Conjuring characters

The starting point for most of the characters I have written usually begins with someone I know. Sometimes it is the way they look, or how they move or talk or laugh or what kind of influence they brought to my life, but the beginning of a character always starts with that spark. It doesn't take long before the inspiration is realized into someone wholly different. In other words, they become a character. Once they are a character I don't think much about the person anymore. In fact, I forget about it until the work is done (or someone else reads it and asks.)

People that know me often recognize elements of themselves or others in my characters. Sometimes it is obvious and sometimes it's more obscure and often it goes completely unnoticed, except to me.

In the last few months a curious thing has begun to happen. Some of the people who have inspired my characters have come back into my life.

I have heard from a friend from elementary school that I haven't been in touch with since...well...elementary school...who inspired a name in The Last Bridge. I got an update about someone else who passed away that was a huge source of inspiration for one of my characters. A couple months ago, I heard from an old friend who inspired another name in The Last Bridge.

The most surprising was hearing from someone who inspired a character in my second novel, this was a shock since we had not ended things well a few years back. Suddenly, out of the blue I hear from him.

There is one person though I have not heard from and in writing this I'm wondering if I am rubbing the Genie's lamp and asking for him to appear. Who is it? Well, it is a him. The character he inspired? Well you'll just have to read The Last Bridge and try to figure out who...

If you could conjure one person from your past who would it be and why?