Appealing to the mind's-eye.
Every time I start a book, and begin to create new characters, I think about how they would look. Normally the personality, especially that of my leading man (or men), are already front of mine and need the eye-candy coated shell to be wrapped around it. This whole idea came about after considering the post I made last week about crushing on your characters. It's easy for the creator do so, but what about the ones who pick up the book? Naturally, as most authors do, I want my guy to appear attractive to the reader. It's a hard task to do considering people find different things attractive.
Maybe you prefer blonde hair over brown, or maybe no hair at all. Tattoos: do you enjoy them, or are they a deal breaker? Same goes with piercings (and if you're all for them, maybe you aren't in all areas). How about eyes? Are you more drawn to blue eyes, brown, green? Are you attracted to 'four eyes' or would you rather they wear contacts? What about build, ripped to the point of cheese grater abs, or do you like a little meat on the bones? Baby faced or strong jawed? Not to mention that, once you form that pristine male specimen in your head, you have to clothe him. Okay, so maybe you don't have to clothe him, but unless you're writing erotica, they can't very well run around naked all the time.
Creating a character you want your audience to truly fall in love with can be really pain staking. Age range alone will make what appeals different from one reader to the next. You may say "but you have to keep your target audience in mind." True, but consider this: chick-lit, contemporary romance, and the likes usually have a target audience of women ranging in age from 25-50. And while there are some women in their forties who find, say, the stars of Twilight to be hunky-monkeys, they're probably going to lean more towards the George Clooney's and Brad Pitts. My age range is more on the Robert Pattinson, Daniel Radcliff end of things. However, as demonstrated by the image below, they are not what I would call my cup of tea (Truth be told, looking at my top 6, I'm not sure I have a type except older).
On the left: Men Considered Attractive by people in my age group. One the right: Men I considered attractive. I think there's a difference
So how do you do it? How do you create the guys who will not only capture your heroine's heart, but also that of your cherished reader? And readers, what makes a character appeal to you (outside of personality, because THAT's what truly matters-and is a topic for another day).
