Images

When I write, I hear words, but I don't necessarily have a clear picture of setting. I like to be grounded as I draft out a scene and so I search online for pictures that fit what I'm writing. I'll keep that image up until my characters leave the location. I've shared some of these pictures on my Facebook author page.

I wish I could see scenes in my head. That I could block how and where my characters move within the location, but I don't get movies. Some authors do. What I get is words--not only dialogue, but also a character's interior monologue as well.

There are pictures for characters, too. I usually have a sense of what they look like and search online until I find the right image to represent them. This can take days, even weeks, of scrolling through modeling sites.

Sometimes they surprise me. For example Ryder Pienkowski from Wicked Obsession. He's obviously Polish, so that's the guy I'm looking for. Hours and hours over days of searching and I stumble across this Italian model. That's when he let's me know he's half Italian. Really? You couldn't share this with me before I wasted all these evenings scrolling through pictures? Luckily for me, I found Langley's inspiration image quickly.

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Since Finn's story (Wicked Intention) was supposed to be the first in the series, I'd already had images of him and his heroine. Those remained the same, but after writing Wicked Obsession and getting a better grasp on the characters, I had to go looking for pictures again for the hero of Wicked Salvation. (That's the story after Finn.) Found him! (He's hot!)

But it's the place locations where I really, really need images. The algorithms on Google Image Search must be so confused by my search history. :-)