Novel Spaces is in its 10th year! Over the coming weeks we'll be featuring some of the most popular posts from our archives. This one was first published April 21, 2018.
By Maggie King
Are my characters modeled after real life people? This is always an interesting question. The answer is yes. And the answer is no! As my characters are a hodge-podge of the many “real” people I’ve known over the years, snippets of their experiences wind up on my pages. And I’ve known people who live turbulent lives; Carlene Arness, the victim in Murder at the Book Group, #1 in my Hazel Rose Book Group series, is a case in point.
I think people expect similarities between myself and
my sleuth, Hazel Rose. Like Hazel, I was born on the east coast, moved to Los
Angeles in my twenties, and started my career as a computer programmer. Like
Hazel, I had a calico cat named Shammy who accompanied me when I moved back
east in 1996 and settled in Richmond, Virginia. Hazel and I share a commitment
to the environment, we’re both frugal and unimpressed with the high life.
But divorce and widowhood have not touched my life—I
will soon celebrate 29 years with my one and only husband. I may get stuck in
ruts, but not for long. And, alas, I don’t have Hazel’s “money green” eyes.
The biggest difference between me and Hazel is this:
if I needed to re-purpose my life a murder investigation would not be the
method I’d choose. No question about it.
But real people did find their way into Murder at the Book Group, like a woman I
used to see at a gym in Richmond. I never knew her name or even talked to her
except for a hi and a wave. She was partial to leopard prints and chartreuse.
The last time I saw her she sashayed into the gym sporting chartreuse stiletto
boots and a leopard cowgirl hat, platinum blonde curls cascading down her back.
She became Kat Berenger in the Hazel Rose series. As a perk, I gave her a
personal trainer job at the same gym.
Jeanette Thacker “reminds” me of a former co-worker.
Jeanette doesn’t feel the need to censor her speech. However, her language was much saltier in
earlier versions. My editor advised me to ditch the swear words. If the real
Jeanette reads my tome and recognizes herself I think she’ll be pleased but
will probably wonder why she’s using words like “frigging.”
Another character is based on a
woman with whom I once had an adversarial work relationship. I made her nasty
as all get out. But I had a runaway word count and some ruthless editing was in
order. Ms. Nasty got whittled down and, lo and behold, she became quite nice!
I’m still scratching my head about that. Do other writers unwittingly transform
their characters via literary nip n tuck? Is writing a vehicle for forgiveness?
Someone with savvy in the spiritual realm can weigh in on this question.
Here is a list of some classic
characters you may not have known were based on real people. Dorian Gray is one
of them.
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Image from https://kssunews.wordpress.com |
How about you, my fellow writers: how
“real” are your characters?
Maggie King is the author of the Hazel Rose Book Group mysteries,
including Murder at the Book Group and Murder at the
Moonshine Inn. She has contributed stories to the Virginia is for
Mysteries anthologies and to the 50 Shades of Cabernet anthology.
She lives in Richmond, Virginia with her husband and two overly-indulged cats.
Website: http://www.maggieking.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaggieKingAuthr
Instagram: authormaggieking
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