#WordWeavers
How did you settle on your MC's appearance?
I often have a good idea of what they look like ... but sometimes it's more vague. I use storyboarding to help me consolidate who they are so that I can translate that a little better. Pinterest is super-handy for this.
#WordWeavers
How did you settle on your MC's appearance?
That's just what they look like in my head. I'll usually have a very strong, visual feel for the character. If I need to describe them more specifically, I'll probably find some sort of image online, but mostly it's a visual feel, a gesture, a sense of their appearance rather than anything too specific. I think the readers deserve to come up with their own ideas about who my characters are.
#wordweavers May 19. How did you settle on your MC’s appearance?
I needed Katja to stand out in a way that was attractive yet non-threatening to others. This, she got beautiful thick auburn hair and innocent looking round blue eyes. Plus, depending on whether she's fed or starving, she has nice curves.
#WordWeavers 2405.19 — How did you settle on your MC’s appearance?
Historically, I wrote my characters such that I found them attractive. I don't do that anymore.
Sometimes I don't have control, except for hair styles and clothes, or the lack thereof. The story or character may have certain in-the-moment requirement, like when the MC needed to train in an almost all-male fight gym as a prizefighter (she'd later win a championship). Of course she had tailored pink and black gym wear made of technical fabric that outlined every curve—which proved interesting.
These days I do the best not to assign an appearance at all, instead keeping things vague and sticking to describing only what's absolutely necessary. My experiences with publishers is that'll they'll ignore your descriptions for cover art and promotion anyway. In any case, doing this allows the reader to imagine someone they would find attractive(†). The MC in the current WiP is described physically only as tall, shy, so beautiful that both sexes fall for her, and that she has "winter eyes," whatever that is. In the other story, the only thing I'm settled on is described by the devil-girl something like this:
"Take two finger length pieces of rusty rebar, sharpen one end, bend it ninety degree, and stick one above each temple, pointing backwards. Makes wearing hats problematic. Yeah. Gets messy when they try to grab you by the head in a fight, especially if it sticks in..."
She's also describes her very olive complexion; she's mentioned green eyes in a mirror and red hair everywhere. It could easily change in revision.
(†) A recent writer's prompt asked about my target audience. Can I say "imaginative?"
#wordweavers 3Writing 19. How did you settle on your MC's appearance?
I get an image of what my character is like as an individual. Personality. Then I develop an image that matches that personality. Sometimes this is aided by inspiration from individuals that exemplify that personality.
Next, I draw up a written spec with references and send it to my artist. I get a concept sketch, which I vet with "suggestions." Usually, two or three showing progress Line, middle coloration, and pre-final. (I pay extra for the additional input)
Then I receive a final drawing. And the appearance is settled.
#WordWeavers What kind of dragon (behavior or looks) would your MC be?
She would be Puff, the dragon that exists only in the time when they felt love, that cannot escape that time, that will end this pitiful song not by slinking into her cave but, because she is a she Puff, will rip through the autumn mist of Honalee and stomp howling, crashing free.
#WordWeavers Day 18 - What kind of dragon (behavior or looks) would your MC be?
Alfie would be very much an Elliot (from Pete's Dragon).
And John would like to point out that they already have a crocodile greataunt with a basilisk glare in the story, so they really don't need any dragon, thank you very much.
Alfie, brightening up: We've got a statue of St. George and the dragon in the maze at home.
John: Are you talking about the house with the sheep bone terrace?
#WordWeavers 18: What kind of dragon would your MC be?
The kind who studies for their PPL and instrument flight rating, never flies without an airband scanner, GPS, and transponder, and stays well out of controlled airspace. Also spends a lot of time looking over their shoulder nervously and tries not to fly through clouds in air traffic corridors.
Remember: there are old dragons, and bold dragons, but in the age of 250 ton jet airliners flying at 500 mph there are no old, bold dragons!
#WordWeavers 2405.18 — What kind of dragon (behavior or looks) would your MC be?
In one WiP, this question makes as much sense as asking a typical Irish person what kind of Tahitian they would be (body type). In the other, dragons also exist but seem to be (it's not totally defined) the result of some kind of contagious magic. We've already seen a wyvern, wbo is a monstrous fire breathing bat, and will soon realize there is a monitor lizard version (a wyrm?), but by this token there could also be a cat dragon. Thus, this question makes no sense in the other WiP, either.
#WordWeavers 2024-05-17 Have you ever written for other age groups?
I don't write for children, but preventing children from reading my stuff isn't my problem; that's their parents' job.
Besides, when I was 10 my idea of light reading was Stephen King, Anne Rice, Michael Moorcock, and Clive Barker. I sure as hell wasn't reading what passed for #YA fiction in the 1980s and 1990s; once you got past Judy Blume & Beverly Cleary YA was nothing but the print equivalent of ABC AfterSchool Specials. 🤮
#WordWeavers 2405.17 — Have you ever written for other age groups? (MG, YA, A)
My publisher pegged me as a YA writer. Lately, I've been pushing the envelope to adult in general, and in particular writing an erotic fantasy as one of the WiPs. It can all change in revision, of course...
I don't consciously write for any age group. Certainly, nothing is aimed at children. Most of what I write has mature themes. So the answer is probably no, I write for a mature audience.
#WordWeavers: If your characters were in a museum, how would they act?
Marissa would be interested, but she’d want to touch everything and probably get herself in trouble.
Dante likely would be bored to tears unless it were a museum of natural history. He likes ancient predators.
Caylor would be thrilled to magically be out of his house and would probably run around and test his limits as a ghost. He’d also be tempted to pull a few pranks on the other visitors.
#WordWeavers, 17 Have you ever written for other age groups? /2
I am becoming increasingly annoyed by the references and attitudes to age groups in this thread. By the time I was 10 I had read the Butler prose translations of the Iliad and Odyssey and the complete, unabridged Robinson Crusoe. And some Dickens, and unabridged Ivanhoe. And a lot of other things my parents might have been surprised by if they had known what was between the covers.
Dear #WordWeavers players! Time flies, and half of the month is already behind us. It's time to suggest your questions if you want them to appear in the June edition. Have a question you want the community to answer? Please write it below 😊 @BranwenOShea and I will choose a few to include and might edit them for brevity/clarity.
#WordWeavers 17 — Have you ever written for other age groups? (MG, YA, A)
No, I've only ever written for adults because that's what I prefer to read, and it's easy to be in the right mindset. I wouldn't know how to write MG for example (not sure what would be appropriate), and even YA rules are kind of vague for me 😅
#WordWeavers 18 — What kind of dragon (behavior or looks) would your MC be?
Huh, I don’t even know what kinds of dragons there are 😅 Violet would probably be a dragon of any color except violet — she chose the name for herself and it wasn’t for her love of the color. She might even be black or white, or navy blue, but with a colorful element. She would be cautious and wouldn’t attack for no reason but could get destructive if you really pissed her off 😁
#wordweavers 01/05/2024 Introduce your setting as if it's a character in your story.
The McAlistair mansion POV: “I’m currently the host of Esther and her strange little maid. Before I belonged to Esther’s husband, but he wasn’t with them when they came back from the colonies. Something has happened there, I don’t know what, but it makes Esther ill. The little strange maid tries her best to help.”
#wordweavers 19/05/2024 How did you settle on your MC's appearance?
When I dreamt of Esther’s story, I had nearly all her features in mind. But I didn’t have any experience in drawing dark skinned people or in Victorian fashion. It took me 4 years to get a style and the quality I wanted.
[Illustrations: First art of Esther, based on a photo found on Pinterest]