Incorporating Experiences into Books

As I've been proof-listening to my narrator read BREAKING THE MOLD, something jumped out at me that made me laugh.

Characters often take on attributes from people I've met or have known or stories people have told me. Years ago, when I wrote LIVING CANVAS, I borrowed a situation I'd run across about a not-so-good friend/good friend, someone who could be your best friend or your worst enemy. Unfortunately, I did a poor job showing this friend's good side, and people responded accordingly. Ugh. Toxic friend! So I had to write a book to redeem that character. Fast forward to THIS book. That same character makes an appearance, and then I wrote another "friend" who I realized is based on the same person! Funny the impact that story had on me, that the friend in question is now the model for not one, but two people in the same book (one "good" and one "evil")!

I was tossing around ideas for the new book and tried outlining a couple different plot lines based on another experience. I settled on a roundabout approach to the story and decided the best way to think it all through was to take a walk on my treadmill (it's cold and snowy outside, after all). And then it hit me (no, not the treadmill). The obvious answer was right in front of me. Suddenly, my "who are you" heroine turned into a character I already know from Hoffman Grove, and the struggle she's dealing with is obvious. (can you hear the "A-HA!") I love when things come together like that. The conflict I was struggling to present, the questions I have about how different things affect different people, have fallen into place very neatly. 

This is a good time to point out I do NOT project myself onto my characters, but that doesn't stop them from seeing things I've seen or experiencing things I've experienced. Things like a walk through a farmers' market. People-watching on the train. Visiting a maybe-haunted house. Sight-seeing in New Orleans--or another country. Meeting new people with interesting personalities or stories. In the story I'm currently writing, I'm borrowing a goofy personality trait from a physical therapist I met. The things we see, the things we experience all find their way into the stories we write and the characters we create.