Am I Doctor Birnbaum?
I am often asked if my characters are drawn from people in real life.
The answer is: All authors draw their characters from real life, either by creating pastiches from borrowed bits and pieces from people they know, or using a full-blown person and hoping to get away with it.
My father was someone I frequently drew dialogue from. Since he was Polish, with English being his second language, he sometimes didn't get things quite right. One day, as he stood in front of a mirror patting his stomach, he said, "Babs, I'm putting on weight. Do you think I should join Watch Makers?" I put that amusing comment in the mouth of a character in Stars, my sequel to Butterfly. My father also had an interesting way of stating the obvious about the weather: "Rain's coming down." "Wind's blowing." "Sun's shining." As if the rain and wind and sun could do anything else. I had a character utter those phrases in Private Entrance.
Friends and family might tell you they would be flattered if you patterned a character after them, but don't bet on it. I know three novelists who got into hot water for being a bit too free with family and friends, even though the fictional depictions of those people was flattering!
I was still working at Santa Monica hospital when I wrote Vital Signs, a novel about three women doctors. I was amazed at how many people in the operating suite were sure I had put them in the book. Molly Jaspers, our supervisor, was offended when I wrote that "Nurse Molly was overweight." The fact is, I had only used the first name. Nothing else about the character remotely resembled Ms. Jaspers. The heat was further turned up when five surgeons telephoned me to ask, "Am I Dr. Birnbaum?"
This is why I find safety in historical novels, and the farther back in time, the better. No one is going to accuse me of patterning Hameed the Judean camel merchant after them.
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