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

Different Ways to Talk to Your Characters

Your characters can be like butterflies, they seem just out of reach until you are patient and learn things about them. (And maybe even try talking to them.)
Anyway In some of my writing posts I talk about pretending to talk to your characters, but I only mentioned a few ways to do it. (And there are a lot of ways to do it.)

Act out a scene from your story 
This helps especially if you are stuck on a scene, or want to play it out outside of your head. Sometimes just going out and pretending to be your characters in a quiet space is the best way to understand a scene. Don't feel bad if you mess up the scene the first time, because you are practicing the scene.

Interview them 
This is more writing than actually talking out loud to them. You ask them questions on paper or on your computer, and then they can answer (you have to write their answer though).
Here is an example:
Writer: What are some of your favorite things to do (character's name)?
Character: (lists things they like to do)

and then you continue from there.

Argue or talk to your characters 
I have mentioned this idea a number of times in my posts, but I never mentioned the arguing part. The arguing part I found out about when a character went off script and made their own choices.
Which is good and that means they are developed (beyond your control). However, that doesn't mean having a friendly argument with them wouldn't be good. It helps you talk to them in a different way other than "Hello" and "How are you?".
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What ways do you like to talk to your characters? Any other way that I didn't mention? 
-Quinley
P.S. I will be doing Camp NaNoWrimo this July, so I won't be posting as much as I normally do. I will working on my novel The Mystery of the Body Thief. 

Father's day drawings

Hello everyone,
I hope you are having a happy Father's Day!
To celebrate I drew some Father's Day drawings:

Mr. short and (young) Tess, I rather like how it turned out... 

it was quite fun to draw. 

Elm and her father, I actually didn't know what Elm's father looked like (or if he even existed) 

but he turned out well. 

A drawing of Marigold (who is the adopted daughter of D.I. Time) and Detective Inspector Time, 

I like how it turned out. 

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Which drawing is your favorite? And what are your character's fathers like? 

Love,
Quinley  

Mr. Robertson's letter (A short story.)

(Before reading this post, just so everyone knows when I say The Legend of Sleepy Hollow I do not mean the horror movie, I am talking about The Novella by Washington Irving, this story I am posting is not a horror story.)  

Hi everyone, even though it is not October I decided I should share one of my short stories about Mr. Robertson... (Also this one isn't very "Halloweeny," it's more the romantic subplot side of the story.) This is a test story to get to know my character Mr. Robertson a little bit better...
anyway here is the story:

My dear sister Jennifer,

Love songs, and ballads of woe are often sung in the presence of Katrina Van Tassel. She is the daughter of the rich farmer, who hosted the autumn ball after which Mr. Crane was allegedly chased by the Headless Horse…thing. Twas but a year ago, yet the townsfolk are still talking about it, and gossiping among themselves about what happened to Mr. Crane. 

I am afraid I am going off-topic for what I started telling you about was Ms. Van Tassel. She is the most beautiful girl in Sleepy Hollow and every young man wants to marry her, unless, of course, they were already married or had their mind set on someone else. Ever since I've been in Sleepy Hollow, Brom Van Brunt (for that is his real name, though everyone calls him “Brom Bones,” which is quite a silly name if you ask me) has thought that I too want to marry Katrina, which I have no desire or longing to do. 

From what I heard Mr. Van Ripper, father of one of my pupils, Isabella, and owner of Gunpowder the horse, which Mr. Crane rode on that fateful night, has told me that Brom is known for punching suitors of Katrina. Brom wants Katrina for himself and only him. I do believe that Miss Van Tassel hates being thought of as an object, prize to be won, or a damsel in distress, though when I talked to her she showed no signs of that. 

Besides meeting Katrina, I have also met another young woman. Her name I can not place (However if do remember it I shall tell you). She is quite skilled with the musket and is equal in skill to Brom (she is possibly even better than Brom). Some townsfolk even claim that she disguised herself as a solider and fought in the Revolutionary War (against England), though I can not verify, if this true or not, for she tends to keep to herself and has no desire for love. 

How are things going in England? And how is your book going? 

Your loving brother,

Mr. Robertson 

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What do you think? What do you think of the woman who Mr. Robertson says is better at shooting a musket than Brom? 

Love,
Quinley

May drawings

Hi everyone, 

It's hard to believe it's May already.

I thought today would be a good day to do a drawing post, 

here they are: 

Drawing of Riona "Fire," it was really fun to do the shading in this drawing. 

A native American girl, I like the way she turned out. 

A drawing of Annabelle,  I was actually inspired by a scene from one of my books when I was drawing this. 

This was meant to be a drawing of Hermione from Harry Potter, 

but unfortunately it did not end up looking like her. 

A drawing of Elm, I like how it turned out. 

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Which drawing is your favorite? 

Love, 

-Quinley 

P.S. I will be responding to the other comments from my previous posts, though it may take me a little longer to respond to them. 

Happy Mother's Day (a special post for my mom.)

Hi everyone, I hope you are having a happy Mother's Day! :)

My mom is a very important person in my life...and I wanted to make a post showing that.

We would draw together, and cut out paper dolls and play stories together (I would say that she was one of the people who got me interested in writing and story telling in the first place, as well as drawing.) and I want to let her know that I appreciate the time she takes to help me edit my blog posts as well as stories.

And that I love her, and I love hearing her feedback on my writing.

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How is your Mother's Day going? and has your mom ever helped you with writing or something else? 

Love,
Quinley