I just finished reading Mockingjay, the final book in the Hunger Games trilogy. Now I have to admit to you that I am excited about these being made into movies; there is already a deal for the first one, though no details yet.
Frankly, I wish I could work on it, preferably as a costume designer. If I had the first idea how to land that job, I'd go for it.
Meanwhile, I keep finding myself fantasizing about the costumes, the sets, the music, the composition of shots, and of course the casting. In fact, one of my favorite daydream-pastimes is producing imaginary movies from my favorite books. Not many of my favorite books are YA though, and casting this one is a little tougher for me because I don't know too many young actors. As for the older ones, though, let's get Hugh Laurie for Haymitch, Bill Nighy as Snow, David Allen Greer as Caesar Flickerman, and Jane Lynch as Effie. I'll probably switch them all up again tomorrow, but you get the drift.
So now back to writing for a second... when you create characters, do you make up their physical appearance from scratch, or do you start with an actual person? I find myself using actors (usually pretty unknown ones, since my characters can't all be, you know, gorgeous), and then recasting them as my characters - changing their costumes and demeanor and so forth, but drawing on the details of the real person. Is this cheating?
Naw, it's not cheating. I've used celebrities I'm crushing on as template for how my character looks.
ReplyDeleteBy the time I get done with that character, they're going to have developed enough of their own quirks to be virtually unrecognizable as the template. You make the character your own over time; it's okay not start from scratch.
I do that too. But it is only the appearance I use. The character develops as I get to know them.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the validation! (And sorry for the late reply!)
ReplyDelete