2004 Romance Author Roundtable

3. AOTW: Do you visualize your characters as anyone in particular? A celebrity or a significant other?

Cherry Adair: I always know what my characters look like before I start, but they're usually not based on anyone I know. I keep a file of faces --- models from magazines, catalogs and the entertainment industry. I usually have a good idea of who I'm looking for even before I thumb through and see if I can spot them in the "photo album." Once I find my person, I tack the picture onto the storyboard in my office for a visual reference as I write.

Susan Crandall: No, I don't. I know many of authors do --- and if nothing else, it helps focus on consistency. (I can't see anyone using Ben Affleck as a mental model forgetting and saying he has blue eyes or cold-reddened cheeks.) I like to give my readers some leeway in visualizing my characters. I feel that we each have our own ideal, and I like to give the reader the opportunity to fill in the fine details, develop their own true picture by blending their imaginations with the physical markers and the personality traits of the characters. That's not to say that I leave them without anything to work with. Many of my characters are formed as much by their personalities and actions as their physical make up. Of course, I do have a good picture in my own mind of what I think that character looks like.

Nicole Jordan: I don't specifically pattern characters after anyone I know but tend to create composite characters. My heroines usually have traits I admire, such as honor, integrity, perseverance, sharp wit and inner strength. And whatever their personalities, occupations, strengths, weaknesses, motivations or issues, they have to be matches for my heroes. I usually develop my heroes first, then create my heroines to complement and contrast with them.

All my heroes are sexy alpha males. As a reader, I much prefer alphas in romance! My husband is a wonderful beta male --- sensitive, caring, sharp-witted, loving. Trouble is, he wouldn't make very good fiction because there's just not enough romantic conflict in our relationship (thank heavens.) Most of the alpha heroes I write about deserve a hard kick in the family jewels, and no woman in her right mind would put up with them in real life. But they make for grand romance.

Stephanie Bond: I browse through hairstyle magazines to find pictures of my female main characters I have in my mind --- the women in hairstyle magazines have faces with great character, which is harder to find in traditional women's magazines. For the love interests of my main characters, I usually visualize a celebrity athlete as a point of reference. It's a nice shortcut to help reduce repetition of character description over the course of many books.

Karen Rose: Sometimes. Usually it's more mannerisms or little features than a whole person. Max Hunter in Don't Tell had a lock of hair that always fell over his forehead, just like one of my all-time favorite police detectives --- McGarrett from Hawaii Five-O. In Have You Seen Her? the hero Steven Thatcher's eyes crinkle at the corners --- a trait I've always loved about my own husband's eyes. When I was in college I had a close friend who worked her way through engineering school as a cocktail waitress --- she had legs up to her ears. She had this black Camaro, and when she pulled into the parking lot and climbed out --- well, all activity anywhere around just stopped. There's a little bit of her in Jenna (Have You Seen Her?). As for the villains? (Shudder.) I don't like to think I know anybody like them.

Judi McCoy: Never a celebrity, but I do write the hero with characteristics I see in my wonderful husband. And I do visualize each character as a living breathing person. I see their facial features, their coloring, their hair, even the kind of expressions they might make when faced with a particular problem. Once that happens, I know I can make them come alive on the page.

Mary Balogh: No, never. My books are purely creations of the imagination. Though I do have a mental picture of my characters, it is not as anyone I know. I remember once grimacing when told by a reader that she pictured one of my heroes as an actor whom I disliked. But that of course is the privilege of the reader. We all see things differently with our different imaginations. How wonderful to work in a medium in which so much personal freedom is allowed both writer and reader --- unlike film or television.

Linda Lael Miller: Sometimes. Clare Westbrook, in my current romantic thriller Look series for Atria, for example, is patterned after Angie Harmon. I have a historical hero in the works who resembles Tom Berenger. Usually, my characters grow and develop from my original concept and become themselves. The best characters always do that.

Jill Marie Landis: I may start out leafing through photos that I've collected --- models from GQ, People magazine's 100 most handsome men and beautiful women --- things like that. Once I get rolling, the character in my mind takes on his own physical form and looks. I could describe them to someone as, say, a Harrison Ford "type," but to me, they never really LOOK exactly like anyone but themselves.

Kimberly Raye: I don't visualize my characters so much as I feel them. When I'm writing in a particular point of view, I feel what that character feels. I focus on their action and reaction rather than visuals. But when I do visualize, my heroine usually looks suspiciously like Faith Hill (even if I'm writing about a brunette), and my hero could double for George Clooney, Brad Pitt or the Marlboro Man. So I guess you could say I visualize celebrities. Then again, my husband smokes Marlboros religiously, so I would have to say he also figures into the mix.

Linda Francis Lee: I did this once, and for me it was a mistake. By having the hero strongly associated with a celebrity, I found that the readers who loved the celebrity loved the hero. The readers who didn't love the celebrity always had a person they didn't like in the backs of their minds. I've found for me the best way to go is to give a good, strong description, but one that allows the reader to associate whomever THEY want with the role.

Lisa Kleypas: Not usually, but I have to confess that for my current work-in-progress, featuring a cranky, straight-laced earl who is quite romantic behind closed doors, the image of Colin Firth has stayed with me throughout the book!

Susan Elizabeth Phillips: Never. It would only get in my way. I'd find myself writing the "celebrity" instead of my character. If I'm lucky, I'll see a magazine photo that has some quality in it that resonates with me. Unfortunately, I can't count on that happening, so I fall back on simple imagination.

Jane Feather: Rarely intentionally, although I'll sometimes recognize a facial feature or characteristic that has somehow migrated from a real character to one of mine.

Lisa Jackson: Oh, no. These people are completely unique. It takes me between 100 to 150 manuscript pages before I really get to know the people in the book. At that point, I often have to discard or change a lot of what I've already written.

Beverly Jenkins: Sometimes a celebrity comes to mind, but many times the characters come to the story with very distinct features.

Laura Lee Guhrke: Sometimes I find that one of my characters looks like someone famous. Sometimes not. It depends.