Along similar lines, do appearances play a big role in your stories? Tell us about them, or if not, how you go about designing your characters?

Boy, answering these questions pretty much back to back burnt me out for like a month, lol. But, now I’m back so…

Appearances do play a big role in my stories, I believe they do in every story to tell you the truth. A character’s appearance can be straight forward–a big burly dude who’s a bar brawler, contradicting–a meek looking young woman with a mouth like a sailor, or deceptive–a little boy whose a psycho killer…Qu’est-ce que c’est? lol, I had to. Couldn’t help that one.

Anyway, a character’s appearance is just as important as their personality to help convey the story. Most times, when my stories are in the concept stage, I have no idea what the characters look like. I really don’t get a visual for them until after I’ve done my outline and character interviews/development, because for me, a lot of what they will look like depends on what they do in the story.

During the character development stage, as I interview each character, visuals flicker and flash in my minds eye. Hair color, height, weight, physique. With every question the character answers I find another piece to their visual puzzle. Eye color, clothing, scars, voice, mannerisms. By the end of it all, I have mental portrait of the character, one that fits them to the “T”.

So…even though appearance may not matter in the first stages of my story development, they play a massive role by the end of it because they help tell the story overall. They paint the world I want my readers to see.