Does your character have a family? Be they a motley crew of adopted friends and strays, or a group of people bound by blood - what sort of family does your character have?

Did this family come together (or break apart) by chance or was it created purposely? If purposely, why?

Does (or did) this family stick together?

Where is this family located?

How does (or did) this family operate? Ie: is it functional, dysfunctional, or is there more than meets the eye?

How does your character feel about this family they've found themselves in (or without)?

I'm not currently working on a story so I can't share specifics.

In general, though, my characters always have families of some sort, whether it's by blood or friends or whatever. I think it makes a character much stronger when you can tell their history and connections. Most people have hangups and personality traits that are based on those past experiences, how they were raised, who they're in contact with, etc. I don't always go into huge detail, but I'll make references here or there so the reader can read into it a bit further.

Most of the characters in my stories really belong to families. Later analysis of the profiles of the families made me realize that they are actually a close resemblance to my family and to other families close to me.

I really have a bias for strong families. Thus, most of the characters in my stories belonged to strong families. I prefer portraying how those families grow and mature as the individual family members grow and mature, too.

vida_llevares (01:32pm Mon, Oct  8, 2012)

Later analysis of the profiles of the families made me realize that they are actually a close resemblance to my family and to other families close to me.

I have been the same way. I don't normally link them to my own families, although there are exceptions and I've fed off cousin or aunt experiences/stories before. I tend to prefer to using outside families like from friends instead, as opposed to my own parents or siblings, though. That's a bit too close for me and I would think that people would assume and read into it more if they know me.