Reinvigorating The Golden Hollow

It's funny how life will sometimes find ways to remind you of what you should be doing. A couple of weeks ago, I met a girl who had a lot in common with one of the core characters of my writing. Faintly similar hair color, similar body structure, same phonetic name even. Personality--totally different. Still, it's nice to meet people who stand out in such a way that I want to give greater depth to the stories I write and the characters I create.

The major hurdle I have right now is trying to face down writing interaction between a character that was initially inspired by a girl I liked in high school and another character that is based quite a bit on myself. Plus, I feel I have to stay somewhat objective about the whole thing as well.

Anyway, I really feel like I can make my characters be truly fictional creations. I can make my characters have traits distinctive from the people I initially base those characters on. And, yes, I know that I'm taking aspects from other people to do it, but I hear most writers do exactly that.