Consequences of basing your characters on your friends

[shivadancer]

My muse often sources from my dirty fantasies about my hot friends. I've encountered a few problems with that along the way;

1. During one of my efforts that took a long time, one of my friends/characters - sadly - died. I was then left with writing erotica involving a dead person.

2. A piece I am currently working on involves a friend who I have now fallen out with and no longer find particularly sexually attractive. I no longer find it sexually pleasurable to work on the piece.

3. I once previewed a hot piece with the person it was about. The piece subsequently garnered a lowish score and the typical nasty comments. I am left wondering whether sharing it had the desired effect.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I don't know why that should affect your score. It's not clear; did you show it to the real person?

Anyway, I only use people I actually know for minor characters. I should say "knew," because I haven't seen them in years, or even decades. I'm trying out a story now with a female character based on someone I knew in the 1970s and another one with two female co-workers from the 1990s. Two of the three portraits are not very flattering, but one of them is sort of the "hero" of the story.

 

[TadOverdon]

I don't base characters on friends.

The death thing, though, reminds me of an artist who says that he can't look at pictures of models who have died. Knowing him I assume he means porn models and performers. I wonder if there's some sense of guilt at voyeurism mixed up in that.

 

[MiddleAgedMan]

I quite often base characters on my friends, coworkers and people I see around me, though only physically, never personality. That way it’s easier for me to describe their looks consistently, yet have their personality fluctuate with the story.

 

[KeithD]

Yep, I don't purposely wholly base any characters on anyone I know. They can become part of a composite, though.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I hope all characters inspired by various friends and acquaintances over the years have turned into enough of composites that it's not obvious - "I'll have his voice, that guys looks, this man's history with a bit of someone else's character..."

I did hastily name some briefly-mentioned characters in one story, and when it placed in a contest I mentioned the story to a few kinky friends - who recognised that the characters living round the corner from the protagonists were the same names as them living round the corner from me... Luckily they thought it very funny, but I did put more effort in with a future story to try to make parts taken from life (not just my life) not recognisable, or at least with plausible deniability.

 

[LAHomedog]

Yep, I don't purposely wholly base any characters on anyone I know. They can become part of a composite, though.

Yes. Never who they actually are, but frequently a composite. A physical description here, a personality quirk there, and a few fetishes and kinks thrown in since this is porn.

 

[JanusGoneAwry]

Most of my female characters are dancers I know and for the most part, they get a kick out of being featured in a story. One did not and I replaced her with another dancer. I always ask and I never use their stage or real names.

Like someone else said it really helps keep descriptions consistent and since I'm also watching them dance unencumbered by clothing I get intimate body details like tats and piercings for physical descriptions. Watching them dance also gives me lots of understanding about how the body moves a bit like artists painting nudes using a model get a better understanding of physiology.

 

[jaF0]

Not really a problem since I have no friends.

 

[CyranoJ]

My muse often sources from my dirty fantasies about my hot friends. I've encountered a few problems with that along the way;

1. During one of my efforts that took a long time, one of my friends/characters - sadly - died. I was then left with writing erotica involving a dead person.

2. A piece I am currently working on involves a friend who I have now fallen out with and no longer find particularly sexually attractive. I no longer find it sexually pleasurable to work on the piece.

3. I once previewed a hot piece with the person it was about. The piece subsequently garnered a lowish score and the typical nasty comments. I am left wondering whether sharing it had the desired effect.

Hey, shiva. Good to see you.

1. I'm really sorry to hear that. Condolences.

2. That makes sense.

3. Very brave!

All of the above is partly why I don't write erotica about anyone I directly know. Certainly, friends have contributed inspiration to certain characters, I talked a bit about this on another thread here, but they have to be distinct for me as characters. These three scenarios are just the tip of the iceberg of reasons.

That said, I'm glad you're writing and I'm sorry you had to find these things out the hard way.

 

[lovecraft68]

I tend to write types of people rather than an actual person I know.

In my horror novels all the scum that gets theirs aren't based on someone I don't like in real life, but more the behavior, beliefs, actions of a type of person.

The LW crowd will never allow me to run out of ideas for how to come up with nasty ways to end someone's life in a novel.

 

[SolarRay]

My characters are quite frequently composites of friends. Often physically, yes. But also, I feel like I've explored different parts of friends' psyches based on the things they've shared. That becomes interesting for me, as the author.

The other problem I've solved with this is: bodies. I want to vary them to some degree or accent now and then. I constantly take one quirk or another from bodies I see around the nudist community where I live and apply them to characters in stories. I've sometimes had secondary characters where every single detail about their body comes straight from real life. There's something exciting about it being a real person, in that sense.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Hmmm... I don't actually base the characters in my stuff on real people... I mean how many redheads name Michelle are there in the world say in or around Chicago.

Oh well, cats out of the bag... sorry Michelle.

I do base my character on what might be considered a caricature of that person. And I haven't seen a lot of those friends for a very long time and some might even be dead. We all haven't stayed in touch.

Besides, I grew up in the '70s, all of them are old like me and probably don't give a crap.

 

[Blind_Justice]

Many characters starring in my fantasy stories (like Arach, Leo, Shilana, Gheeran and Zentam) were at some points player characters in one of my tabletop RPG games. I did ask for permission to use them before putting them into sexy situations since their habits and much of their mannerisms had been "invented" by their respective players. Those few players who have actually read my stories said they feel flattered by their depictions.

Sadly, there is too much distance between all members of our old group to meet with any regularity. At least their characters remain as embodiments of the fond memories we've created together.

"Dramatic License" is my only autobiographical story and most people in it are not exactly shown in a flattering light, the protagonist included.