Have you noticed that when you are working on different novel projects that you tend to have a recurring character type? I’ve noticed this in some of my favorite authors and their work as well.
It doesn’t mean that you’re writing the same character over and over again — it’s more of a variation — almost like voice in a way — and for me, it says a lot about the influence certain people have in the author’s life.
Something I’ve noticed as far as recurring character types in my work is the grandmother character. I was very blessed growing up because I had two grandmothers and two great-grandmothers. They were all different types. Nettie was mean and could cut you in half with her words. Florence was a romantic and introduced me to The Young and the Restless, Ruby was stylish and always “runway ready” in her appearance, and Elnora was loving and taught me how to make the perfect biscuit.
Elnora is a big influence on the grandmother character in my current novel. Here she is in Atlantic City circa 1980′s posing at the beach:
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Growing up, Elnora or “Moya” — a childhood nickname that stuck when I couldn’t pronounce her name right — was a second mother to me. She taught me a lot of country/farm life things like how to season a cast iron skillet, how to shell butter beans without getting callouses, how to make pretty curtains out of bedsheets — but most of all she taught me about unconditional love. Even in college, I would go back to Moya’s house because it gave me all the safety and peace I needed.
I now can see how this seed of influence help grow the relationship between the main character and her grandmother in my current novel.
You can even use your bad experiences with certain people as foundations for great characters. For instance, my mean great-grandmother Nettie? I think a character is already brewing up in her honor in my next novel project. Ha, ha.
Do you have a character type that recurs in your novel projects? Are they based on a combination of real people who had a great effect on your life?
What a beautiful tribute to your grandma. She sounds like such a positive force in your life.
I seem to keep having curmudgeonly older people showing up in my novels… not sure if that’s a tribute to those people in my real life or not! ;)
Ha, maybe your sub-conscious needs to get these people on paper somehow. :)
Your grandma sounds delightful! I can see why she’d be a recurring character type. I always have a loyal best friend or sibling in my stories. Probably because my three siblings and I were really close growing up, and my two best friends are people I’ve known since I was 5 (and the one is my husband now!).
She was such a sweet lady. :) And that is so sweet that you known your hubby for so long. Nothing like being married to your best friend.
I’ve never thought about and now I want to take a closer look at my novels! I love your inspirations, they make me want to read your work even more. Your grandmothers sound wonderful!
It was a great childhood with so many different types of women. I learned a lot from them — even Nettie the mean one. Ha.
I love that photo! Everyone should have an Elnora in his or her life. She sounds so special and wonderful.
I don’t think I have a recurring character type, but I definitely use personality traits, habits, quirks, etc. from people that I know or have known and apply these to my story characters. Sometimes this happens unintentionally. : )
I found this photo recently with a bunch of old photos and loved it instantly because it captured her spirit in such a good way. It’s like I can feel her happiness radiate to me. I love that this moment is forever frozen in time.
What a fantastic woman. I’m glad you have great memories of your grandmother that you’ll treasure forever.
Yes, I’ve noticed a recurring character types in my WIPs. They change and morph into different people, yet the commonalities can’t be ignored.
Isn’t it funny when you see the commonalities? I’ve noticed it during this revision. I think our sub-conscious just puts those characters in our stories.
That’s so cool! I’d love to incorporate my one grandmother – as spitfire – into a novel, but that hasn’t happened yet. Elnora sounds like an awesome person! Great picture.
She was a great grandma! :) I’m sure you have at least some recurring character traits in your work as well.
That’s really sweet! I love that photo of your grandmother.
I’ve only written one novel so I don’t know if I have any recurring character types. We’ll see when I start the next one. :)
I’m so happy that this moment was caught in this photo. It’s just like her — fun loving. :)
You’ll start to see recurring characters and themes the more novels you write.
Elnora sounds like a fabulous person – so glad her spirit will be immortalized in your writing.
This is such an interesting question. I’m going to have to think about this a bit. The men in my books usually have a characteristic or 2 of my dad’s, … I think. You’ve got me thinking now, Karen!!
I’m sure if you look into your stories, you’ll see some type of influence your dad and other men in your life. I know for me, I unconsciously put little pieces of personality of people into my characters. :)
I’ve got worse. I realized not long ago that suicide seems to somehow pop up in my stories. I didn’t realize that until recently. That and two of my stories have twins. And in both, one is a guy and one is a girl. And in both, one twin committed suicide. The major difference between the two books is the twins’ relationship to the mc.
Hmmm. Apparently I have some deep rooted twin suicide issue that I didn’t know about. Maybe in another life. lol
Maybe it’s because the suicide issue really speaks to you as a writer. There must be something there you want to explore and/or say to the reader about the issue. But I think it still can be played in many ways: hopelessness, emotional death, letting go, etc.
As for twins, I’ve always been fascinated by these people — especially the psychic pain phenomenon.
I seem to have a general recurring character in my short stories. I have noticed that quite a few of them are pregnant women or women with babies. I’ve written about one with an abortion, one that didn’t want to get pregnant while her husband wanted a baby and even one that bought a baby on the black market. I think these are based on a combination of people I know and the different experiences they’ve had. There are a lot of people around me having babies!
That is definitely a recurring character and maybe even a recurring theme of motherhood and relationship between women and children. Very interesting.
I’ve been thinking of this since I first read your post. And it occurred to me…are recurring characters our unconscious attempt to fill in the blanks? Of unwritten histories that we attempt to fill in for ourselves? This concept blooms into perfection if one reads Terry Tempest’s “When Women Were Birds”. Highly recommend.
This sounds like an interesting book with the premise of the author looking at his mother’s journals.
I think it depends on the author. Subconsciously, all writers take their own experiences and /or people in their novels. For me, it’s more of the effect on the characters and ultimately of what the writer wants to say.
One of my Facebook friends shared the link to this post.
Yes, I do have a recurring character type! And thing is, I had never noticed it until this past week when my crit partner pointed it out. It’s the character under someone else’s thumb. Which is weird because I’ve never known anyone like that, and the one person who tried to do it to me failed in an epic way. Right now the character under the thumb is a humanoid in a sci-fi story. Something I never thought I’d write.
Thanks for stopping by Rachel. :)
How interesting. I love sci-fi stories so I’m intrigued just by that. But recurring characters tend to go under the radar because we’re so close to the story. Then someone points it out to us.