Just wondering...

[megwrites]

How many of you cast actors in the roles of characters you're writing in your works? How does that work in your writing process, how important is it? Are they just physical models, or do you borrow attributes from either the actor themselves or a role they've played elsewhere?

Comments

[merriehaskell.livejournal.com]

I don't do this. I am amazed/amused that other people do... personally, I think appearance is the least important factor in my thinking of character, and while voice/mannerisms is more important, I find that changes so much with the role for an actor that it's unreliable for me. If I use models, I pick people I've met.

Further, and this is the iffy thing, I don't like to write someone if I can't imagine how they smell, and I can't imagine how actors smell.

[aberrant1.livejournal.com]

I do, probably because I'm a very visual writer. I like to see the scenes as mini-movies in my head, and that's hard to do when your characters keep changing appearances. (Mine change races, sexes, and ages on me all the time.) I rarely actually describe a character in the story, but it's good to have a mental image.

Mentally casting an actor in the role kind of solidifies the character for me, especially if the voice is also right.

[madwriter.livejournal.com]

When I was writing a SF alternate history set in ancient Rome and one of my primary characters was Claudius Caesar, I kept envisioning him as Derek Jacobi whether I wanted to or not. :) It actually had a great effect on his conversations--my Claudius sounded a lot like the one rendered by Robert Graves.

[nycshelly.livejournal.com]

I always cast actors as my main characters and most supporting characters. Many of my characters are inspired by roles actors have played, where I can hear their voice in my head when I write. Casting also helps me with descriptions. I think I do this and feel the need to do this because I wrote fanfic for 15 years and of course my characters had known faces. ;)