A glimpse into my writing process

Well, now that I've got your attention...

One of the questions I get asked a lot by aspiring writers is how do I decide what my characters look like? For every writer it is different, of course, but for me it often begins when I spy a picture in a magazine or think about a favorite actor.

The picture above is one I shamelessly ripped out of a magazine at a doctor's office (I think) and took home with me in my purse (hence the fold marks). I had already begun writing Dark Angel and had named my hero Gerard because there were certain qualities about the actor Gerard Butler in Phantom of the Opera that inspired me. However, when I saw this model in a cologne ad, I knew I had found my true Gerard. Read the description I had written before I ever saw this picture:
   
The gray mist of his gaze enveloped mine and blocked all else from the periphery of my vision. The untamed beauty of his face struck me even in my half-conscious state.

   Another woman might have found his high cheekbones and exotic eyes excessively proud or the swarthy hue of his skin too foreign or the black slash of his eyebrows too authoritarian. Nevertheless, to me, he was beautiful like a wild thing was beautiful, some creature of the forest and the fields.

Eerie, right? Even down to the color of his eyes. I hope you've enjoyed this glimpse into my writing process! 
~TJ Bennett

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