A lot of you may or may not know, but those beloved male characters aren't always created entirely from the depths of my writer mind. Many times, and I mean, a lot of times, I use actors as inspiration. I see an actor or Wrestler and suddenly, something about their expression, their demeanor inspires me.
It's a curse and a blessing. I find pictures of them that have various expressions, I post them around me, and use those images when I describe a scene. Most of the time, the character I create ruins the actor for me, meaning I can't watch anything they are in again, especially if it's a series, because I don't want it to influence the character.
I used a picture for this blog. Let me tell you from left to right, what characters these actors/wrestlers inspired. 1: Alex Sans (Sleepers), 2: Rayne (Contagious), 3: Ross (10:37), 4: Guy (Faulted), and 5: Lev (My Dead World)
Take Alex Sans for example. Sleepers. I used wrestler CM Punk as inspiration, but then I made the mistake of watching WWE Punk took a heel turn and I hated him. So much so, I couldn't write Sleepers 2. I eventually listened to my son who told me to stop watching wrestling until after I finished Sleepers 2. It worked. I'm on Sleepers 8.
In every book I have written there is a well known person/celebrity that inspired a character. Just wanted to share that aspect of my writing.
Did you like a particular character? Wondering if a real person inspired them? Let me know. I'll do my best to answer.