WRITING WHO YOU KNOW
If you interview published authors across all genres, you will be hard pressed to find one who claims his or her characters sprang forth from thin air. More often than not, the fictional players that populate stage, page, cinema and television reflect aspects of the writers’ own personalities, composites of friends and relatives, or are modeled after specific actors, politicians, rock stars, or criminals.
The longstanding advice of “write what you know” translates aptly to “write who you know” and what their actions reveal about their character, strengths and flaws, and motivations. Here's how you can write "who you know" (without them knowing).
Join the Institute of Children's Literature Community! Get our free weekly newsletter with articles on the craft of writing, hot markets looking for your work, and cool resources for your writer toolbox: www.instituteforwriters.com/icl-news