I recently created a Pinterest board full of pictures of people. Celebrities/actors mostly. You can see it here: Basis for Characters. Why would I have a board filled with the Hollywood elite on my author Pinterest page? Was it just to look at some eye candy when I get bored? Nope. Although a lot of the men ARE actual eye candy.
It's for inspiration. For Characters.
We're writers, so creating a character isn't that hard. We can emotionally connect, get into the heads of each one of them, write like we ARE them. But are we describing their physical features as well as their emotions and minds? The color of their hair, the sculpt of their cheekbones, the expression of their eyes, the angle of the jaw? How about the shapes of their bodies, the lift of their eyebrows, the way they look when they move, laugh, smile, smirk, frown. That's a lot of physical attributes to imagine up in your head.
That's why having a picture to help you SEE those details makes it a hell of a lot easier to describe. Does this mean all my characters have to look like that person in that picture? No.
Yes, authors ten to make their characters stunning, beautiful and sexy, but they don't HAVE to be. You can have the muscle of Chris Hemsworth, the brooding eyes of Christian Bale, the gorgeous smile of Jake Gyllenhal all rolled into one character. But to really describe those attributes, it's nice to have a visual cue to go off of.
Again, they don't all have to be celebrities. Take some pictures out of your family's photo album. The dreamy look you gave your husband on your wedding day. The exhausted and overjoyed smile right after you gave birth to your first child. The look of wonder on your husband's face when he held you child for the first time. The bubbly laughter of your children, captured forever on film.
Find at least three words to describe your character's hair color, eye color, skin tone. Find new ways to weave the image of them with your words. Having pictures to look at while doing this will help you immensely.
Here's some examples of descriptions I came up with from pictures on that board:
This Liv Tyler picture is perfect for the amount of faces she gives you.
"She brushed her tongue across her top lip as she watched me with half-lidded eyes. Her intent was clear. She wanted me to come home with her."
"She looked over her shoulder at me with that smile that I'd come to love. The slight upward quirk of her lips, outlining her cheekbones, making her eyes sparkle with a silent laughter."
This picture of Emma Watson gives a great example of a surprised look.
"Her eyebrows winged up as her mouth popped open in surprise. She clearly hadn't expected to see me here."
Anne Hathaway
"Her large brown eyes were so full of sadness. They were her most dominant feature. I felt as if I would drown in the pool of despair I could clearly see behind them."....
"But then she looked up at me and smiled and her face transformed. Her beautiful eyes crinkled as her smile widened, the lines around her mouth deepening. She really was beautiful and when she looked at me, I couldn't help but smile back."
Tom Hiddleston
"His eyebrows scrunched together as tears welled in his eyes. His anger was palpable as his face grew red. "You lied to me!" he screamed. "
It's for inspiration. For Characters.
We're writers, so creating a character isn't that hard. We can emotionally connect, get into the heads of each one of them, write like we ARE them. But are we describing their physical features as well as their emotions and minds? The color of their hair, the sculpt of their cheekbones, the expression of their eyes, the angle of the jaw? How about the shapes of their bodies, the lift of their eyebrows, the way they look when they move, laugh, smile, smirk, frown. That's a lot of physical attributes to imagine up in your head.
That's why having a picture to help you SEE those details makes it a hell of a lot easier to describe. Does this mean all my characters have to look like that person in that picture? No.
Yes, authors ten to make their characters stunning, beautiful and sexy, but they don't HAVE to be. You can have the muscle of Chris Hemsworth, the brooding eyes of Christian Bale, the gorgeous smile of Jake Gyllenhal all rolled into one character. But to really describe those attributes, it's nice to have a visual cue to go off of.
Again, they don't all have to be celebrities. Take some pictures out of your family's photo album. The dreamy look you gave your husband on your wedding day. The exhausted and overjoyed smile right after you gave birth to your first child. The look of wonder on your husband's face when he held you child for the first time. The bubbly laughter of your children, captured forever on film.
Find at least three words to describe your character's hair color, eye color, skin tone. Find new ways to weave the image of them with your words. Having pictures to look at while doing this will help you immensely.
Here's some examples of descriptions I came up with from pictures on that board:
This Liv Tyler picture is perfect for the amount of faces she gives you.
"She brushed her tongue across her top lip as she watched me with half-lidded eyes. Her intent was clear. She wanted me to come home with her."
"She looked over her shoulder at me with that smile that I'd come to love. The slight upward quirk of her lips, outlining her cheekbones, making her eyes sparkle with a silent laughter."
This picture of Emma Watson gives a great example of a surprised look.
"Her eyebrows winged up as her mouth popped open in surprise. She clearly hadn't expected to see me here."
Anne Hathaway
"Her large brown eyes were so full of sadness. They were her most dominant feature. I felt as if I would drown in the pool of despair I could clearly see behind them."....
"But then she looked up at me and smiled and her face transformed. Her beautiful eyes crinkled as her smile widened, the lines around her mouth deepening. She really was beautiful and when she looked at me, I couldn't help but smile back."Tom Hiddleston
"His eyebrows scrunched together as tears welled in his eyes. His anger was palpable as his face grew red. "You lied to me!" he screamed. "
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