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Whilst going through one of the drafts of my first novel I thought it would be really handy to have a master sheet with photos of characters cribbed from various sources.
I then thought this might be an amateurish solution; I couldn’t imagine Orwell cutting out faces in-between coughing fits on Jura.
Sometime later I read this article by Gareth L Powell ‘Do you have trouble remembering what your characters look like? in which he proposes the exact same solution I'd earlier felt was a bit of a cheeky shortcut.
If it’s good enough for him, then by ‘eck it’s good enough for me!
So, after I finished the first draft of my second novel, Broken Branches, armed with a list of characters and an idea of what they looked like and how they acted, I set off to find their closest representations in magazines, newspapers, brochures and online.
A couple of famous faces! A girl from [British TV show] Holby City – I was watching it round my parents house after dinner and thought, ‘That’s her!’. Also, Gordon Ramsey’s father-in-law. He looks curmudgeon enough for my needs.
I added a few artistic tweeks to some of them; adding a hat, changing hair style, eye colour, etc.
I found the worse places to find images of people are tabloid newspapers and gossip magazines, they mainly have famous people which creates a barrier to separating the celebrity from your character.
The best places are;
- Local newspapers – featuring unknown local people. They also have a low ‘model' count so they're a good place to ensure your cast of characters aren't all stunningly beautiful.
- Broadsheets – featuring plenty of unrecognisable business and political people, plenty of which are satisfyingly ‘aesthetically-challenged'.
- Travel brochures – great for good looking but not too beautiful, families. That guy in the bottom left is a Norwegian TV personality (I think). I found him in a brochure whilst on a skiing holiday in Norway.
- Stock photo websites – great casting couch for a wide range of people from all walks of life, such as a Japanese business person on the phone. Lots of staged photos so your character isn't just staring at the camera but also ‘doing' something.
- Newspaper and Magazine ads – the ones not featuring famous people. Good place to find representations of tradesmen or ‘normal' customers at home or on the phone.
- Junk Mail – Finally, a use for junk mail!
I found this sheet to be a great reminder of names and faces which can easily get forgotten or confused. It also helps with the relationships between them and I also make a note of their occupations and other little key points.
The two columns of scribble are a one sentence synopsis of each chapter which is another great reference for knowing when something happens.
I only added characters to this sheet that appear in more than one scene. The main aim of this tool is to be a concise and clear point of reference, you don't want to clutter it up with non-speaking extra's.
I'd only recommend doing this on a subsequent draft, not before or during the first draft. You may have an idea of what your characters look like and other details, but they can change during the first draft. Give your characters the opportunity and freedom to evolve throughout the novel before nailing down some certainties.
Once you've finished that first draft, hopefully you'll find this to be a useful tool in helping you edit and improve the next ones. I know I certainly did.
Image: Flickr CC Striatic
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1 2 Next »This is fabulous. I've been thinking of doing something like this, but didn't know where to start. What a tangible way to really get to know a character. I'm passing this along. Thanks!
I've used the same technique for about a year now. I had no idea others had thought to do so--even advocated doing so--but it seems like such an obvious thing to do that I'd be surprised if it hadn't been thought of by others. It's a great way to keep things visually in order. I write fantasy, and we always draw maps for our worlds as visual cues, so why not have a character map also? Good stuff.
I just finished publishing the second book in my YA fantasy series, and this would have helped with a problem I kept finding. The time between writing book one, Duffy Barkley is Not a Dog, and Book 2, Duffy Barkley: Seek Well, had impacted my memory more than I ever would have believed on something i knew so intimately. It wasn't so much what they look like, to me, as minor details of spelling and location. Had I used Bell Island or Belle Island, and was it in a lake or a river? Was it Turtle's Bay or Turtles Bow? Was the albino buffalo Little White or Little White Cloud? I had drawn a map for the locations, but as Brondt says, a character map would have helped a lot, and since I am aiming at 5 books, it is a good time to start.
This is a great idea. I love anything visual to help me write. Maybe I'm a frustrated artist.
Thanks Ben & Joanna.
This is an excellent idea and very practical. In fact, now that I think about it, it can really boost creativity and help with the writer's block (in those rare moments when it comes).
I've found that when I browse internet in search for the elusive "look" of a character, or a particular tree or a building, the random images that come up really do propel my imagination in bizarre and frequently delightful ways.
A nice article, thanks!
Great idea! I'm editing my second novel now and I've managed to lose track of details about characters as I was writing. Mapping the characters would've prevented this problem.
Wow, and I thought we were the only ones who did this! It's extremely helpful to use pictures, and this way both of us (we are co-writers) are visualizing the same person. We also do a character sketch, meaning we list the attributes and personality of each character. Great article!
This is a great idea. It's a favored pastime of mine to play "Who would I cast here?" if I were casting for the movie of my book. Sometimes it works really well to help me nail down aspects of lesser characters in my mind that I don't deal with on a daily basis. I'll give this a try! Thanks!
Hi all, thanks for all your positive comments. Good luck for everyone trying this out for the first time.
This is an awesome, awesome post! I've read before about "casting" your characters, but always had trouble with the idea--because honestly, these are unique people inside our heads and I don't want to muddy my character's personality with a well known celebrity. But I'd never thought of looking in some of these places. I think I'm going to try this out, then.
Thanks a million for the insightful post!