On “casting” while you write. Or not.

by Laura Anne Gilman

When I first started out in this biz, I heard a lot of writers talking about “casting” their books, and researching for visuals (typically actors, but not always) as part of their research prep.

And this struck me as strange (then again, I don’t create playlists for projects, either. So I may be an outlier.)

Y’see, I don’t ‘cast’ my books before/while I’m writing them – or even after, honestly*. It’s not because it wouldn’t be fun, or because I don’t think about what my char...