Images In My Mind

George Maharis, circa 1975
The eyes have it.

Over my writing career, I’ve looked for pictures that resemble what I want my characters to look like. Somewhere in the first hundred pages, when I get to know the hero or heroine, they come alive and that picture changes in my mind. He/she becomes a person in their own right.

A few weeks ago, I watched Route 66, staring Martin Milner and George Maharis. I was too young to remember when the show came out in the early sixties, but I did know that it was about a couple of guys cruising the country in a Corvette convertible. They’d pick up odd jobs for money enough to allow them to keep moving down the road. What I discovered was the face of George Maharis, who played the character of Buzz. He reminded me of my hero Stanton Black in Maya’s Gold. Stanton, however, had more of a sarcastic sense of humor than Buzz on the show.

After I’d written Maya’s Gold and read through it again, my mind conjured up a likeness to Eva Mendes for my heroine, Maya. Maya was half gypsy and was known to spit when overwhelmed with anger. Anyway, Stanton

Eva Mendes
http://www.eva-mendes-photos.com/gallery/

 

saw it a few times.

During my first manuscript, I didn’t picture anyone for the hero or heroine and maybe that was what was wrong with it. An editor once told me that my second manuscript’s hero reminded her of Jon Bon Jovi, who I didn’t imagine when I wrote the story. I did picture Harrison Ford’s crooked smile in my mind, many times. I’m hoping to redo this story and possibly go indie with it in the near future.

I experienced one of the highlights of my writing career in 2010. During a book signing event, I had the honor of meeting Steve Bronson, who happens to be the cover model on my book, A Place to Land. Poor guy, I made him take off his sunglasses so I could see his handsome face (his face was mostly covered by a cowboy hat on the cover). He was very gracious about it. As he walked off into the sunset, I noticed he’s taller than I expected him to be (cowboy boots?). In my opinion, he makes a great Jackson, the hero of the story.

For the hero of my current work-in-progress, I’ve pictured Mark Valley when he played the hero in Human Target, but his face is changing as I write.

Who do you see when you write?

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