Envisioning a Character
- CL LaVigne
- Mar 18
- 1 min read
Why I no longer provide illustrations of how I see the characters in my story.
When I wrote Beginning of Tomorrows, book one in the pentalogy, Chronicle of Ceres, I searched the Internet for faces that suited the characters I had in my mind. I clipped the image and added it to my story board along with the attributes of that particular person. As I finished each chapter, these individuals sprang to life.
After publishing the book, I eagerly posted images of how I perceived my characters. The backlash was not anticipated.
"What are you doing? I pictured the character a different way. Now, I'm confused!"
"As I read, I picture the character in my head. I don't need your interpretation of how you think they appear."
After chatting with some friends, I realized that there's a personal connection forged with characters. Experiences and backgrounds play a role in how a reader envisions each character. Posting my version of the book's cast negatively impacted their interpretation.
I learned my lesson. Instead of posting a full image of a character, I included only an eye. This approach left the rest of the character up to the reader's imagination and I received a more positive response.
Still, readers asked for more. Since the Chronicle of Ceres is comprised of five novels and contains multiple characters, folks requested a reference page highlighting each character's attributes.
I'm pleased to announce that I've created Character Reference Sheets for Jake Pierson and the Kemp siblings and you can download them by clicking on the PDFs below. I'll soon offer reference sheets for the Cererians as well.
ENJOY!
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