You Based that Character on Me!
Yes, I have based lots of characters on people I know. I have a friend who asked me to put her in a book, I didn't use her name, just everything else about her: her looks, her personality, her dogs, her house. All of her friends said I did it perfectly. I followed up by putting her in a second book. One of the main characters in the Deputy Tempe Crabtree mysteries is Nick Two John--his looks came from a local Indian whom I've never met in person, but have seen numerous times from afar.He called me once and I thought he was going to say something about that, but he didn't. He wanted to compliment me on what I wrote about a Pow Wow. Bits and pieces of people I know or met along the way from appearance to personality quirks I've borrowed for my characters, and no one has ever recognized themselves. But recently, my sister read my latest Rocky Bluff P.D. mystery, Violent Departures , and she mentioned on Facebook that I'd used her as a character. If...