Well, I missed last week (oops) but I'm on time today, so. That's gotta count for something, right?
This week, my approach to the prompt is a little different than usual. This is a question for the author, not the characters.
How much of your book is based off of you and your life? Do you see your friends and family in the characters? Your hometown in the setting? Are your fears mirrored in the conflict of the storyline?
For me, all my characters (minus the antagonist) are based off of people I know/characters in other books. Some are really loosely based, (Lightningbolt, Shadowpaw, Hurricane), some are a combination of two people (Moonshine), some are like looking in a mirror (cough Citrine cough), and others are half people and half imagination. The setting doesn't reflect my hometown at all, but it does reflect my dreams for my life. Rolling hills with mountains off in the distance, cool breezes, content living, farm life, etc. etc.
For me, I don’t really base my stories on my life. I write what I find interesting, and, to be frank, I don’t find my life interesting. I never go outside, I don’t really talk to anyone, I don’t have magic, you know, normal stuff. However, there tends to be lots of overlap in what I write about, because it’s the stuff I find interesting. Every story needs to be set in a country that is currently having a revolution/war/revolution and war, has recently had one, or had one at some point because I find those periods of history interesting. Every protagonist doesn’t belong, because social outcasts are interesting (and definitely not because I’ve been (and still kind of am) that social outcast hahaha…).
One thing I am very guilty of is giving my characters my wants, at the cost of my insecurities. Listen, (female protagonist goes here), you can get the charming, hot, traumatised boyfriend, but you also have to have my imposter syndrome and lack of self esteem (but also your entire family was brutally murdered because ✨interesting✨).
Well, it depends on the story. For my science fiction novel, Beyond, the character Cadence reflects some of the conflict I’ve faced before( no I haven’t been abused or fostered. Just the insecurity of the character I can relate) and the setting is a reflection of my vacation to South Dakota, the beautiful mountains and my love for my Ozark home here. My love for bluegrass as well as space and science is in this story as well as my faith journey.