Using real people as inspiration.

[Lucien_Al]

When writing erotica, do any of you use real people as your inspiration for characters? Like, do you base their appearance off someone you know/knew, or do you just make everything up?

For those that do use people you know for inspiration, do you ever feel weird/wrong/bad about doing so?

Every one of my characters is based on someone I know and have similar looks in my mind.

I feel OK with that as it is just an erotic fantasy.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I deny everything. Some of my characters have been based on real people (including me) but usually taking at traits from at least half a dozen folk and mixing them about and then developing them from there.

You never know who will end up reading and might recognise themselves. I needed to name three neighbours of my protagonists in a story, people who lived about fifteen minutes away. So I used names of three friends who happened to live about that far from me. Seeing as they weren't major characters, and all they did was not answering the phone (for two of them), and the only action for the third was 'Paul cackled with laughter', I figured there was no reason to change the names.

Cut to 18 months later, the story placed in a contest, so I gave the link to a few good friends. Including two of those names, who immediately recognised themselves and the local area. Paul indeed cackled with laughter...

So apart from copying looks off various strangers walking by, my characters aren't based on anyone I know. Any inspiration from a real person gets their body and details changed enough that it's not them.

 

[Writer61]

Cut to 18 months later, the story placed in a contest, so I gave the link to a few good friends. Including two of those names, who immediately recognised themselves and the local area.

Oops

 

[SkyBubble]

When writing erotica, do any of you use real people as your inspiration for characters? Like, do you base their appearance off someone you know/knew, or do you just make everything up?

For those that do use people you know for inspiration, do you ever feel weird/wrong/bad about doing so?

Some of the women in my stories have names and/or characteristics in common with women I have known. But I take them in different directions.