I’m a visual person, so when I write, I have to have some fairly specific object or person in mind in order to describe it. I write because I can’t paint, so if I have never seen what I see in my head, I’ll try to find something relatively close and make sure I can look at it often.
A lot of authors use real people as the basis of the looks of their characters. Some authors even reference those people in the text (I did it with Giselle and Bryce). Some readers like it, some don’t. Some readers like faces on their covers, some don’t. Some readers (*ahem* Th. *ahem*) don’t like any description at all. It gets to be a balancing act for an author not to intrude on a reader who likes to imagine the character, yet provide enough for the reader who wants to know which famous person the character most looks like.
Anyway, I’ve been debating writing this post for about a year now, but I’m going to go ahead and bite the bullet. Wanna know who I had in mind while writing The Proviso and Stay and Magdalene (albeit Magdalene’s only about half written)? Here you go, in order of actual appearance across the books:
October 26th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
I don’t really care either way. If there’s an image on the cover, I will accept it. If there isn’t one, I will make one up.
October 26th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Elis is taller than Cat Deeley? How Amazonian is she? Forgive that I have not read the book yet.
October 26th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
Eilis is about 5′11″. She matches Sebastian (who’s 6′2″) when she wears heels. Yes, she is an Amazon.
October 26th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
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October 26th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
Britney, I’m in that camp, too. What’s truly maddening though is if there’s an image on the cover and it DOES NOT MATCH the description in the book, e.g., blond hero, brunet dude on the cover.
October 26th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
I always picture *ahem* somebody else as Giselle. Heh. Do you have a thigh holster, Mo? BTW, I would never have pictured Nikki Six as Sebastian, but I guess if you make him look more urbane, then yeah, he could work. Aaron Ekhart as Knox…it works. I never had a really clear picture of him, so I can put his face there now. I thought I’d heard that he was LDS…not active anymore, eh? That IS good irony. And lastly…if Eilis is an Amazon at 5′11″, then I am her sistah Amazon.
October 26th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
Somebody else? *blinks innocently* Oh! You mean Lilith, right?
Nikki Sixx as Sebastian does indeed depend on stripping him down to his face, but it’s a gorgeous face and a gorgeous smile, so I couldn’t help myself. I’ve adored it since I was 14 years old.
I originally based Knox’s looks on someone I knew personally, but as time went on, that faded and he took on his own looks, but in my mind they were fuzzy. I got close with a dude named Vladimir Kulich, but was never quite right.
The minute I saw Eckhart in Dark Knight I knew that was Knox. Never heard of him before. Then I went a-googling. He’s the same age and height as Knox. It was downright spooky.
LOL Considering Eilis’s gene pool, it should be no surprise she turned out a bit Viking Queenish.
October 26th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Now I had pictured Pierce Brosnan for Sebastian and a younger Nicole Kidman for Giselle. I must really be showing my age because I had a Linda Evans type in my head acting out the part of Eilis. LOL.
October 26th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
Actually, Nicole Kidman was in my head, but she didn’t quite fit, so when I saw Isabelle Huppert, it was like it clicked.
14tonks overrode Sebastian’s description in her head and made him blond. I still can’t get over that. LOL
But, um, Linda Evans??? Aaaaiiieeeeee!!!
October 26th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
I do the same thing. I can’t write a character without a real person to base him/her on – I used to think it was a creative failing of mine, but you’re right – some of us just aren’t visual. I do the same thing when I read books, actually, and it’s not entirely voluntary.
October 26th, 2009 at 8:19 pm
I think you’ve got something there. Visual readers versus nonvisual readers. My editor doesn’t remember description, so he doesn’t care and, in fact, gets a bit annoyed with it. My copyeditor doesn’t see movies in her head when she reads, so she appreciates the description.
What I TEND to do is have the *insert character/object/location here* in my head and then go looking for something that approximates it.
October 26th, 2009 at 11:36 pm
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