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,
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