Dreaming in Hollywood
Frequently I’m mocked with my chapters as writing something that sounds like something I did the weekend before. It is a widely known fact I pirate the juiciest bits of my own life (or those around me) and embed them in my current manuscript. Perhaps this wouldn’t be so noticeable if I had a plot that swept a reader along so much that they forgot to comment on the “hey, table dancing in Tortuga? Wasn’t that Hellion’s last Port story?” I am ever optimistic there will come a day where I’m published and some reader, who’s never met or heard of me, buys my book and doesn’t realize half the funny stuff in it actually happened in some form.
In any case, when I am retelling these somewhat humorous anecdotes, I do so with a cast that would look good on the silver screen. Being an actress was my #2 dream job, right after writer. I knew at an early age I wrote better than I looked. It was just a fact. But fortunately this leaves me as director, producer, writer, and all those other jobs, and I get to cast who plays my lead.
This is fun. This is possibly the most fun of the writing experience really.
Eve, however, is a sort of cross between Reese Witherspoon and Angelina Jolie, the beauty queen/feminist. Petite, but will stomp your as
s with her dainty heels. Elle Woods meets Tomb Raider. Very high-concept.
Lucifer, although he’s a snake for the duration of this book—he’s got black hair and puppy dog eyes (green in color, but with pathetic appeal of the universal puppy dog.) Johnny Depp—all his best characters rolled up into one consummate player. Yes, Lucifer is my favorite character. Yes, Johnny Depp is my favorite actor. Yes, this is not a coincidence.
Elizabeth, redhaired and vivacious, is Kate Winslet. I may have hated Titanic for all the personal trauma, but she was a looker in that film. But Elizabeth is more sexually secure…a flirt, definitely, a bit of a seductress, but only for forces of good. Kate Winslet with Jane Russell’s attitude from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. [And Jane Russell’s romantic interest in that film has a puppy dog expression as well. “I tell her she has…lips like a red couch in an ivory palace, that I'm lonely and starved for affection. Then, I generally burst into tears. It seldom works.”]
Butterscotch, aka Scott, is…well, I’m not sure. Right now, he looks a bit like RuPaul and John Leguizamo…and maybe a bit of Angelina Jolie.
Bertie…I haven’t quite figured him out yet. He’s rather short though…not the looker that Butterscotch is, but very dignified and the consummate gentleman. Any suggestions?
When you picture your characters do you picture them from scratch, or do you get a little help here and there from Hollywood? Any particular person, or do you throw some Frankenstein artwork together and come up with an “original”? And I won't tell you who Ben was in GOGU. That'd just ruin it.
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29 comments:
Odd. I have never, ever used real people as a basis for my characters. Maybe that's my problem! Would that it were so simple. I did find a painting that looked sad to me though, and I posted it next to the beginning of Paradise.
I don't have my line-up all cast yet. Though my hero is based on a carpenter dude from TLC. Jason Cameron. Look him up, you'll be glad you did. *g*
I don't picture actors/actresses for my characters really. They are brand new people, people that have come to life in my head and if I picture a particular actor for a part, I would not be able to make them unique or think of them as real people.
This goes for what I read as well. I never picture the hero as a particular actor. That would mess me up.
But, I do want to thank you for the purty pictures. *sigh* I never mind having to look at Brad or Johnny. LOL!
When I envision my characters I create them just like a plot or storyline. Sometimes just like dialog or scenes their faces come to mind.
I should try envisioning actors, maybe I wouldn't struggle so much with the character creation process:)
*LOL* Okay, so I'm weird. Got it. *LOL*
I do say, I started out thinking of Ben as a Hollywood crossbreed (a couple different actors), and he sorta morphed into his own person. Maybe he was always his own person...but it helps me to have the cookie cutter, then I can add the frosting and decals.
I hope those are edible decals. LOL!
I will say when I write the story I do sort of see it as a movie in my head. I see plot twists as they would happen on the screen. Or even throw in cinema stuff as if the reader can see the characters.
For instance, my heroine is basically a pessimist when the book starts and she's always wearing black, gray or dark blues. But as the story progresses and she falls in love with the hero, her wardrobe changes and she starts to wear colors again. She starts to pay more attention to her hair and make up.
It's a visual and that might not come across to the readers but it helps me envision her character arc.
I've tried envisioning my characters as Hollywood stars, but I've never seen one that reminds me of any of my characters. I wanted Sadie to emulate Olivia from L&O SVU, but she doesn't look like her what so ever. I've already said that Ash has that Matty look. Dark hair, light colored eyes that go dark whether he's pissed or aroused. I'm finding that my erotica man is a little of the same caliber of Ash. Dark hair, blue eyes, body of a God and sinful as the devil himself. I love to make my own men. That's the best part of writing your own novel, you get to write the man you'd drool over if he walked past you on the street.
PS. That pic of JD is lickalicious. He looks positively sinful.
