Using other people’s characters to inspire you
Writers’ Topic: Character Inspiration
Can writers get character inspiration from other writers? Using an existing character can be a good jumping off point to a new character.
A student once asked, “I often find B characters in novels more interesting than the leads, yet they’re never fully developed (hence the B aspect). I wonder if using another novelist’s B characters as a jumping off point for a new character or story would ever produce any ideas worth exploring?”
As writers, we can find inspiration all around us, and other people’s fictional worlds and characters are a good example. The key point here is that you need to create a new character.
Of course, you can’t use another writer’s characters or worlds, as that is copyright infringement, unless the novel is out of copyright protection (which is why we have all those Jane Austen mashups).
Authors keep the right to produce derivative works (that is, other stories based on their characters and worlds) and although fan fiction is a popular sport, for someone seriously pursuing a writing career, you have to create your own characters and worlds unless you want to end up on the wrong end of a subpoena.
But you can certainly be inspired by other people’s stories and characters! In fact, I once wrote an entire novel that was was sparked by seeing Faramir in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. He’s a minor character – a B character – but there was something about his situation that struck me as having a lot of potential for a story.
The character I ended up writing had almost nothing in common with Faramir, but the novel wouldn’t even exist if I hadn’t seen Faramir and thought, “Hmm.”
No matter where you dig up character inspiration, it’s essential is to make the character/story your own, even if the spark comes from another person’s character.
Other Helpful Content
The Editorial Blooper Reel
Back when I edited a custom magazine, I assigned and edited a package about an upcoming event (similar to a business conference) which included profiles of some of the attendees and speakers, a how-to-get ready checklist, a travel piece on side trips to take at the location, a celebration of highlights of the event over…
Using information products to boost your bottom line
People like to pretend that you can write a book and make passive income from it. You can’t. If you write a book and stick it up on Amazon and never do anything to promote or market it, you’re not going to sell any copies. Okay, you might sell three or four to people who…
The Fine Art of Copyediting Fiction
When copyediting fiction, it’s common to run up against issues that pit author preference against standard editing approaches. For example, in a story I wrote some years ago, the main character’s neighbor is referred to as “3-B” as that is her apartment number and the MC doesn’t know her name. Fine. She can be referred…
