CharactersSome thoughts about
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Speaking from personal experience, whenever an author sits down to write a fictional account, invariably, the characters are based on people who are known—personally or not—by the author. Sometimes, the character in mind is similar to their sister, or their cousin. Sometimes they’re like a person they may have encountered on a train during a daily commute. A friend of a friend. A casual acquaintance. It could be anybody. It could be you. Sometimes a ‘compilation’ of several people.
But sometimes the inspiration comes from a complete stranger. Maybe someone who’s famous, someone who’s admired, maybe idolized. A movie star. A politician. A musician. But the one thing that all these people have in common is that they struck the author in such a way that the author felt compelled, inspired, to take that person, in whole or in part, and use that person as the base for a character in their book. Well, that’s what I do. Often. I often choose someone who is, or was, rather well-known. Admired. Revered. Celebrated. Honored. Well-loved by his or her family, friends, loved ones, fans, admirers. I wish to be clear: my characters—though based on sometimes well-known, well-loved people, is meant to depict them in a positive light. There are countless similarities between the characters and the ‘Real-Life’ people. But I also wanted to portray my characters somewhat differently. Sure, there are many similarities between my characters and the people on whom they're based. And there are many differences. So my goal is to point out that there is, indeed, Inspiration, and yet have the characters be viewed as their own persons. Imagine the image of the Inspirations, if you may, while reading these characters. But never lose sight of the fact that the characters within these pages will have differences, some rather significant, from the Inspirations. And most importantly, above all else, it’s not my wish to offend any of the Inspirations' beloved fans and admirers, family or friends. This writing is intended to honor them, or honor their memory. Because at the end of the day, these writings are really only fiction, and loving tributes to those people, those Inspirations whom I greatly admire. With best wishes, Mia V |