No, it is not you!

When developing new characters, I always try to take from the people around me. Unfortunately, this sometimes includes my family. To say that I take literally from people, their physicality, mannerisms or even their name, wouldn’t be true. However, when my sister cornered me and asked me straight out if a particular character was her; it was hard to say no. My best responds was that the character was ‘loosely’ based on her. It was the closest to the truth I was willing to get. Of course, this didn’t make her happy. She didn’t speak to me for two whole days. When she came to me about it again, she wanted me to define what ‘loosely’ meant. The discussion digressed into an argument in record time. When I asked one of my writing friends about this, she said that it is a necessary evil. We write what we know. Sometimes, I think I’m just being lazy, but she right. Some days, I would like to write in detail about a Norwegian Princess, and her crazy Gypsy family. Most days, I just write about my crazy friends and on occasion my sister. In the end, she will forgive. Next time, I’ll make her tall and thin!