Monday, September 6, 2010

It Started With Red Nail Polish











Then came the bright red hair.









She's not a natural red head. Her natural hair color is very light blonde. But she's a sassy girl. Full of life. The red hair color she chose reflects her personality. She's very lucky to have a father who tolerates her wild hair color!

The more I wrote her voice, the more I formed a picture of my MC in my mind. Slowly, Eva began to appear to me.





This is Eva's favorite dress.








She pairs it with these fantastic shoes.











Eva is a very girly 16 year old. When life gives her lemons, she makes a lemon meringue pie...then invites over all of her friends for a party! Her parties are always themed and dressing up is a requirement! She's all about fun fun fun!

There won't be any friends coming over this summer, though. She's stuck in the mountains with her phytopathologist father who is trying to figure out what is killing the trees. While most girls her age would much rather be lounging poolside or, better yet, at the beach, Eva will set out to make the most of her time with her father in the forest. And spending a summer in the mountains won't hamper her sense of style. Her nails will still be red. Instead of her favorite dress, she will be wearing outfits like this.























And because it gets cold, she will be in need of this:












She can still be stylish even when she's sleeping in a drafty cabin in the middle of a forest!



How do you picture your characters? Do they come to you gradually or do you have them from the start? Do you do character collages? Do share!

13 comments:

  1. Okay, I'm NOT a shoe person-at all. But I have to admit I'm drooling over those shoes. Just because I couldn't wear them doesn't mean I can't appreciate them. And the dress-I'd wear that...if I had the shoulders for it. LOVE it!

    I have a whole wardrobe picked out for my MC, as well as jewelry and tattoos. I haven't done any collages, but now I'm thinking about it. I loved this post!

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  2. Ever since I chose red and gold as my wedding colors almost two years ago I have had an OBSESSION with red. I have three red dresses and four pairs of awesome red heels. Even my home decor centers around red wine colors . OOH LA LA!!!

    By the way I LOVE your wedding photo on your about me section GORGEOUs!!!!

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  3. I loved this post too - I've never done anything like this before for my character. Makes me think I ought to. Eva sounds very girly and I love that. :)

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  4. Wow!!! I'm feeling this character! I can picture her sass and then being taken away from her when she's headed for the woods. I'm very intrigued by your MC Jennie... can we have a snippet?? PRETTY PLEASE?!

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  5. Can I just have Eva's wardrobe?

    I love making character collages because it's a great way of figuring out your characters by looking at their personalities and how that affects their sense of style, etc... For my MmC (my major minor character) Jenny, I pulled from parts of my life growing up. But for my MC, Chandler, I pulled from rock music and stereotypes that he tries (and fails!) to utilize.

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  6. I'm gonna echo everyone else..WHAT A LOVELY POST!

    I love read, so I loved everything you had going about here. I haven'
    t done anything like this with my characters either, but you're giving me ideas ;)

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  7. Oh, I LOVE Eva! I can tell she's going to be an awesome MC... Mine come to me gradually, too. I've actually got one gradually coming to me right now... lol! :D

    good stuff~

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  8. The last character who came to me came fully formed look-wise because an image of a certain celebrity inspired her. Really it was just the platinum blonde bob and black sunglasses that did it. Their personalities are polar opposites and the rest of the picture (clothes/attitude) is all wrong but just looking at the hair/glasses/red lips combo puts me in her shoes. I don't know quite how to handle her story yet so we'll see whether she even gets to the make-over stage (she starts out with long brown hair and changes her look fairly drastically because she's 'going through some things').
    - Sophia.

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  9. Great post and a great idea on how to build characters. Speaking of.... your wedding-Marilyn profile is a head turner.
    I came belated with Karen's BBS
    Manzanita
    Wanna buy a duck

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  10. That is such a great way to build your character..She seem very cool:)...Hope you are having a fantastic Monday and see you soon:)
    Kisses

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  11. Sometimes my characters come to me in stages. Some I know at the start, some I learn about while I write. =)

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  12. Wow! I'm overwhelmed by this response! Glad you love Eva. It was fun picking out her favorite things and sharing them with you all.

    Thank you for the compliments on my wedding picture! And welcome to all my new friends!

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  13. From Mom: Well, I've read the book and Eva is a character to be reconciled with, believe me! That red speaks for itself! Love, Mom

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