Hatrack River Writers Workshop   
my profile login | search | faq | forum home

  next oldest topic   next newest topic
» Hatrack River Writers Workshop » Forums » Open Discussions About Writing » Faces for your characters

   
Author Topic: Faces for your characters
MartinV
Member
Member # 5512

 - posted      Profile for MartinV   Email MartinV         Edit/Delete Post 
I am virtually unable to visualize the faces for my characters. Sure, I can think about facial details, but that's far from having a face talking and producing true expressions in your mind. So I decided to look for faces which I could glue on my characters' heads. I look for them in real life or I search for proper faces in movies. That's usually the best place to look because in movies these faces are also in more similar situations than real life people.

What do you do to find good faces?


Posts: 1271 | Registered: May 2007  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
JeanneT
Member
Member # 5709

 - posted      Profile for JeanneT   Email JeanneT         Edit/Delete Post 
This has been discussed in the past and I think came down to some people being more visual than others. I always visualize my characters' faces. I don't have to "find" them any more than I have to find the characters themselves. Other people don't visualize their characters at all or only do so vaguely.
Posts: 1588 | Registered: Jul 2007  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
KStar
Member
Member # 4968

 - posted      Profile for KStar           Edit/Delete Post 
I will normally decide on who the character is, all their personality traits, etc. and then fit it into a person I already know. This makes it easier to write them and gives me a total profile for their movements, reactions, others reactions to them, etc. It's usually a person I know, or a celebrity that I choose. The last book I finished was a girl from high school, and two actors. Once in a while I'll invent them, but I have a hard time achieving a stable visual of them when I do that.
Posts: 141 | Registered: Feb 2007  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
wetwilly
Member
Member # 1818

 - posted      Profile for wetwilly   Email wetwilly         Edit/Delete Post 
Here's the discussion about this question Jeanne was referring to, Martin.

http://www.hatrack.com/forums/writers/forum/Forum1/HTML/004475.html


Posts: 1528 | Registered: Dec 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Pyre Dynasty
Member
Member # 1947

 - posted      Profile for Pyre Dynasty   Email Pyre Dynasty         Edit/Delete Post 
Is there an echo in here?
Posts: 1895 | Registered: Mar 2004  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Kathleen Dalton Woodbury
Administrator
Member # 59

 - posted      Profile for Kathleen Dalton Woodbury   Email Kathleen Dalton Woodbury         Edit/Delete Post 
No echo, just a double post which I have now deleted.
Posts: 8826 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
skadder
Member
Member # 6757

 - posted      Profile for skadder   Email skadder         Edit/Delete Post 
I can't visualise the POV character's face because I look from their eyes, I see other characters clearly, though.
Posts: 2995 | Registered: Oct 2007  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
MartinV
Member
Member # 5512

 - posted      Profile for MartinV   Email MartinV         Edit/Delete Post 
Thanks for the link, wetwilly. I will look into it more thoroughly when I have the time.

What I did read in that thread made me think on the way I once described my two main characters. I even went into their height and weight since that is quite different from our standards and just by putting out these numbers the reader could get the idea on the difference between them and ordinary Earthlings.

To skadder: what happens when your characters look into a mirror?


Posts: 1271 | Registered: May 2007  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
skadder
Member
Member # 6757

 - posted      Profile for skadder   Email skadder         Edit/Delete Post 
Then they usually look at their bodies. If they ever saw their own face it would cause some mental feedback loop and their head would explode.

I think.


Posts: 2995 | Registered: Oct 2007  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
wetwilly
Member
Member # 1818

 - posted      Profile for wetwilly   Email wetwilly         Edit/Delete Post 
Skadder, I think "And then his head exploded" is a much more interesting description than "he had blue eyes, long black hair, and a thin face," anyway.
Posts: 1528 | Registered: Dec 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
   

   Close Topic   Feature Topic   Move Topic   Delete Topic next oldest topic   next newest topic
 - Printer-friendly view of this topic
Hop To:


Contact Us | Hatrack River Home Page

Copyright © 2008 Hatrack River Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.


Powered by Infopop Corporation
UBB.classic™ 6.7.2