Books, Movies And Starring Roles

Claudine’s question about Breach Of Trust ““ The Movie got me thinking.  I have many writing buddies who tell me that they don’t know what their heroes or heroines look like.

This confuses me because I visualize my books.  I close my eyes, watch the story like I would a movie and then write down what I see.  I don’t write down EVERYTHING I see.  That would be boring for the reader and, well, the longest romance novel ever.  You don’t need to know the color of the restaurant tablecloth, do you?  Unless the heroine ends up wearing it?  Nah.  I didn’t think so.

My characters are usually not ‘real’ people either.  Maybe somewhere, someplace, I glimpsed them but I can’t recall.  Philippe Lamont in Breach Of Trust looks sort of like Jake Gyllenhaal.  Anne James looks like, yikes, she’s a tough one, Natalie Portman’s plainer sister (if she has one)?  I guess that’s why I prefer not to have faces on my covers.  There is no way the character is going to look like what I have in my brain. 

Now, you’d think that with me visualizing the story, my novels would be an easy adaptation for screen.  Nope.  What I love about romance is how much of the true ‘action’ happens in the characters’ heads.  In Invisible, my heroine doesn’t do much talking at all.  She is the keeper of secrets (including her own) and that is easier done if she doesn’t yap much.