Characters

I find I'm basing almost all of the characters in my book on people I know. I tinker with the details, but find I like most of them the way they are.
We always think of characters in books or movies as somehow different from the rest of us. They're not. The writer took people he or she already knew and just tinkered with them a bit. Then put them in situations of the author's choosing.
It's easier if you can think of someone you already know and predict how they will act in a given situation.
I wonder if I ever ended up as a character in a novel? Maybe some writer met me briefly and wondered what I would do if I were, say, confronted by an alien, or a sinking ship, or the Queen.
So, to all you people I know out there, just wait until you see what I have in store for you!