Character traits and personalities

I am sometimes asked if my characters are based on real people. For those who know me well, and travel in my circles, they might see someone they know in one of my characters. But the reality is, and this isn’t just a legal disclaimer, these characters come from my head!

Yes, sure, a given character might share some traits with “real” people walking about on our planet. But most similarities people notice are probably narrow rather than multi-dimensional—since I would likely sample only a single personality trait from a given person. Rather than try to base one of my characters on the heterogeneous complexity of a particular human from the real world, the “types” of personalities I’m exploring in my writing are more universal than specific. Archetypes, if you will, rather than attempted copies of real people!

For example, a wizard in Book Two seems incapable of grasping the fact that everyone else doesn’t know everything that he knows. As if the fact that he knows a particular thing should make that knowledge obvious to everyone. You may not have encountered people in your life like that . . . but I certainly have!

And then there are the visual inspirations. There is a man who takes my train—who is probably 6’ tall. But his face, hair, nose, beard, eyebrows and mustache . . . make him look like a classic Tolkienian dwarf! It is a perfect resemblance, in my mind. So much so that I think of him when I write about my dwarf characters!

As the post-pandemic “return to my day job” milestone approaches for me this fall, I will be taking the train into Boston again. I’ve lost touch with my dwarven-featured fellow passenger—and many of my other train acquaintances. But I look forward to seeing them again. And as much as there is some uncertainty around my new commuting routine, I do look forward to people watching, and the inspiration I’ve always taken from it!