Saturday, May 26, 2007

Creating characters through pictures

I have an article on my website, written by me for the LARA Confidential, that describes how I often use photographs of actors or models to create my characters, sometimes using qualities of the character being portrayed to add multiple layers to my own characters. Since a picture speaks a thousand words, here are a few I thought you might like.

I didn't have a picture for my hero Wolf in The Legacy when I was writing the book, and I often felt hampered by that. However, years later, I did discover a picture that not only fit Wolf perfectly, he fit the character of The Justice Seeker in my paranormal manuscript by the same name. Here's the gentleman, and I only wish I knew who he was. I got this one out of a GQ Magazine:

I always had an image in mind of my heroine, Sabina. She was Liv Tyler, looking variously as she does in Lord of the Rings,
but not always. Here is a shot of her smile, with which Wolf is particularly enamored.
For my second manuscript, Alonsa's Choice, the hero's physical description is based on Viggo Mortenson's character of Aragorn in Lord of the Rings. Yummy. Who cares what my heroine looks like? LOL!
Finally, in Dreamweaver, I got to spend lots of time looking at pictures of George Clooney, who became the model for my character of Rome, the LAPD detective. In fact, I describe this exact picture when Rome visits the apartment of my heroine, Jessie:
I even used this backdrop of the apartment to represent Jessie's style (with some feminine additions).
So, writing is about imagination, yes, but it's also about making things (and people) seem real. What inspires you when you write?
TJB

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Miss Snark, the literary agent: Miss Snark is Retiring

Miss Snark, the literary agent: Miss Snark is Retiring

Say it isn't so! Miss Snark is retiring.

Miss Snark, the Literary Agent and fellow George Clooney worshipper, is hanging up her gin pail. Her wisdom, foresight, and tough love have saved countless writers from nitwittery. If you are a writer just starting out in this business, be sure to careen through the blog before sending out one thing to an editor or agent in order to save yourself from making the most obvious of mistakes (you'll make some anyway, but this will narrow the odds a bit). She has graciously decided to leave the blog up as a historical record of all the clues she shot with the clue gun. Both she and Killer Yap will be sorely missed.

Goodbye, Miss Snark. Parting is such sweet sorrow...yada yada. :-)

TJB

Thursday, May 03, 2007

My new cover is here!


Well, much to my surprise, my cover has arrived early! Oh, the excitement. It makes me want to go out and sniff the flowers in my garden. LOL! Here's the full cover, front and back:


The motif is evocative of a running theme in the story involving gardens and roses. Through various stages of the story, the symbolism of death, rebirth, renewal, and growth carry throughout. When my heroine first gets a look at her new home, it is winter, and the house is surrounded by the blunted stems of dead rose bushes. She sees them as a promise of renewal. Very soon after, she and my hero have a conversation about the transient nature of life, and relate it to a flower. In the early spring, my heroine begins working in the garden, planting seeds as her hope buds over the possibility of a real relationship with the man she's married. The last scene of the book finds my heroine standing in a full-blooming rose garden, her face turned up to the sun.

So, it is nice that the artist chose this particular theme to feature on the cover of my book. My book has a cover now! It's really, really real! Gushing here...

What do you think?
TJB