This is a silly question for me. I am notorious about putting myself and my friends in stories. Sometimes, it’s just for the thrill of using their name, or a variation of it. More often than not, that’s it.
Second-most frequently, I’ll use their description as a basis for a character. I know a lot of people of wondrous variety, so why not put their visages in books? It keeps me from getting too lazy when it comes to describing characters, if I have a living reference to draw from. I’ve done that for ages, but it turns out I had a good reason why I couldn’t just imagine people on my own. Turns out I have aphantasia to a very high degree. If you’re not familiar with aphantasia, well, I wasn’t either. In short, it means I have no mental visualization. I legitimately cannot visualize things in my head. Ask me to picture a red apple, and I could absolutely describe one to you, but I’m not “seeing” it. For so long, I thought people were just being metaphorical about “picture this in your mind.” Or the concept of “the mind’s eye.” I don’t have those. It was kind of a blow to find out people actually CAN see things in their heads.
So I’ve always needed to think a little differently, which is fine. I can describe things well. Call it a coping mechanism.
But I absolutely do fully base characters in books off people I know. As I said, I’m the most common inserted one, but it’s been getting less and less as time goes on. Most likely, you’ll find the me-character in a supporting or even cameo role. Sometimes the name might be reminiscent of mine, like my character in The Deadly Studies. Oh yeah, I’m there. And I die. It’s great.
I’ve also stuffed my best friends into a few stories. It helps to be able to lay out a situation to my friends and say, “How would you react?” or even to possibly play out some dialogue. My best friend is a pro at that. They’ve helped me far more times than I can count. I’d be lost without my best friend.
Anyway, the short answer is yes, I do this A LOT.
If you’re not careful around me, you might end up in a book.
Second-most frequently, I’ll use their description as a basis for a character. I know a lot of people of wondrous variety, so why not put their visages in books? It keeps me from getting too lazy when it comes to describing characters, if I have a living reference to draw from. I’ve done that for ages, but it turns out I had a good reason why I couldn’t just imagine people on my own. Turns out I have aphantasia to a very high degree. If you’re not familiar with aphantasia, well, I wasn’t either. In short, it means I have no mental visualization. I legitimately cannot visualize things in my head. Ask me to picture a red apple, and I could absolutely describe one to you, but I’m not “seeing” it. For so long, I thought people were just being metaphorical about “picture this in your mind.” Or the concept of “the mind’s eye.” I don’t have those. It was kind of a blow to find out people actually CAN see things in their heads.
So I’ve always needed to think a little differently, which is fine. I can describe things well. Call it a coping mechanism.
But I absolutely do fully base characters in books off people I know. As I said, I’m the most common inserted one, but it’s been getting less and less as time goes on. Most likely, you’ll find the me-character in a supporting or even cameo role. Sometimes the name might be reminiscent of mine, like my character in The Deadly Studies. Oh yeah, I’m there. And I die. It’s great.
I’ve also stuffed my best friends into a few stories. It helps to be able to lay out a situation to my friends and say, “How would you react?” or even to possibly play out some dialogue. My best friend is a pro at that. They’ve helped me far more times than I can count. I’d be lost without my best friend.
Anyway, the short answer is yes, I do this A LOT.
If you’re not careful around me, you might end up in a book.
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