NY Writing Careers Examiner Tad Richards:

PNR: Your Southern Vampire series is set rural northern Louisiana in the first book DEAD UNTIL DARK, before moving to Dallas, Texas for most of book two. You are a lifelong resident of the south. Do you find bits and pieces of folks you’ve met, in the personalities of your characters?

Charlaine H.: Sure, especially in their reactions to any set of events. I also think that most of my characters have a little piece of me in them, whether or not they’re nice people!

This is a little gem of advice. The part about how all your characters will have a little bit of you in them is inevitable, and worth remembering. Creating characters is a wonderful way of letting the not-so-nice parts of yourself come out. I remember creating the character of the villainous seducer one time in a romance novel. I had thought that the patient but steely heroic sea captain was me, but someone pointed out to me that the villainous first mate was the me that I didn’t dare admit, even to myself, that I wanted to be — and that was what him such an effective character.

More here

I find the creation of characters (in books) extremely interesting, probably because I can’t write worth a damn.

What do you think about some of the characters in your favorite books? Do you relate to them in any way?