Everyone Is A Character

Good morning; I haven't blogged in a few days because I was busy helping out with my granny's funeral.  I've been somewhat of a walking zombie, but I'm glad that I made that sacrifice because she sacrificed so much for us and she was laid to rest perfectly.  The tears that I shed were selfish tears because I didn't want her to go.  I felt hurt that she left us, but I rejoice that she lived a great life and that she is now at peace.  I love my granny and all that she taught me is still in me to this day. She believed in my talents as a writer and she wanted me to get published, but she wanted me to work hard for the the things that I wanted as well.  She will be missed but never, ever forgotten.
A friend once asked me how do I sit down and come up with the characters of my book because it seems like she knows them personally.  What non-writers tend to think is that I sit down and think when in actuality when I'm developing a character there is no sitting or deep thinking involved.  Everyone is a character.  I get a lot of character ideas from just people watching with a creative flair.  For example, standing in line at the grocery store I saw a woman in her mid thirties, she was very well dressed a black NY&Co pants suit, black high heels, matching D&G purse.  Her hair was styled with each strand in place and her makeup was extravagant, yet flawless.  This woman was not being nominated for Beauty Queen of America, but she was confident and she presented herself well.  Out of all of that she wore one thing that really stood out for me, on her right wrist she wore a simple yet elegant silver DKNY watch.  I have saw this same elegant time piece on other people before, in fact my little sister has this same watch, however, on this anonymous woman this watch spoke to me.  The time piece was polished and clean, with silver D link details and large rectangle face, this simple watch is what pulled the whole outfit together.  In Skeletons, my character Santana wears this same watch, Santana also seems to be well put together and elegant yet in her closet hides a skeleton that is banging on her door trying to get out while Santana attempts to close the door to keep her secrets hidden.
Santana is loosely based off of the lady in the grocery store because while she put her items on the conveyor belt I looked her her purchases.  The extra large box of Lucky Charms cereal and gallon of vitamin D milk, Gushers Fruit Snacks, Rainbow Chips Ahoy told me that she not only was a mother, but that she was a mother of one to three children, hence the jumbo box of cereal.  The case of vitamin water, fat-free this and thats, Silk soy milk, whole grain Sara Lee bread and Greek yogurt told me that even though she worked and had children she also watched her weight and cared about what she put in her body. She was on her cell phone fussing about the dishes not being done, the bed not being straightened and what was for dinner and the large rock on her finger told me that she was married.  It was the way that she rolled her eyes while she talked to her husband, how she seemed upset after the phone conversation and the fact that her credit card was declined  that told me that she was presenting herself so perfectly in public because things were imperfect at home. I could be wrong, but in my sick mind I developed Santana.
Oftentimes I base parts of my characters on people that I know, such as the sassy attitude of Jovanna is based on my oldest sister, Tiffany who is a character in herself.  I based Santana's husband, Mike off of my brother-in-law, Kenneth with his laid-back personality and all-business-little-play attitude.  Then some of my characters are based off of people that I don't know at all, such as the lady in the grocery store; I am a people watcher and once a person catches my eye I make up a whole story about his or her life.
I don't have time to sit and think, so most of my characters are thought up as I go throughout my daily activities.  So if you see me out and I'm watching you, be sure to pick up one of my books because YOU may be a character in it too!
TTFN!