Welcome, fellow imaginers to today’s inspirational post! The temperature has been dropping, and it seems like the perfect time to stay in and write that novel you’ve been putting off. If you’ve been writing lately, keep at it! The world needs your story! For today’s message, I’ve pulled from another legendary comic creator/author, Jack Kirby, who along with Stan Lee (R.I.P. StanTheMan) helped create an incredible universe of heroes for us to explore:
I love this quote as it speaks to how most author’s view their characters. I don’t think it’s possible to create a character in a novel without something to pull from in our personal lives. Whether it’s their physical descriptions or their personalities, every character has something unique that separates them from the crowd and usually is inspired from reality. It could be our friends, family, or even someone we’ve only briefly met, but whatever it was that left an impression upon you is transferred over to that
character. Those bits and pieces, that essence of reality is what brings your characters to life. Those things are what makes a lasting impression upon the reader.
Readers can tell whether or not the author is being genuine in their writing, whether or not there is passion and investment behind their work. When we create characters that contain an element of truth to them, a piece of our personal human reality, it helps to create a more enjoyable, believable experience for the reader. It helps to create memorable characters that they can relate to, to root for or against. It helps to make characters that we as writers enjoy going back to.
Personally, all of my main characters contain aspects of my personality or those of my close family and friends.It allows me to develop a greater understanding of them, from the motivation behind their actions to the feelings they experience through various plot points. It helps me to create believable characters that the reader cares about, and that is essential in any writing. I enjoy creating complex characters because we are all complex individuals, no two people alike.
Drawing from reality, drawing from truth can lead to some messy, complicated creations, but ones that the reader will appreciate even after they turn that final page.
Until next time, keep imagining…