I am singing the praises of Kaye Dacus today! I have been reading through her Writing Series Index on her website and it is a treasure cove of writer helps! Here is a list of just a few of the topics in her writing series:

• Top Ten Writer Tips
• Creating Credible Characters
• Making POV Work For You
• Manuscript 101 (formating & more)
• Voice
• Writing the Romance Novel
• The Inspirational Element

Now that you’ve found the actress you are looking for, you can go to your Casting Book to find pictures of her to spark your writing and give you different facial expressions to use in your writing.

Now, you need to visit Kaye’s site to get detailed instructions on how to do this, but basically, you use Power Point to organize photos of actors. It is like a catalog of headshots that you can look through to choose your ideal character! Create a slide for each actor and alphabetize for easy sorting. Kaye has so many that she creates a folder for each letter of the alphabet.

Here is a look at one that I created:

Now isn’t that the coolest thing? Seriously, this is so easy and so much fun. Annnd, it is a GREAT way to procrastinate your editing. 😉

So what is your way of creating the look of your characters? Are you visual and need pictures? Or do you have it all in your head?

P.S. Remember to check out Kaye Dacus! She not only has great writing tips, but is a fabulous author of both contemporary and historical fiction.