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.

Inside the mind of Travis Maddox - The Difference between Men and Women

My previous four books were all written from a female POV, and had a fan not suggested that I write Beautiful Disaster from Travis’s POV, I might not have made the attempt. When I was about a quarter into the book, I sent the manuscript to Abbi Glines (author of Never Too Far), who is experienced and gifted at writing male POVs to make sure I was doing it right. Her response? “You must have been a foul-mouthed frat boy in a former life.”

Truthfully, writing Walking Disaster was the most fun I’ve had writing a novel. My female main characters could never be so brash, so vulgar, so brutally honest—and still be likable. Guys punch each other for no reason, they say the most hurtful things to the friends they love most, but that’s just the way some men communicate their feelings. It’s bizarre and amusing and liberating. 

Writing Travis, though, was a heavy responsibility. He’d caught quite a bit of hell for his actions in Beautiful Disaster. And I agree that not everything he did was excusable, but flawed humans aren’t born that way, they’re made. Each experience in his life—good or bad—shaped him, and I wanted readers to understand what molded him into who he is. It’s easy to condemn damaged people, but even with his shortcomings, Travis is inherently good. All of his fighting—for love, respect, and in the underground fighting ring—stemmed from one experience in his life. An experience that is revealed in Walking Disaster.

After publishing Beautiful Disaster, I was genuinely surprised by the reactions some readers had toward Abby’s indecision. Wavering is so common, especially at nineteen and certainly when it comes to relationships. When you’re barely an adult, the inability to commit to a choice when your heart is so strongly pulling you in the other direction, is part of the journey. 

But in fiction—as in life—women aren’t given the same number of free passes to make mistakes as men. Our choices become us, even when we’re still young and learning. It’s likely this is why many readers came away from Beautiful Disaster loving Travis and feeling annoyed with Abby. When Travis made bad choices, the reader could disassociate them from him, but Abby’s choices were perceived as her inherent faults.

I would definitely like to write a male POV again. In fact, I’m partially writing from a male POV in my current work in progress, Red Hill, which is told from three different POVs: a mother who has been separated from her children, a newly single father, and a female college student. I do find it more difficult to write from the male POV though. I was already familiar with Travis, so maybe that’s why writing Walking Disaster came so naturally to me. I’ll probably write the Maddox brothers books from a female POV like I did in Beautiful Disaster, but then again I’m never sure what’s going to work until I start typing.

Walking Disaster is out now in paperback and eBook.