Wednesday, December 15, 2010

In Which I Pick My Characters

To continue on my theme of pictures for my WIP, I decided to once again search online for pictures of people who match my internal images of my characters.

I always have a very firm picture in my head of what my characters look like. Sometimes it may take a whole novel before I know for sure, but by the end I could pick them out of a lineup.

So that's why I'm always surprised when I'm able to find pictures of real people who match my imagination so well. Sometimes their hair cuts are a little different, but that's no big deal.

In Glimpse I pretty much only have 3 characters, not counting Rule the sea serpent. Here are the pics I found of my characters:


This is main character Pier:




Here's Pier's younger sister Nemmy:




And this is Pier's love interest Lani:



Yay! Fun times! So how about you? Been browsing the people pics on the interwebs?

21 comments:

Anne Ahiers said...

i think i pictured Pier more thin in the face. also Lani wth a longer face. but otherwise they look good

Summer Frey said...

I still haven't gotten a good handle on my MC's face, but I've got a great image of the other 3 characters.

Anne Gallagher said...

These are great. I have to go shopping for my Violet. I just can't seem to get her yet.

Matthew MacNish said...

I could never do this because I'm way too uptight about my characters, but I do think it's cool to see others selections. I'm curious to know what kind of search terms you put into Google to find these images.

vic caswell said...

i've never really tried to do this... looks like fun! another procrastination project! hooray! your characters look adorable, btw. and sea serpents? totally legit!

Hannah said...

It's only happened to me one time, as you know, with Josh Hartnett. No, wait. I got the dad of my female mc for this book as well. I just let it happen naturally. I can't search for them because I'll never find them.

yokohamamama said...

Wow--the beauty of Google Image search! I never thought of doing anything like that--or that you could do that. That awesome cover, that cute main character--now I *really* want to read your NaNo novel!!

Lola Sharp said...

I can never find pictures of real people that look like my characters in my head.

Where/how do you find them?? How do you do your google search?

Sarah Ahiers said...

Anne - also, to be fair, Pier has kinda curly hair but what can you do?

Summer - sometimes it's looking for pics of people that really solidfy them for me

Anne - you'll find her, i'm sure

Matthew - you should give it a try. You might be surprised. I don't use google, i use a model and acting website where people can uploade their own pictures for use. I specifically use New Faces, mostly, but have used other ones as well

Aspiring - it's an AWESOME way to procrastinate - cuz, i mean, looking for real pics of your characters is still related to writing, Right? RIGHT?!

Hannah - i bet i could find a good pic of your male MC in Jayne Doe. But then again, that would be how i picture him

Yokohama - awww *blush* thanks!

Lola - i use model/actor searches - i just googled model pics or something and a bunch of websites pop up. I typically use New Faces because they let you put in age, skin color, hair coloe etc

Austin Gorton said...

I'm kinda weird in that characters never really form into full pictures in my head. Distinguishing traits and characteristics, sure, but I never really develop a crisp clear picture of their faces, whether I'm writing them or reading them.

It's...odd.

Sarah Ahiers said...

Teebore - it's because you're too busy getting the specific sentences mapped out in your head

Austin Gorton said...

it's because you're too busy getting the specific sentences mapped out in your head

Ha! Touche.

Hart Johnson said...

I usually start with something vague and end up with something much more clear, too--I am lightish on description though, in the text, as when I READ i prefer to let my imagination supplement.

Your characters look great! The last gal, especially looks like a Lani--I picture that as an island name (Hawaii-ish) and she fits my 'little Polynesian blood' image.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

No, and when Dezz asked who would play my main characters, I was really pressed to think of someone. (Ended up selecting Sean Bean for Bassa and Chris Pine for Byron.)
I know some wiggly actors who could be your sea serpent!

Shelley Sly said...

Ooh, I like picking out pictures of my characters. I actually save images in a word document and label their names next to their pictures, so if I ever need inspiration, I can actually see their faces. I like your characters, very cute. :)

Unknown said...

Yes! I do this, too! But I can't ever use famous people or people I already know of. I always google the features I know until I come up with some unknown model or something (and it's nice that many of today's models look like normal people). I have found pictures that match my characters perfectly!

Kristin Rae said...

Some of my characters are easy to picture.... others, I just have a vague, ever-changing impression of their overall appearance. I know I really need to get better at this... how else can i describe them accurately?!

Anonymous said...

I haven't done this in a while, but I do enjoy it . . .

Al said...

Hmm, Yes I have to admit I have frequently looked for my characters. I have to say I don't often succeed in finding something I'd be happy using.

Sarah Ahiers said...

Hart - oh me too. I'm typically kind of vague in descriptions. Maybe i mention hair color and length

Alex - i tried to think of Sean Bean as Bassa when i read it

Shelley - i save them too! then i can go back and look at them whenever i want

Dangerous - i can't use famous people either. They have to be no names, just regular peeps

Kristin - yeah i have that problem sometimes too. I don't know why some are so much easier to picture than others

Kelly - it's a fun procrastination

Al - i'm usually pretty successful. I'm more successful the younger the character i find

Unknown said...

I decided to do this for my Spake stories as I was inspired by another one of your posts like this. I found this (really cute) pic of one guy that was absolutely Perfect. I wasn't exactly sure what he looked like, so it helped a lot. Fun stuff :)

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