I am not sure how other fictional writers do it but I tend not to base whole characters, events, scenes etc on my real life. However the saying “I’m a writer. Anything you say or do may be used in a story” kinda feels true. Hahaha so consider yourself warned!
So although there are not explicit or direct copies of people or events in my novel, I have been noticing a few similarities. Such as:
There are five children in Severyn’s family. I am one of five siblings (on both my mom’s side and my dad’s). However the mix is different - Severyn has three older brothers and one younger sister. The younger sister is quite a bit younger than Severyn so this is definitely a similarity for me.
Going back through my drafts to edit, it has become apparent that a few of Tag’s traits bear some strong resemblance to my hubby. Both are tall, broad-shouldered (I obviously like that), practical and loyal. If there’s a job to do, both of them are there rolling up their sleeves to get to work.
Severyn has some extroverted qualities but she really is an introvert at heart. I wouldn’t say that this describes me but definitely does resemble a few people close to me. Severyn’s need for alone time to recharge and the need for time to seclude away from people periodically definitely is me though.
I love a good laugh, not taking things too seriously and keeping things lighthearted and goofy. There definitely are elements of this woven into the story and my one character, Nexin Walsh, really pops into mind for this.
The last one that I will mention is that I love EDM and DJ music. It is by far, my regular go to when I listen to music and you will find that Severyn’s good friend, Lok Bello, just happens to be an international dominating force in the EDM world. This may or may not be a secret tribute to my favorite DJ Tiesto but sshhhhhh.