Visualizing Characters

[John988]

How do you visualize the physical characteristics of people you write? Do you use the people you know in real life? Do you dream up wholly new people? Do you scour the internet looking for models?

Or do you use combinations of all of these? I know that I have used all of these in the past.

 

[NotWise]

Or do you use combinations of all of these? I know that I have used all of these in the past.

I normally make them up--sometimes from an amalgam of real people--but in some cases I've gone looking for photos to reinforce the image in my mind. I've only done that with female MCs in long stories.

 

[Hypoxia]

Combinations. Many are actual people I've known or known of. Some are total inventions but I visualize some generic or specific image. Some are composites or the opposite -- I compress several real people into one character, or split one into various personae. And some are cartoon stereotypes. They all vary depending on the story.

 

[ElectricBlue]

My women are nearly always, visually, someone I know now or from my past; their character sometimes based on the real person (loosely or tightly). Most often, though, they start to assert their own character and develop their own personality - writing them becomes easier because they take over, I just have to keep up.

Some of my female protagonists are clearly bubbling up from my anima - they emerge as if from a dream. I have a clear set of archetypes that keep re-appearing (all very Freudian, Jungian).

My male protagonists are easy - they're all basically me, at one time or another in my life.

 

[oggbashan]

I tend to give very limited physical descriptions and leave the reader to imagine the character for themselves.

I know what I think they look like, but someone else's imagination could be different. As for who they are based on? That's a character, an amalgam of different people, but based on no particular individual.

Except one - jeanne_d_artois' Fag-Ash Lil in the story Unatit. Fag-Ash Lil was a real local character, long deceased.

 

[hylas_]

Oh, easy: All my characters are Chris Hemsworth. All of them. All my stories are about Chris-Hemsworth-cest.

 

[Dream_Operator]

I tend to give very limited physical descriptions and leave the reader to imagine the character for themselves.

I know what I think they look like, but someone else's imagination could be different. As for who they are based on? That's a character, an amalgam of different people, but based on no particular individual.

I do the same. I like to let my readers fill in the details and personalize the story in their own minds.

 

[latecomer91364]

These days, I've mostly gotten away from describing them at all (for Lit stories), unless necessary. It depends on whether I feel like it, or if seems that it might help some aspect of the story. For a tit-fucking scene, it might be good to describe the puppies involved, although it is presumed that they would be big enough; if acrobatics are involved, it's good to at least give a comparison between the size of the participants.

In 'other world' non-erotic/porn writing, it's much more important. In screenwriting, as the process from page to screen is extremely collaborative and wildly subject to change, you don't necessarily want to pin anybody to a hair color, build etc. (which they'll change anyway), unless it's crucial - an action hero would typically be in good shape.

I feel it's best to describe them in a more abstract way. Once, I used something like this to describe the hero: 'He has a face that a woman might grow to find handsome after staring at it every day for a couple of years.' The person in mind for the part was William H. Macy.

When I was first learning, one of my favorites was the script description of Michael Conrad, playing Sgt. Esterhaus on Hill Street Blues (not verbatim): 'He looks like he could change a tire without using a lug-wrench'.

In porn, as long as all the women have huge breasts, and all the men are hunky and sporting minimum 9 inch dicks, you'll be fine (joke).

 

[_Lynn_]

I tend to give very limited physical descriptions and leave the reader to imagine the character for themselves.

That's my preference.

 

[ChloeTzang]

I find images online that match how I visualize my characters and save then in Pinterest. When I'm working on a story, I print them and pin them to a corkboard over my desk along with character notes.

This one, for example, is my character Hayley from "Hayley's Party"

https://i.pinimg.com/564x/b6/38/18/b63818eabbc5bfd8a772df4b8344e770.jpg

 

[Dream_Operator]

Christopher Moore (one of my favorite authors) once famously said, "Give me three things and I can describe a character: 'He's middle aged, balding and has a horn sprouting out of his forehead. You get the idea\picture.'"

He was exaggerating of course, but his point was that authors spend far too much time on unnecessary description, not just of characters but of everything in general.

 

[Hypoxia]

The question wasn't how we describe our characters, but how we see them ourselves. I'll often hold vivid mental pictures of a player's appearance, history, vital characteristics -- but that's for me, not necessarily for readers. I might paint a bare, stereotyped picture -- a flaxen-haired Saxon, Minoan priestess, Celtic or Aztec goddess. Or no description at all. Or an anti-description: He looked nothing like the (named) actor who portrayed him.

It's like SF planet-building. The writer may create a detailed map of their world to be used for reference during the writing. So I build a character's profile but only *write* what's needed for the story. That profile suggests the player's choices and reactions. Don't say someone is a deformed sleazy asshole; let their actions speak.

I visualize every character. If how I see them is important to the story, I'll write that.

Another point: We may want to create certain effects within the reader's mind, effects dependent on the amount and type of detail presented. What do you want readers to see? How shall we deceive them? Maybe leave a gender reveal till the very end, eh?

 

[ChloeTzang]

It's like SF planet-building. The writer may create a detailed map of their world to be used for reference during the writing. So I build a character's profile but only *write* what's needed for the story. That profile suggests the player's choices and reactions. Don't say someone is a deformed sleazy asshole; let their actions speak.

I visualize every character. If how I see them is important to the story, I'll write that.

Exactly. I build really detailed character worksheets, even for the big players, but I might only use a fraction of that information in the story. But it helps me visualize them as I write them, figure out how they might react, what they'll do, all that stuff. And the image helps with how other characters see them

 

[china-doll]

Exactly. I build really detailed character worksheets, even for the big players, but I might only use a fraction of that information in the story. But it helps me visualize them as I write them, figure out how they might react, what they'll do, all that stuff. And the image helps with how other characters see them

I never do this but probably should. I tend to keep everything in my head and let my characters evolve over time. The main problem with this approach is when I have a long, multi-part story, I have to keep going back and searching through the old chapters looking for what color my character's eyes were.

