Let’s talk about my favorite actors and how I use them in my writing.

So you want to create a new character... A Day in the Life of an Author

Let’s talk about my favorite actors and how I use them in my writing.

When writing, I can’t help but pay attention to all the little details. But I don’t just copy what they look like, or try to write a carbon copy of one of their characters — unless that’s exactly what I’m going for. No, most of the time, these are people who challenge me to see the world differently. Here is how you can use them for your writing, too.

As an author, I know that most of my characters come from my imagination.

I write both romantic suspense and urban fantasy under a different pen name Ann Crow.

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Ann Crow

Here are some characters that are based on my creation and imagination.

Characters from The Fire Series by book:

Into the Fire:

Raven Moore is based on me. My personality and looks and is my creation.

The Nights will Flame with Fire:

Julie Wyatt has lived in my mind for a few years now. She opened the 4th novel for me in the middle of the night, forcing me to get it into my phone before I could forget it.

My coming standalone romance suspense reverse haram Love Rules:

Bridget came to me one day, and I fell in love with her and her badass self.

Jack is a creation of a lot of male heroes I’ve read.

Characters from P.I.R. urban fantasy noir mystery novels

MC: Avril, I wrote the first novel in this series in my 20s and lost the manuscript during my split and move from my ex-husband. I knew her and she has lived inside me for so long. I’m so excited to bringing these novels to the public when they are ready.

My lovely Jenn Haun created Mama the wild card for my role play games in Palladium Fantasy. She was so memorable that I had to bring her into my book world.

When I see a character portrayed on screen or in a book, I try to put that character into my work.Characters form the Fire Series by book

Into the Fire:

Travis Short is based on the actor Christian Kane. This is an interesting story, my family was going through a hard time and in my depressed state I was binging the show Leverage. While I was watching one day, I knew a story where someone like an actor needed a personal chief and the story played in my mind that became Into the Fire. While drafting the story, I mapped out the 9 books of the series on an enormous sheet of presentation paper.

The Fire Inside:

Tony Lisi is based on Captain America, portrayed by Chris Evans

Anna Haun is based on the character

from the crime drama Criminal Minds. I love Kirsten Vangsness and the style and personality of her character in the show.

If the Seas Catch Fire:

Steve Martin is based on Ryan Reynolds.

Mallory is based on a character in the Seals, Inc. series by Mia Dymond’s Cameron Tremaine. I loved how spunky she is.

The Nights will Flame with Fire:

Malcolm Aaron based on Chris Pine

Love Rules:

Quinn slightly based on the character in the Sookie Stackhouse novels better known as True Blood by Charlaine Harris. I’m more of a fan of the novels than the show and Quinn is a were-tiger.

Characters from P.I.R. urban fantasy noir mystery novels:

Alexandr is a little of the character from the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter novels by Laurell K. Hamilton, a bit of Eric from the Sookie Stackhouse Novels by Charlaine Harris

Talon looks like Sam Elliott

Daniel looks like Jason Momoa

William looks like Luke Evans

When it comes to my favorite actors, I like to find out what they do outside of their acting roles.

I admit I got a bit fan girl on Christian Kane learning about his life and music. Writing Travis was so easy and a delight that helped bring light to my depressed, dim life.

Another way I do this is to look at the IMBD site.

This is a great place to mine for character information. Take my Travis character based on Christian Kane. Search for the actor here and look at their bio/personal details. This gave me his height, birthday and location of birth, names for their parents, relatives, and trademarks. You can also find trivia. Hence where I found the names for his band mates and best friend Steve and Mike.

You can also sometimes find bio picks on the actors you are using and learn more things that can add to your characters’ backstory.

The best way to get ideas for your novel is by watching and reading as much as possible.

“Creativity is a habit, and the best creativity is the result of good work habits.” – Twyla Tharp

Some of the best way to feed these habits is to surround yourself with inspiration, like movies, shows, reading, audio books, podcasts, and more.

If you don’t like making characters based on actors, already created characters here are a few resources to create your own character.

Generators I use to create characters

https://www.rangen.co.uk/chars/quickchargen.php

Tarot spreads for characters

https://youtu.be/VVOg7NVMtuo

https://carriemallon.com/blog/tarot-spreads-for-writing/

Pinterest pinterest.com is a great place to search for characters. That is how I found the looks for a few characters by searching for male models, male actors, fantasy characters, urban fantasy characters, plus size female models, plus size clothing. I also use this to keep boards for each novel filled with characters, notes, locations, moods,

Deviant art https://www.deviantart.com/ just scroll through the art or search for something specific.

AI art apps https://hotpot.ai/game-tools?s=site-menu

10 Best AI Art Generators (November 2022) https://www.unite.ai/10-best-ai-art-generators/

Prompts 15 Quick Writing Prompts to bring your character to life. https://www.derbyshirewritingschool.com/blog/15-quick-writing-prompts-to-bring-your-character-to-life#:~:text=Prompts To Help You Develop A Character

47 Character Development Prompts to Flesh Out Your Book https://authority.pub/character-development-prompts/

Watching movies and reading books can give you ideas for your writing.

You know what they say—write what you know. And who better to write characters that are based on than the actors and actresses you love? The best way to write a character is to find someone who has similar traits to your character, then decide based on the actor or actress in question: what they wore, how they spoke, their mannerisms, etc. And don’t just write a character’s impressions—put them on the page.

Keywords

Best Actors, Actors, Favorite Actors, Favorite Movies, Favorite Movie Stars, Movie Characters, Movie Stars Inspiration for Novel Characters

Need a little help planning and getting your act togetherYou can watch my Plan with me play back on YouTube here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEHGyItBnegI'll be doing another for the 1st Quarter and January on 12/30/22 at 11am