Characters - Aisle 2

One of the questions I get asked most often is where I "get" my characters. That's easy - they're on aisle two at Home Depot. :) Okay, so maybe not on aisle two, but I bet plenty of my characters have graced a Home Depot in their day, even though they might not necessarily be waiting for me to discover them there. Sometimes this question isn't such a hard one. For instance, in the case of my hero/heroine, they are born out of the plot. I have to pick the perfect person to be put in the situation I've dreamed up - usually the worst person possible for the worst situation possible. That's what makes for good conflict.

Secondary characters, though, are a whole different ball game. Sometimes, secondary characters are simply born out of the story like the hero and heroine. Sometimes they're the surprise at the bottom of your cereal box. Ha, got ya. They're not really in the cereal box, but sometimes they will surprise you by just being there in your mind. And I promise, I really don't have a clue how they get there, but I'm glad they do. Then every once and a while, a character is born out of someone you knew. I know, I know, the books always say that any similiarity, blah, blah, blah, but come on....how could we possibly write a book with a character that bears no similarity at all to someone that exists on this planet.

Now, for those of you who've read RUMBLE ON THE BAYOU, I'm very happy to report that Maylene is totally a figment of my imagination. That whole thing with the Saran wrap would have scarred me for life if I'd actually witnessed it firsthand. But in the case of UNLUCKY, a version of Father Thomas does (did?) walk this earth (not sure if he's still alive). Thomas wasn't his name and he was Episcopal, not Catholic, but Father T had some definite similarities to the other Father.

Of course, the real problem with using real people for books is not the legal liability. God knows people almost never see themselves as others do, so you're probably safe on that end. No, the problem is that "real" people do things far more ridiculous than we're allowed to do with story people. Story people have to have motivation and that motivation has to translate to actions that make sense - even if only to that character. "Real" people? Well, that's a whole other story.

Take this situation for instance - which is a true story, related to me by my brother, a volunteer fireman in a small town. Volunteer fireman (at least here in my area) are also EMT's and if you're in a small town then you get more runs than the hospital paramedics simply because you're closer, so they have a good relationship with the local hospital paramedics and like to exchange war stories. So my brother's paramedic buddy went on a call that turns out something like this:

Two brothers were sitting at a bonfire outside of their house, drinking beer...apparently WAY too much beer. And one brother decides that he's going to pull the boil off his brother's butt with a pair of needle-nosed pliers. The other brother, being equally as drunk, thinks this is a fine idea. Now, for those of you who don't know, boils are not surface level items - they have roots. So when Bro 1 pulled the boil, he also removed a hunk of Bro 2's butt. So an emergency call ensues.

Now when the ambulance arrives, Bro 2 is bleeding profusely and has a hole in his butt (well, another hole), so they want to transport him to the hospital immediately. Bro 2 refuses the transport. And do you want to know why???????????

Because they weren't going to let him smoke in the ambulance.

I'm telling you, even writers can't make some of these people up.

Deadly (slightly disgusted) DeLeon