Do I base my characters on real people..?

Jane Costello

One of the questions writers are asked all the time is whether we base any of our books on real-life events or people.

In my case, that bit at the front that talks about a resemblance to real people, living or dead, is spot on: virtually everything in my novels is the product of my (probably too) vivid imagination.

Nevertheless, there are occasions when I’ll stumble across something from which it’s impossible to resist taking inspiration, even if by the time it ends up in a book, it’s barely recognizable.

In Bridesmaids the idea for the breakdown of Valentina’s carriage was sparked by my best friend’s wedding, at which the bride and her bridesmaids - me included - were on our way to church in a beautiful classic car (don’t ask me what it was; I’d prefer to extract my own teeth than watch Top Gear).

We were on a dual carriageway, 10 minutes from our destination, when it emitted a series of loud explosions, before conking out in spectacular fashion. We eventually arrived in a muddy Land Rover.

By the time this nugget ended up in the novel, a huge amount of detail had been changed, less for the sake of protecting the innocent than ratcheting up the comedy (cue a handful of flatulent horses, a broken wheel, a feud between two friends and a hysterical bride).

But, occasionally, there’s enough comedy in real life to get you by perfectly well. In my latest book, The Wish List, heroine Emma has a polo lesson after she declared mastering the sport as one of her lifetime ambitions (15 years earlier, after reading a Jilly Cooper novel).

Not being entirely au fait with it myself, I decided that if I was going to make this believable I needed my own lesson. I had precisely no experience in polo – either watching or playing it - and I hadn’t been near a horse in years, unless you count holding my four-year-old still on his pony at Center Parcs.

I got through the lesson unscathed (just about), but it’s fair to say that Prince Harry doesn’t have anything to worry about.

The comedy scenes virtually wrote themselves - from my ungainly bum-in-air ascent onto a practice horse called Woody, to the big grin on my face when I thought I’d hit the ball so far it was out of eyeshot . . . only to discover that I had in fact missed.

Sometimes it’s nothing that big or specific; just a funny phrase you’ve overheard in the post office . . . or closer to home. My Mum is a rich source, as I discovered when she showed me her new dress in a gorgeous floral shade called ‘Listeria’ (she meant Wisteria - and it went straight into All The Single Ladies.).

But while I’ll gladly pinch the odd character trait or quirk, what I never do is base an entire character on someone I know.

The risk of someone recognizing themselves would be at best embarrassing and at worst expensive - plus I’ve got too much on my to-do list already without a lengthy libel battle.

More importantly, if a character is entirely created in your head, you don’t have to worry about whether a person would act a certain way in real life. You simply make the character do what you want and there are no questions asked.

Which is probably why most authors find making everything up from scratch is the easiest option . . .  and significantly more fun at that.