hi! i think a song is great starting place to get inspiration. i have created characters that are based on songs or poems, and the way i do is to break down what the song means and try to infuse it into a character, but also make sure to not base it fully on the song or poem. i think doing that is very limiting and doesn’t give you a lot of room for development. what i would do is take a song and see what the song makes you feel and infuse that into the character and build the character from there. if you base it solely on the song, i think the character has the risk of falling flat. for example, i have a character that i based loosely off a poem called point b by sarah kay, and the main thing i took away from the poem was the essence of the character, but i added things that also weren’t in the poem in order to make it my own and to flesh out the character. if i had based it solely on the poem, there wouldn’t be much to work with and it would fall flat because songs and poems can only tell you so much about a character without your own input sprinkled in there somewhere. i would also try to stay away from things like love songs and the like, because those can’t usually tell you a lot about a character outside of a relationship, in my opinion. another thing i would do is try to make a playlist of similar songs so you can get a vibe for the character you’re trying to create, i’ve always found that creating playlists can really help me grasp characters. i would also try to use songs that tell a story, as you could try to base something around that as well. i think this is a great idea for character inspiration, but it can be a bit tricky but i hope these tips help!
