I used to be able to write without finding pictures of my hero and heroine. I'd start the story and then at some point along the way, I'd look for some images of them. Now, though, I've somehow reached a place where I need the pictures of them before I begin. Maybe it's because shots of the hero and heroine jump start the flow on who they are.
Take the shots of Ryne and Deke for example. As soon as I saw these models, I went "that's them!" The attitudes... Wow. I knew Ryne was edgy before I began searching for pictures because with this story I wrote the first chapter or two prior to looking for the photos, and when I saw this model, I knew it was my Ryne. Same thing with Deke. I didn't have to look very far or very hard to find him, but I hadn't written a word with him yet and didn't know what his personality was. Until I saw the picture. There was something on the model's face that said "smart ass." And that's when Deke finally started to talk.
Last night, I began my search for Logan and Shona. (Hey, the RWA website was down--probably crashed from all us non-conference goers--and I couldn't check up on the awards show so I had to do something.) I'm still searching for them this morning. I have a sense of Logan already. He's affable, a good guy, a good brother, son, etc, but he's a troubleshooter, which means he's also tough. Very tough. It's been difficult to find anyone who fits my image of him, but I think I finally have a possibility. I'll have to look at the pictures I saved more closely and see if he holds up.
I actually thought Shona would be the easier of the two to find, but it's looking like I was wrong about that. I don't know exactly what she looks like, but I'm sure I'll know her when I see her and that hasn't happened yet.
This is also reminding me that I really need to get my house networked. My high speed connection is on the desktop and it's not comfortable to sit in that chair for very long. I'd much rather be in the living room using my laptop to surf while I watched baseball, but trying to look at a lot of pictures while on a dial up connection would make me insane.
