How deep are you willing to dig to bring your characters to life?

About a year and a half ago Simon Wood posted at blog at Murderati mentioning how he doesn't use real people in his work, except for parts of himself, and it got me to thinking. How deep are you willing to dig to bring your characters to life? 

I had a conversation with another writer friend about how, because her work is taken from her life and those around her, she's finding it difficult to put the words on paper.  Now, this is not her first book, and her previous work is so strong and heartwrenching you want to grab her into a hug and tell her everything is going to be all right.

So, how deep do you dig to make your characters real? And how many of your characters are actually facsimilies of real people? 

I'll admit my characters are people I've met over the years, and, living the nomadic life I've lived, I've met a lot of people. Most all I've liked (hehe).  I'll also admit I couldn't build the characters I've built without putting the pieces of me into them.

Now, the advice I gave to my friend to help her get past the fear of baring her soul, is to stop looking at this as her memoir, because it isn't. It's a complete work of fiction. I told her she should try to use her upbringing as a guideline to develop her characters, sprinkling in only what is necessary for that character. To do this, she would need to write down a complete description of the main characters, describing in as much detail as she needs, what they went through as a child (abuse, neglect, over protectiveness) up to their present age. Also describe why it made them the person they are now. 

Now, in order to do that she will have to look into herself and ask, why is she like she is? What is it about her past that makes her a better or worse person?

Here is an example, if you need one....even if ya don't.   Say your character was raped at a young age. Well, in most cases, it would make them distrusting of men. Or perhaps it would be the exact opposite and make them very promiscuous.

If your character was verabally or emotionally abused, they could find themselves continuing the cycle by being abusive too, or maybe even going into an abusive relationship thinking it's the norm.  

Everything we are is because of everything we were.

Now, you may not agree with my advice, and I'm not sure how much of it my friend agrees with, but I believe in order to write strong believable characters, you will have to dig deep, heart and soul, to pull out of yourself who your characters are. You will need to bleed onto the page.  And use artistic license. Take what was painful or fun or whatever and ask yourself, What-if?  Once you've been able to do this, you'll be better able to understand the story you want to tell and you'll even be surprised at how quickly the words will flow. 

Because, like the song says, The First Cut is The Deepest.