Quirky/Tidbit Tuesday: Models

What with one thing and another, I didn't post yesterday. To make up for that, this is both about a quirk I have and a tidbit a Monday/Tuesday Mash if you will. It's also a little bit of a re-post, but hey, what can you do when you're working doubles and have this blog thing you do three times a week(I will not slack off again, I will not slack off again, I will not slack off again......)

So there's this website I absolutely LOVE!!!! I found it when I was on the website of one of my favorite authors four or five years ago, and every so often I go bad a waste an hour or so on it. The website is called StoryCasting. Want a gander? Just go here. You're welcome.

Basically all you do on this site is "cast" your favorite books.

Literally.

You pick a book--say, I don't know Shannon Hale's River Secrets(it helps if the book isn't already a movie or tv series/show--which rules out things like Game of Thrones and LOTR, but whatever) and you pick the celebrity you'd love to see play a specific character.

 Delightful waste of time?

I'd say so, yes.

Why do I bring this up?

I've said before I'm a visual writer. Not only do I say my dialogue out loud and ask my roommates(or anyone else who's game) to visually demonstrate something I want to put in one of my plays(within reason; there are lines I will not cross, period).

 I also have visual models for my characters.

Literal models.

I've already demonstrated this when I was writing Angels Alley--but it happens with anything and everything I write. There has got to be a clear picture in my head of the person I am writing about.

And the weird part is sometimes the people who are serving as "models" aren't celebrities--exactly.

They're people I know(and yes, I have said this before)--and sometimes it gets to a point where I have that person's voice inside my head when I'm writing the dialogue.

Needless to say, it is oh so helpful during the revision process. If I can't hear the words I've written coming out of a specific person's mouth, it means I have to change it now.

Does it happen with everything I write?

Not necessarily.

But when it does, it's pretty dang cool.