I'm pleased with my ability to write personal experiences. (I don't know if they'd be meaningful to anybody else but I enjoy recounting them.) A character based on me would just be changing "I" to "John Doe". I think that when I imagine what another person is like, I might have a very shallow view. If I'm lucky I'll be able to pick out a salient characteristic in them, but then they become one dimensional personifications of that single descriptive adjective. Like 'Tarzan Strong!' or "Daniel Radcliffe charming!" I sorta get stuck in a loop on one characteristic. That makes my characters one dimensional and boring. How can I remember that my characters can have other adjectives associated with them. That gives me an idea. I can have 3 categories of character. A minor role would have say one or two characteristics. A major player could have 4 or 5. And a principle action mover should have as many as the length of a book will hold. I'm now thinking of enforcing that discipline on my writing.
I've come to the conclusion that my character problem stems from the fact that I tend to dwell on a single characteristic of my characters. They are, thus, one dimensional which is not at all lifelike and totally boring. Now that I know it, it seems like it should have been obvious. I do the same thing with restaurants. Switch to a time lapsed movie of my mind. 'Found a few restaurants where I like the food. Phew...that was scarey. Now I can contentedly go to these same restaurants for the rest of my life without ever having to take a chance on a new one.' Just call me Bilbo Beggins; 'An adventure, you say...no thank you. Good day sir.' 
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