As for my characters, I think I visualize them mostly in my head but often that will be either sparked or influenced by some person I meet or see online, TV, movie, etc. I think it's inevitable that the images we have in our minds get influenced by the real world. Either the whole person or perhaps just a feature. A certain flip of the hair, the way a person quirks the corner of their mouth, the big earrings of the girl who serves you coffee at the shop... some things stick in our minds and show up later.

 

[NotWise]

Exactly. I build really detailed character worksheets, even for the big players, but I might only use a fraction of that information in the story. But it helps me visualize them as I write them, figure out how they might react, what they'll do, all that stuff. And the image helps with how other characters see them

I don't build worksheets, but I do build detailed character back stories in my head so that I understand their reactions, and so that (if necessary for the story) I can pull out important details. I do use pictures to help me with the characters, but that isn't as much for their description in the story as it is for the image in my mind.

One of the comments on my ballerina story (Valentines for Cinderella) was that as they read the story they couldn't help but envision the character (Mel) as Darcy Bussell. I responded to the comment because a young Darcy Bussell was one of the ballerinas in my mind as I wrote the story. Specifically, from her role in "Prince of the Pagodas." Someone else looked up pictures of Darcy Bussell and came back to comment that the pictures of Ms Bussell looked just like the image of Mel they had in mind.

I liked that.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I rarely describe my character, except to mention hair color or eye color. For me, they are mostly someone I know or have met at sometime in my past. Sometimes, they just might be someone I saw in a picture on the net.

 

[sr71plt]

The main problems of making up detailed character background files is that it encourages you to write in descriptions that go well beyond anything needed to serve the story and/or alienates the vision the reader would prefer having of them in mind.

Beyond that, if you make these descriptions before writing the story you limit how the story could evolve in better ways in terms of the characters by coming up with a character trait you hadn't thought about but that serves where the story is taking itself perfectly. You box out creativity.

 

[TxRad]

Pictures I find drive character description and in a lot of cases, the story as a whole.

People I see when I'm out and about is a second large source of characters. In some cases, they can trigger the story.

Some characters come from people I know or have known.

Some characters are purely fictional.

Dealer's choice.

 

[SamScribble]

For me, the look and sound of each character usually forms in my mind as I write the story. I think that they are often based on people I know (or have known). But, in the story itself, I try not to mention anything that is not necessary.

A character in a story that I’m currently polishing has shiny dark hair and wears a dark Armani-style suit. I mention this because it’s part of the story. Pretty much everything else about her is left for the reader to imagine.

 

[_Lynn_]

The main problems of making up detailed character background files is that it encourages you to write in descriptions that go well beyond anything needed to serve the story and/or alienates the vision the reader would prefer having of them in mind.

Beyond that, if you make these descriptions before writing the story you limit how the story could evolve in better ways in terms of the characters by coming up with a character trait you hadn't thought about but that serves where the story is taking itself perfectly. You box out creativity.

I agree with this. The most I begin a story with is a name and general age. From there, the characters sort of develop on their own as the story moves along. To keep track of names, ages, and a few personality traits, I use a manila file folder, scrawling anything important on the front, and using the inside for reminders of gaps that need later attention. It's simple and basic.

 

[Halin24]

It depends on how the story idea forms. If it is based on real events from my life with a 'What if' twist I visualize the real persons involved.

Most of the time I create the images in my head as I write. Then I find a photo with the basic features for each character to remind me what they look like. Those photo's may or may not add some characteristics, like a sad smile or a scar, that sets off ideas for a background.

My problem, I think, is that I'm more interested in the psychological aspects, the personality, than the physical appearances. Obviously that is harder to describe and also more difficult to understand by the reader, especially if he/she doesn't share my 'fetish', since it is more complex and depends on ones own experiences. Not least is it harder to keep a 'picture' of a personality in mind for a longer period.

 

[BlackCatWalking]

The main problems of making up detailed character background files is that it encourages you to write in descriptions that go well beyond anything needed to serve the story and/or alienates the vision the reader would prefer having of them in mind.

Beyond that, if you make these descriptions before writing the story you limit how the story could evolve in better ways in terms of the characters by coming up with a character trait you hadn't thought about but that serves where the story is taking itself perfectly. You box out creativity.

I agree with that observation. Sometimes a description adds to the action but we are writing erotica and I leave it to the reader's imagination so that they can perhaps fit the story around either their own fantasy character or the girl or boy next door.
One thing that makes my nerves jangle a bit is the description of breasts with a cup size. Usually a D cup. What sort of lazy description is that I ask?.

 

[ChloeTzang]

I agree with that observation. Sometimes a description adds to the action but we are writing erotica and I leave it to the reader's imagination so that they can perhaps fit the story around either their own fantasy character or the girl or boy next door.
One thing that makes my nerves jangle a bit is the description of breasts with a cup size. Usually a D cup. What sort of lazy description is that I ask?.

Yes, I agree. I have those really detailed character worksheets but they're there as a memory jogger (what color were his eyes, his hair), as well as to provide a foundation. I don't get into those really detailed physical descriptions - just enough to let the reader form their own image of the character.

Breasts - that D Cup C Cup thing is just awful. But it's also a good way to filter stories.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

I use real people I knew well. A few are deceased. Most I worked with for years or were friends I knew forever. Often I know plenty about their intimate lives. The females arte usually full figured or plump, with modest breasts, and common haircuts married women prefer. I want my female readers to identify with the characters.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/01/13/01/301D30CE00000578-3396759-image-a-39_1452650108015.jpg

She's typical. I don't use old guys. My girls are after younger studs or younger married women.