Do you look at pictures of real people to feed your mental image of your characters? Where do you find them?

Erica Ridley Hi Kathie! Great question. For the heroines, if I already have the cover art, I am often influenced by their appearance. For example, the heroine's long, curly hair in The Captain's Bluestocking Mistress is a plot point in the book because I saw it on the cover, not the other way around.

For other books, like my early Gothics, the story was written long before the art department created the covers, so there was a pretty sharp disconnect between what I pictured in my mind and what ended up on the cover.

Because I am notoriously terrible at remembering how people look—real or imagined—I often use pictures from fashion models or movie actors, not only as inspiration, but also to keep the details straight when I'm writing.

I may google a specific look (black hair, blue eyes) or I might just browse photos until I hear myself saying, "Oooh, I've definitely got to write about *him*." ;-)

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