I love Olivia from L&O...I do pull my personalities from other sources than the actors/movie characters I'm using. They're more a hodgepodge. I picture Sadie looking...well...more like you. *LOL* She tends to act more like you. *LOL*
I think it's sweet that Ash is like Matty. (Would this be "Sears" Matty? *LOL*) For some reason I didn't imagine Ash as dark-haired--I think it's because LKH's Ash is blonde and that messes with me. Though honestly I don't spend a lot of time focusing on Ash's hair. *LOL*
Does this mean I'm the weird one since my heroine looks nothing like me. Except for having reddish-brown hair and really blue eyes, she's very different from me. Tall, thin, high cheek bones, leggy. All the things I'd like to be. LOL!
LOL. Oh the many characters of Matty. When Matty was free as a bird, he was a wild one, but not very dangerous. He kinda reminds me of an untamed teddy bear, you try to hug him and he stiff arms you but then you scratch his beard and he melts like chocolate.
I can't have a hero as a blonde. Though I've thought about making Cam a dirty blonde or maybe a light brown just because he just seems like he would be. I like my men dark and blonde to me just shouts California surfer boy lazy type. Cam has that unversal blend in look, so he's not going to be movie star gorgeous but there's a twinkle in his eyes that hooks my heroine. And his attitude.
And honestly Hellion, I just think about Ash naked. I never think about much else when I'm writing him. LOL
And Sadie is a blonde. To be honest, she's more like my sister. Sadie's got more attitude than I have. She's got my sister's looks and attitude. The twin is more like me, evil and twisted. LOL
No, my characters look better than me as well...usually with great breasts. *LOL* Though I do allude to Livie as being a drag version of Harry Potter at some point, which would reference me. But she still looks better than me...she'd make drag-Harry look good. *LOL*
*LOL* The evil twin is YOU; and Sadie is more your sister...and your sister then is making out with your husband, Matty? Right. Nothing twisty about you a bit!
I think about Ash naked too...which now that you bring up Matty, makes me feel very guilty. Though I'm sure if Matty knew about this conversation would say, "Of course you are. You think of me naked all the time." *LOL*
Sadie looks nothing like me either Ter. In fact, I tend to make my heroines shorter, curvy, with pretty eyes. The only model type I have is Sadie, and like I just said, she's modeled after my baby sister.
I just snorted water out of my nose.
OMG Hellion.
Could we stop torturing the single, fat chick on the coast! Gah! Y'all are killing me!!!
LOL you guys are cracking me up today.
Maggie - congrats on finishing Paradise, I didn't get a chance to post yet.
I was thinking about this and I know my heroine, Cory, is sorta like Rachel Weisz ala the Mummy. Same sorta features, same sorta personality, with her own twists, of course.
My hero, Will, is a bit more complex, sorta Robert Redford's personality in Barefoot in the Park, but a little more rugged looking, bulkier, longer and sandier hair. And a little bit darker in personality too.
Thank you, Marnee! *LOL* (Though I still need to research Terri's carpenter guy)
I love Rachel Weisz! She's so beautiful!--and I love her character in The Mummy, she's so hysterical. *LOL* Cute nerdy.
Ooh, Robert Redford's a good one...but a darker, twistier one. Excellent...
I haven't seen the Mummy but I'll take Redford anyway I can get him. He's even hotter because he's intelligent. Brains are so damn sexy.
Shut up, Sin.
DUDE! Just checked out the Jason guy! http://www.jasoncameron.net/ Holy cow!
I'm sure I've shown him to you before. Now you understand why he could carry that recliner up three flights of stairs on not be winded. LOL!
You should hear his voice. Deep. Smooth. *sigh* Though my Bryan has a southern accent to go along with it. *double sigh*
No, I've not seen his picture, I'm pretty sure.
Ohh, and voice to go with those muscles? I'm on board!
BTW - Sin - Love the new word. Lickalicious. I'm writing that down...LOL!
Why have I never seen this jason cameron guy before? yummy... or as Sin would say, lickalicious!
Marnee, Paradise isn't finished....I just wrote The End! I'm missing 10,000-15,000 words, mostly toward the end but some throughout, too. I've always written the ending before I finished and skipped around a lot, which I tried soooo hard not to do this time.
Maggie - progress is progress. You've still moved to the next phase. That's worth celebrating!
Hey, Maggie, you got to The End. Everything else is revisions and layering! :)
I'm with Hellion! The end is the end. The rest is just revisions. If I wrote the end, it'd make me feel good, even if I knew I had work to do. :)
That's worth celebration indeed!
Love your post, MSHellion!
I use nobody real for the basis of my characters. I might pick up traits from several people I know and apply them to characters, or a turn of phrase, or habit, but not looks or general lives at all.
Ever since I read that tidbit about Adam and Eve a while back I've been dying to read more. But not before I see the ending to Liv and the luscious Ben, please!!!
*LOL* Thanks for stopping by, Dee, and I'll clean up Ben & Livie for a fairy tale ending HEA so you can move onto A&E unfettered by thoughts of Ben. *LOL*
Oh, who am I kidding? There is only one Ben. *LOL*
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