Why Choosing Actors and Actresses to "Play" Your Characters Helps You See Them Better

Hi  everyone.
Now, as it happens my characters don't always want to look like actors/actresses, but some do, and those who do tend to completely decide who they look like.

Why it helps 

I have found this happening in one of my stories that I did not have a clear vision of what my character's face looked like. I knew what their hair and their entire body looked like except for their face. It was like they were turning away from me. (Which I may add they probably were.)

One of the characters that actually introduced me to choosing actors and actresses to play my characters was Lady Annabelle. It took her several books to finally decide what she looked like. And in one of them she decided she looked like Emma Watson. Here is a photo edit I made of her:

(original image from Rotten Tomatoes, https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/beauty_and_the_beast_2017#&gid=1&pid=h-136537 ) 

 As you can see from this picture choosing an actress or actor to "play" your character does not change their hair color, or if they are human or an elf or whatever you had in mind for them.

Also with my main character Horatio it took me a long time to find an actor to "play" him,
until after rewatching a few episodes of the TV series Death in Paradise and watching the movie adaptation of William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice (2004), where the actor Kris Marshall plays both Gratiano and Humphrey Goodman. He caught my eye as being like Horatio. (Horatio had more control of what he looked like than I did.)

(Image from Rotten Tomatoes, https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/death_in_paradise?#&gid=1&pid=t-270000) 

After Horatio suddenly decided that he looked like that it actually influenced the way I drew him.



A Older drawing of Horatio:                   And a newer one: 

As you can see from my drawings, Horatio got quite developed because of choosing an actor. 

How it helps with writing 
Sometimes I have found that when I am (pretending) to talk to a character that my voice is the one responding to me, not my character's. (This mostly happens if the conversation is taking place in my head.) But if it is my voice responding to me instead of the character's voice then it can be kind of annoying. It's like I am talking to myself and not my character. Now this is where choosing actors/actresses to "Play" your characters comes in handy. If of course you decide to choose the actor or actress because of their acting and not because they look like how you imagine your character. (Though it is important to choose an actor or actress that looks like your character even if only in the face.)
If you have seen the actor or actress act before even if it is only once or even just in a trailer it can help you to understand what your character's voice sounds like. (Even if you decide to slightly modify the actor or actress's voice to go along with your character.)
But if you haven't I recommend at leaast watching a movie or TV show that they are in, but if you don't have the time for either then just watch a trailer from a movie they are in.

How this could help with writing screenplays 
 I've never really written a screenplay or script before, even though I do want to. But let's say you are a writer for a movie, TV show, etc. And you have a famous actor or actress who was asked to play the main character in the movie or TV show. As you write the script (if it wasn't already written) you probably would imagine the actor or actress playing the character. So before you get into writing screenplays for plays or movies or TV shows, these recommendations might be good to do in the meantime.

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Do you choose actors and actresses to "play" your characters? If so then which ones? 
-Quinley

Story Ideas I have floating through my head that I want to write sometime

Hi everyone,
This is a list of mostly fan fiction story ideas that I had floating through my head. I don't know when I am going to write the stories, but I want to write them sometime. I thought I would share some of them, here they are:

A young Charles Dickens murder mystery 
Genre: historical fiction/murder mystery
After I read The Secret of the Sealed Room (a mystery with young Benjamin Franklin), I was slightly disappointed to find out that it was not a book series. I thought it would be fun to write a story involving young Charles Dickens solving a murder mystery with another character, like in both books Wicked Will and The Secret of the Sealed Room. Even though Charles Dickens was not a murder mystery writer, I could imagine him solving a mystery.


Jareth's past and how he became the Goblin King 
Genre: fan fiction
What sparked this idea was really the movie Labyrinth, and the fact that Jareth looked human compared to the other goblins. One of the theories for this that I came up with was that he was possibly one the kidnapped babies, whose sibling had either really meant their wish or failed to get him back. And then later Jareth (if that was his name before he became the Goblin King) became the Goblin King.

The Man Who Invented Christmas 2 
Genre: fan fiction/ historical fiction
At the end of the movie, The Man Who Invented Christmas, the story was left at a point where it felt like there could be a second movie about how Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield. I thought it would be fun to write a fan fiction about this.

Deborah Sampson the musical 
Genre: screenplay/ musical/ historical fiction
I have never written a musical before, however, I thought it would be fun to try writing one.
And maybe even a screen play to go along with it. As for the historical figure of choice, I thought Deborah Sampson deserved her own musical. She is not as well known a historical figure from the American Revolutionary War. She disguised herself as a soldier and fought in the war.

Tauriel's Quest 
Genre: fan fiction
I was upset about the ending of The Hobbit, and I wanted to know what Tauriel does after it. I decided I would eventually write a fan fiction about what happens to Tauriel after The Hobbit.

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Which idea is your favorite? 
-Quinley