Jun
An Image
When you think of your hero and heroine (or while you’re reading a book) do you imagine a certain person? Do you see clearly what they look like? Do you have a picture on your computer that looks like any one of them?
I unfortunately find that I can very seldom find pictures that look like my heros and heroines, because I have such a clear idea in my head of what they look like. But I’ve heard that there are several people out there who sometimes find the picture first and make the character later, or find a picture that look like the character.
The only character of mine so far that I’ve found at least a decent picture for is the hero of my second MS (which I finally finished last weekend!), Jacob. It’s not 100% Jacob, but it’s close enough. I’ve found some pictures of possible ones for the heroines, but nothing that really screams “I’m…..!”
How does it work for you. Do you have any pictures? Do you have a clear idea of what they look like without pictures, or do you prefer to have one? Are there characters in books that you’ve seen someone sometime and thought, oh yes, that’s him!
There are only really two books where I’ve had that. To me, Simon in THE DUKE AND I (Julia Quinn) has always looked kind of like Hugh Jackman, while I recently (after watching PrisonBreak) discovered that Dominic Purcell would make the perfect James Mallory (Johanna Lindsey), if he could only fake a decent British accent.
Emmie, thanks for blogging about this very topic.
I’m a visual person, the moment I start reading the story it starts to “play” like a movie. I keep five pictures of protype heroes close by,(funny no heroines tho’…)
Hugh Jackman
Gerard Butler
Clive Owen
Josh Holloway —Sawyer, from Lost
Christian Bale —Batman
While writing (currently using Sawyer as a model *g*)I keep his picture close by as referrence. In the end, I want my future readers to imagine and see the hero the way they want.
June 22nd, 2006 at 8:28 pmI personally don’t see my hero as an exact physical carbon copy of Sawyer, he is just an inspiration.
Exactly. My hero looks almost nothing in my head as he does in the picture of the person I am using, but the truth is that I do have a picture I’m using. He’s just kind of gone off and done his own thing in my imagination!
June 22nd, 2006 at 9:46 pmIsabel, great choices for the men!
I think they’re all gorgeous.
I agree that the heroes tend to end up looking differently in your head than what you start with (if you do start with a picture). I don’t actually start with a picture, but I have a mental one which does stay the entire time. I wish I could find pictures that look a bit like that to help me though, but I’m very particular.
The oddest experience I had though was seeing this guy on the tram to work one morning, who looked *exactly* like a character in one of my short stories. It was quite uncanny, and I admittedly had a hard time taking my eyes off him *lol*
Emily
June 23rd, 2006 at 5:37 amGreat topic Emily!
The hero of my current WIP (first of a trilogy) is based on James Marsden. For those that don’t know him, he played Cyclops in X-Men and Lon from The Notebook. I picked him because my “Nick” is boyishly handsome with dark hair and light eyes, a strong jaw, full lips, etc.
My other two future heoes are based on Matthew McConaughey and Christian Bale. Both yummy!!
The heroine of my current WIP is based on Rachel McAdams, while the other two are based on Sophia Bush (from WBs One Tree Hill) and Keira Knightley. All beautiful women.
I use them all for reference of course, but not total detailed description. As everyone has stated, the characters sort of evolve into their own person in my mind.
Andrea
June 23rd, 2006 at 9:35 amYes I use pictures, in fact for the trilogy that I’ll write next I was lucky enough to find character refernce pictures for the three herpoines, and the three heros as well. I also using Goggle found a picture of a cottage that fit my idea in my head to perfection! A rare find!
To me it doesn’t have to be an exact copy of what is in my head, but it does help to actually SEE something while writing, for me at least!
Michelle
June 23rd, 2006 at 12:59 pm