Many Are Called: A Deseret Adventure Trilogy

If YouTube is to be believed, every “writing coach” has their own idea of the perfect way to write a character. I tend to take the simple approach. Maybe it’s even cheating. I don’t know; I never went to school for this.

Basically, I write the people I know, or at the very least model the character on them. Sometimes that’s mostly physical, as in the case of one supporting character in The Lion of Deseret, the protagonist’s ally Andre. In other cases, like with my Katya character, it’s both appearance and personality. In yet others, as with supporting character Chloe, it’s just personality. Even a character’s occupation can lead me to model them on a real-life person, as I did a couple of times in Lion, particularly with a jeweler whose appearance somewhat bookends the story.

Basing characters on actual people helps (me, at least) to differentiate them, give them more authentic voices, and show unique mannerisms. Maybe it’s a cheat or a shortcut, but I don’t really care, as long as it helps build better characters. I just hope, if the real people upon which I’ve based my characters ever read the novels, they’re flattered rather than annoyed.