Visualizing the characters

[Guest]

Just curious if anyone else pictures their characters before they begin writing about them, by that I mean either basing the character on someone they know or from a photo found on the internet. Should there be any positive feedback, would there be any an interest in establishing a photo archive of potential characters or of those we already have written about. Such a Who's Who sounds entertaining and may insire someone to write their first story.

 

[sirhugs]

I always have an image in my head, but its not from a picture. Some are people I know, more often they are composites generated by my perverse imagination.

I unfortunately currently have no spare characters in search of story homes.

 

[jakelyon]

Hard to Do

I always visualize my characters before writing about them. I find it helps to keep a good consistent description, particularly when I work on the story at widely separated times.

I have a picture file that I keep for all of the major characters I have, and it is invaluable.

I think your idea would be hard to make happen, both from a logistics standpoint, and from the standpoint that most people will not want to make public their private character files.

The internet is already a photo archive, and I don't find it hard to find a picture to fit the image that I have in my mind.

 

[karmadog]

I invent them. I know what they look like in my head, but there is no photo. They're just amalgamations of faces I've seen before.

 

[Un-registered]

No photos, but I keep a detailed file on all my characters, and on locations.

No, I won't share them.

Except one example:-

Amelia Smith then Princess Zubeydeh then Amelia Ransome
Born 1958 David’s mother
20-y-o a natural blonde with a slim figure and good teeth. Her hair was worn shoulder length and straight
45-y-o her figure was thickening, but her breasts hardly sagged at all

Some are more detailed than this, others are very sketchy.

 

[deliciously_naughty]

I've written many characters without a clear picture of them in my head...others I have a snapshot in my head. Not sure why or when one versus the other happens.

 

[wildsweetone]

do legs count?

a pair of hairy, bandy legs ... they're driving me nuts eh.

***
usually i picture an object and a second later i have a character... he or she evolves from the feeling surrounding the object.

okay i know i'm nuts and i'm so not meant to be here! gone!

 

[ronde]

I don't put a face on a character until I start thinking of how to describe him/her, but I do have a definite personality, body type, and body size in mind before I begin writing. I'm not extremely detailed about looks when I describe a character. I think the personality and a few details are enough to let the reader form his/her own visual. The reader's visual is probably better for them than any I could paint with a detailed description.

I also think personality does a lot to modify physical appearance, and it's easier to write a description of a character that fits the personality rather than attempting the reverse. When most of us see a stranger, we immediately have a feeling that this is a person we would like, or a person we would dislike. It's the old "first impression" your parents and teachers lectured you about, and it's surprising how often that impression is correct. That's the personality forming facial expression, body language, and mannerisms. If I don't already have the personality picked, I can't describe the character.

 

[its Leslie]

I often usual visuals for inspiration, it might be that I am male and we are very visually responsive, I am not sure on that though.

But if a picture says a thousand words, I guess it helps to use a picture instead of just sitting here thinking without one.

 

[Un-registered]

But if a picture says a thousand words, I guess it helps to use a picture instead of just sitting here thinking without one.

But would you want to read a story that actually used a thousand words to describe a character?

To quote from a great writer, Charles Dickens, describing a character:

"There stood Mrs. Fezziwig, one vast substantial smile."

Can't you see her, from just those four words??????

 

[Pookie]

I typically have the personalities in my mind first. Then the looks of the character take shape in my mind based on the personality I want to portray. I don't get too much into descriptions beyond body size, hair color/length, and facial expressions.

 

[TheEarl]

I firmly believe that aliens give me the characters. I start of f with the story, pick a random name and the character just seems to develop as I'm writing. Usually they develop fairly well.

The Earl

 

[its Leslie]

well 1k words is a lot to chose from of course heheh, but I am not saying I would use them all heheh.

 

[Whispersecret]

My characters develop as I go. Sometimes I know how I want them to look, but not usually. I start with a name and a situation, maybe some internal conflict, some problem that needs to be solved, or some goal. Then, I just write. Stuff comes out along the way. I'll be happily writing chapter one, and BOOM, I decide the hero is an accountant. I might be in chapter three and decide that he should be a postal worker instead. Then I'll be working on a sex scene and suddenly see that the woman has short curly hair.

