Action/Adventure NL August 16, 2006

About this newsletter:

The follies a man regrets most in his life are those he didn't commit when he had the opportunity.
~Helen Rowland

Only those who dare truly live.
~Ruth Freedman

Adventure is worthwhile in itself.
~Amelia Earhart

The world is all gates, all opportunities, strings of tension waiting to be struck.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson



From the Editor:

How Do You See Your Characters?

As writers, we tend to be a visual lot. But how far does that visualization go toward seeing your characters?

Can you completely see every character in your mind's eye? Do you need hits? Do they look like or resemble a real person?

My method varies between them all although, to a lesser degree, the third. Once I have a name, I can pretty well see the person behind it. I will automatically know what color hair and eyes and what body type they will have. I will know their likes and dislikes.

Sometimes I might need a little push. In this case I go to my trusty box of pictures I've cut out of magazines, newspapers and such. In this case, it's usually a certain feature I can't quite grasp. I have scraps with only eyes, mouth or a forearm on them for reference.

At one time, I was to write a novel with a friend. She had already laid out the plot, characters and setting. The idea was that she felt I was better at description and she insisted on writing all the dialog. Not a bad idea in theory. But she had a method for choosing her character's looks that, I felt, would have made it difficult for me. You see, when my friend writes her characters, she chooses film and television stars that she feels would best play the role should Hollywood pick up the book for a film. Every last character is chosen this way. I found it difficult to write without describing the real person exactly and thusly felt that I wasn't being true to the work. Having said this, I have two characters in an as yet unrealized novel that are based on actors. One is a female that a particular actress, in laid back photos, has the perfect look for. Will I describe her exactly? Probably not. She merely has the right look. A male character is written with a particular actor's style in mind, not necessarily his look. There is just something about him that would work for this character. In not choosing to write the descriptions exactly as the person appears, I have given myself some leeway.

There are many ways we can go about finding the right description for our characters. What are yours?