Hatrack River Forum: Is there a particular person you think of when you read any of OSC's books?

This is topic Is there a particular person you think of when you read any of OSC's books? in forum Discussions About Orson Scott Card at Hatrack River Forum.

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Posted by Shartae (Member # 5688) on :

It doesnt matter what Ender book it is, I always think of Ender Wiggin as Trowa Barton from GW anime series... It all just fell into place like that with a few other characters comming into play...

do you ever find yourself doing that and it never changes?

Shartae

Posted by Nessa Nu (Member # 5471) on :

Well, let's say it used to happen to me when I was a teenager [Big Grin]

, now not so much anymore. When I would read I would sometimes see certain singers, actors etc. I liked at that time [Blushing]

. Silly, uh?

Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :

Not for me. Heck, I have no clue what the faces of any of the OSC charecters look like. Whenever I picture them in my mind I can never picture the faces, I'm not sure how that works... [Confused]

Hobbes

Posted by unohoo (Member # 5490) on :

I do get mental images of the characters, but not necessarily of anyone in particular. Go figure. [Dont Know]

Posted by Da_Goat (Member # 5529) on :

What unohoo said. Sometimes I'll have to adjust my idea of a character as OSC adds a new description to them. For instance, it really was weird when I learned that Lusitanians were black, especially because I was picturing most of the females with light blond hair, and Libo as a Mexican (I still don't know why), because his name sounded Spanish to me.

[ September 21, 2003, 10:29 PM: Message edited by: Da_Goat ]

Posted by Nick (Member # 4311) on :

I'm always reminded of my sister* for OSC's chavinist characters, I'm reminded of my dad** for unreasonable ones, and my mom for over-emotional characters.***

-NOTE: The above is a great over-exaggeration. [Big Grin]

Footnotes:
*I love my sister, but she can be a female chauvinist at times.
**I love my dad, but he is unreasonable quite often.
***I love my mom, but she gets emotional whenever you have a conflict with her.
[Big Grin]

Posted by Nico (Member # 4617) on :

Don't know why, but the first time that I read EG I imagine Bean was a black kid and I still do!
Mind's trick... [Confused]

Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :

I knew a lady named Petra who was a blond German. So I have a hard time shaking that image. Alvin always comes up as a certain religious celebrity . On the cover art for Homecoming, the character I presume to be Elemak is called "Uncle Richard" by my daughter. I imagine him to be much bigger.

Posted by Marie Lu (Member # 5738) on :

I've personally always pictured Haley Joel Osment whenever I think of Ender. I know, I know...pretty uninteresting, but I can't help it--to me, that kid just oozes Ender!

Posted by Ryan_Larsen (Member # 5530) on :

Usually, I don't have any specific person in mind for the characters of any book... except two. The main character usually looks somewhat like me (if male) and his female counterpart usually looks like my current romantic interest. I don't know if anyone else does that... could just be one of my quirks. Every other character usually develops facial features, etc, throughout the book.

One exception to this is when I have seen the movie version of a book... that usually locks in appearance for me.... (sometimes that's annoying, too....)

Posted by unohoo (Member # 5490) on :

Nico, you may be more on the mark about Bean than you think you are. More of his ancestry is revealed in Shadow Puppets, which I am presently reading. Let me just say that part of his ancestry is African.

Posted by Ksig (Member # 5625) on :

I don't know about anyone else, but i always see Ender as a young Haley Joel Osment (6th sense kid). And, i feel kind of stupid saying this but, i imagine valentine to look like me.

Posted by Nico (Member # 4617) on :

Really??? that's weird...
But in EG says that Bean is greek.

right unohoo? or I wondering all over again?

Posted by unohoo (Member # 5490) on :

He is Greek, Nico, but of mixed origin. In Shadow Puppets Bean reveals that his mother's mother was an Ibo diplomat. Which means that he has some African ancestry. [Smile]

Posted by blacwolve (Member # 2972) on :

Lusitanians were black!!! I totally did not know this. They're probably going to stay Spanish/ Mexican like in my mind, 'cause it's too late to change that idea. Anyway, that's like 4,000 years from now, I imagine by that time everyone will be so mixed racially no one will be black, or hispanic, or anything.

Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :

Racial mixing isn't like spilling paint. [Roll Eyes]

Not that you implied there was anything bad about this, but it's kind of like the idea that if we keep allowing caesarian births, everyone will wind up having small hips.

Edit: And I don't get the Osment connection. He's so sensitive looking. Yeah he looks intelligent and empathetic, but half of what Ender brought to the program was ruthlessness. As long as we are weighing candidates who are too old anyway, why not McCauley Caulkin? jk

[ October 01, 2003, 08:06 PM: Message edited by: pooka ]

Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :

quote:
Racial mixing isn't like spilling paint. Not that you implied there was anything bad about this, but it's kind of like the idea that if we keep allowing caesarian births, everyone will wind up having small hips.

Pooka -- I honestly don't know what you are trying to say here. I don't understand your point about the paint, nor the ceasarian births. Could you elaborate?

Posted by Ryan Hart (Member # 5513) on :

[Wall Bash]

What is this, 1890? Aquired charictaristics are not transmitable, and not all people born with c-section have small hips.
[Wall Bash]

Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :

What Ryan said, though I wouldn't go to the extreme of maxing out my smilies on headbangers. I am biracial and people are always thinking it's weird that I married a white guy. Like I should have stuck to my own kind. I have only met one guy who was my specific bi-race besides my brothers. Sorry if I get a little snippy about it.

Posted by Nico (Member # 4617) on :

Let me ask you guys something...

I don't remember if in SFTD says that portugueses fellas are black...so I ask...what do you think about the brazilians, are they all black people?
or like blacwolve said...spanish/mexican biotype?

Answer sincerely

Ps: I'm a brazilian one

Posted by Grandma Edie (Member # 5771) on :

I notice that more than one person has imagined characters that look like oneself, and wonders if there is something "crazy" about that.
You are in good company!

In Card's book, "Characters and Viewpoints" he mentions how his editor and his publisher objected to the fact that he had never described Dinah Kirkham. He asked them how they visualized Dinah. Each woman described herself.

I always see Card's women as tall and brunette, unless otherwise described. Guess what? I am 5'10"
with brown hair and eyes.

[ROFL]

Posted by Dobbie (Member # 3881) on :

This is how I always picture Bean.

Posted by fiazko (Member # 5812) on :

i had seen The Abyss countless times before i read OSC's written version. even so, i didn't really picture the actors as i was reading it. i don't really picture specific characteristics unless they're mentioned. for me the characters are just kind of general entities -- male or female, young or old.

Posted by Eruve Nandiriel (Member # 5677) on :

For some reason, I can't picture their faces either. But I can for a lot of other books.

Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :

quote:
Is there a particular person you think of when you read any of OSC's books?

Yeah. I think of OSC. I wonder when he will publish another book.

:-p

Oh, and I think of this when I read about Bean.

:-p

Posted by UTAH (Member # 5032) on :

I picture the characters in my mind when I read books. They don't really remind me of anyone in particular. I just picture them the way Orson describes them to me. That is why I really hate it when they put some artist's perception of the character on the front of a book. It is never like I imagined in my own mind and it really ticks me off. [No No]

For instance, the picture on the front of the Crystal City is the worst!!!!
Haley Joel Osment(is that spelled right?) for Ender? Oh, please, NO. . .
He's a girl. And I'll never get the image of "I see dead people," out of my mind.

[ October 16, 2003, 09:52 AM: Message edited by: UTAH ]

Posted by fiazko (Member # 5812) on :

i wasn't so sure about haley joel osment, either, even though i think he's a good actor, but lucky for those who don't see him as ender, he's no longer the cute little kid from A.I. and The Sixth Sense. i'm fairly certain he's just too old now. oh well.

[ October 16, 2003, 11:18 PM: Message edited by: fiazko ]