novel’s main character (Lisey) and her sisters.

            King was quick to note that Lisey and her sisters were not Tabby (his wife) and her sisters. He just studied them for a better understanding of his own fictional characters.

These writers probably had the blessings of the real counterparts of their fictional creations. I want to believe it’s one reason Bram Stoker’s pal didn’t sue him for every penny his novel made for recreating him as a blood sucking count.

And maybe, it’s the only probable exception. It’s okay to use real people if they don’t veto your decision.

So back to our question:

Should Fictional Characters Be Drawn Directly From Life?

I’ll answer that question with something Stephen King once said in his book, On Writing;

Obviously not, at least on a one-to-one basis-you better not, unless you want to get sued or shot on your way to the mailbox some fine morning.

Pay attention to how real people behave and then improvise when adding the details into your writing. That’s one certified way to write fiction and not get shot!

Bleed your pen!

Akpan

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