That's usually the way it goes for me. I make character decisions en route, and change whatever will work better or is more true to the story. I don't plan much ahead of time. I did that once, and never finished the novel. Now, I know to trust my subconscious to cough up details when I need them.

 

[PoliteSuccubus]

Did you know that Perry Mason's looks were never descibed in the books? It wasn't until the TV show came on air that people ascribed a look to the lawyer.

For myself, it depends on the type of story I am doing. In very short stories it's not so much how the characters actually look, but how the other characters percieve them looking. In longer works I might add some details like "sun streaked hair" to indicate that this is an active person. However in books I use full descriptions but also the other two forementioned. I use the reactions of the other characters *such as one man might view a 200 lb woman as wonderfully sexyly curved, while his friends thinks "What a cow!"*

Also "tags". A tag is something a particluar character is or does that cues the reader into his/her individuality.

"Tom ran his work roughened fingers thu his windblown hair."

Tom is a no nonsense outdoorsy hard working man. And maybe, at the time he did this shy or fustrated. In a longer story he would always do this, slightly rewritten, every time he felt shy or fustrated.

"Oh fudgenuts!" Alice cried.

Alice would be the only person in the story who ever says "fudgenuts" as it is her "tag".

 

[its Leslie]

I fully agree with the thought on "tags" actually.

I want to be able to get to know a character by personality traits if the personality is to be around for any length of time.

And some actions expressions or descriptions go a long way if done well.

 

[PoliteSuccubus]

For fun why not go to a party or public place like a resturant where the same people will be sitting for a while and watch for and jot down tags.

We just did this last night with a friend of ours, point out not only his and our own tags, but group interaction tags like the way my roommate and I will look at each other and laugh with no one else knowing what the heck we are laughing about.

 

[TheEarl]

Did you know that Perry Mason's looks were never descibed in the books? It wasn't until the TV show came on air that people ascribed a look to the lawyer.

I don't know who Perry Mason is, so that's lost on me. Interesting how certain characters are given an image by the actors who play them. I can never read High Fidelity without seeing Jack Black on the face of Barry.

I've received several e-mails talking about my Seducing Dawn series (based on Buffy the Vampir Slayer TV show) where readers talk about Michelle Trachtenberg and Alysson Hannigan. This is always slightly disappointing as I always felt that I was writing about the characters, not the actors (in fact I barely pictured the actors). I felt that Seducing Dawn would have stood on its own in the story section rather than just being a celebrity story, but I suppose those are always the risks.

The Earl

 

[Sabledrake]

Most of the time, I have a general idea in my head of what the character is like -- height, build, hair/eyes/skin color, distinguishing features, energy level, style of dress, personality basics. I don't always put all that info in the stories, but as long as _I_ know, I feel much more confident.

Sometimes I will later see a photo, or movie/tv show, or real life person and reel back, thinking, "Wow, that's the spitting image of so-and-so!" I used to work with a woman who looked almost exactly like the heroine of my first fantasy trilogy ('almost' because she was human and not half-elven). It's amusing to sit and think about who would portray the characters if the rare lightning-strike of a movie deal ever happened.

That's funny about Perry Mason. I've noticed that a lot of books written in the first person don't do much description of the central character. Makes sense, but I like having a little something to go on in my head.

PoliteSuccubus -- I think your Alice and my Aiden, who says "crudbunnies," would get along just dandy!

Sabledrake

 

[PoliteSuccubus]

Um, well, actually.... I say fudgenuts all the time. lol.

 

[Uther_Pendragon]

I don't put a face on a character until I start thinking of how to describe him/her, but I do have a definite personality, body type, and body size in mind before I begin writing. I'm not extremely detailed about looks when I describe a character. I think the personality and a few details are enough to let the reader form his/her own visual. The reader's visual is probably better for them than any I could paint with a detailed description.

:
I'm somewhat the same way. I know a *lot* about
any character before I know how he/she looks.
Someone said that you are much more likely to learn the
last book a Pendragon heroine read than to learn her bra
size.