Borrowed Quirks - #MFRWauthor

Another week, another #MFRWauthor blog post. I finished my latest round of edits and actually participated in the #CarinaPitch event this week. Even more surprising is I got a like so now I'm in a whole new hell, #synopsishell!!!

Taking a break from giving myself more gray hairs to talk about this week's topic, family, friends, and/or pets I've written into my books. I've never written anyone directly into my books, but I have pulled quirks from those around me to help bring my characters to life.

In FIENDISH my FMC Calida is very non-confrontational and is a serious people pleaser. That particular trait came from a close friend of mine that is the same way. She doesn't like upsetting people, and because of that she can and has gotten taken advantage of on more than one occasion.

Calida's BFF Macy is a fun, outspoken woman. She likes to eat, shop, and is very sex positive. Those traits were borrowed from my younger sister. The fun thing about that was I didn't tell her, but when she read the book she was able to pick up on it!

NOT BROKEN brings the return of Calida, but we have a new leading man. Malcolm is Macy's older brother. Two of his more defining quirks are taken from my husband and my sister's boyfriend. Malcolm is 'old-school' and prefers having CDs to digital music. He also keeps them all alphabetized along with his movie collection. That comes from my husband. Malcolm's love of shoes and clothes is a borrowed quirk from the boyfriend. He was very pleased to have made it into my book.

We also have Dr. Carr, we meet her at the end of FIENDISH, but we see her more in the second book. Her name is borrowed from a close friend of mine who wanted to talk some sense into Calida so to speak. LOL

Other honorable mentions would be Calida's parents. Their jobs are borrowed from my in-laws. He is an ex-marine and she is an elementary school teacher. Her mom shares my mother-in-law's name.

In my current WIP (the one I've been editing) I pulled a trait or two of my own for the FMC, Quinn. She has two close friends, one of them shares the name and personality of one of my CPs. We have some interesting talks and I totally pulled those into the story. She was thrilled! And got a kick out of seeing 'herself' in that role.

All of my stories have been set in Georgia except my latest one. I set it in Arizona, where the hubby is from. But I made the FMC from Georgia, because I need my home town connection. LOL But it's another nod to pulling in the personal for my stories.

None of my characters have ever had a pet, but after getting Titan, the FMC of my next full length novel will be the proud owner of a Yorkie. Hers is a female I've named Ms. Priss, but she has a lot of the personality quirks that Titan has been displaying.

That's been it for now. Inspiration for my stories can come from anywhere, but those closest to me find a way to make it into my stories (so far at least) one way or another. Can't say if that will always be the case, but picking out traits and quirks from real people helps to give my characters an extra layer of realism. And that is always a good thing.

What about you? Have you added traits, quirks, or names of anyone close to you? Be sure to check out the other authors on the hop to see how they've done this.

Until next time
~Meka