Some authors picture celebrities playing their characters while they write their stories. They save photos to a file or keep them close for a handy reference. For some reason, I don’t. Perhaps because I’m somewhat celebrity ignorant (or just oblivious), I’m not entirely sure. 
I take one of two approaches. Either I already have a person in mind that a character is based on (at least loosely), or I have a mental picture of a character and eventually run across someone who fits that description.
Both of those approaches took place when it came to pinning down the personalities for the the four lovely Larcen ladies from my novel, The Tethered World. Sadie Larcen, my main character, was simple enough . . . my middle daughter happens to have a lot of the same physical features as my 16 year old reluctant heroine. However, I didn’t find Sadie’s mom and sisters until this year (six years into writing this series)! One particular young lady, from my ballet class, fit the bill for Sadie’s younger sister Sophie. And, providentially, her mother and sister also were perfect embodiments of both Amy Larcen (Bigfoot expert and mother of six) and Nicole, the youngest Larcen sister. The three graciously agreed to do a photo shoot for future uses here on my blog, as well as on my website!
So, without further delay, let me introduce you to the beautiful females of the Larcen household.
Sadie Larcen. Age: 16. Favorite food: Thin-crust pizza, (pepperoni), chai tea. Hobbies: Reading, photography, baking, eating, writing, and collecting funky socks. Follow her on Pintrest!
Sophie Larcen. Age: 11. Favorite food: Cheeseburgers. Hobbies: Tree climbing, fort making, reading, pretending to live in the medieval times, annoying the family by (trying) to speak in Shakespearean English.
Nicole Larcen. Age: 7. Favorite Food: Mac and cheese. Hobbies: Playing dress up, ballet, baton twirling, general prancing about, and hiding in impossibly small places.
Amy Larcen. Age: a proper woman doesn’t reveal such delicate information. Favorite food: chopped salad with grilled chicken, and a juicy prime rib. Career: Former RN, Homeschool teacher, Sasquatch expert. Hobbies: blogging about Bigfoot and other legendary creatures, sampling different varieties of hummus, cake decorating, coffee drinking, and hiking. You can follow Amy’s blog by clicking here.
Thank you for taking the time to meet these four beauties. These girls are smart, funny, and fiercely devoted to their family! Of course, there are four male counterparts that you’ll have to meet at another time. Liam, Brady, Brock, and Nate are going to have to let the ladies go first for now.
If you’re a writer, what’s your method for zeroing in on a physical representation of your characters? Have you ever approached a stranger to get their picture because they looked like one of your characters . . . or taken a sneaky shot on your phone?
Signing off with a sweet photo of Amy reading to Sophie and Nicole! 
photo credits: Sharese Gibson
You’re the master in this respect! I don’t know why it didn’t cross my mind until we met!
I thought this was so cool! How fun to get to take pictures of your characters in real life.
I also love the fact that the first nerd in the picture is Nathan Fillian. Best space captain ever.
I usually have a running idea of what actor could play which characters. It started out as a game between me and some friends and now it’s just part of the process for me. I do try not to make it a main focus and sometimes it has more to do with the actors acting abilities than what they look like. 🙂
Haha! I love it!
Sophie : I really enjoyed the entire photo shoot, thank you for inviting us to help out. Thank you for teaching me ballet and helping me when I was struggling…. M’ lady, I thank thee…
Nicole : I’m having a great time playing with my puppies, playing with Sophie, practicing my twirls, and dancing my wonderful ballet dance. Thanks for letting me be a part of your book!
Amy : From one blogger to another…..I admit I am completely entranced and can not wait for further developments! The proof is undeniable…. the Teathered World is a tantalizing adventure that will keep you awake at night….. I literally did not sleep until I finished the sneak peak. 🙂
Thank you for sharing your adventure with us, it has been a great honor and privilege for us.
Thanks again !
Oh this is deliciously fun! How often does a writer get to hear directly from her characters?! This is waaay better than hearing voices in my head 🙂 Much more legit. Mind officially blown. Thank you, Larcen ladies, for coming by my blog and leaving your wonderfully, cryptic comments!
Sophie : I really enjoyed the entire photo shoot, thank you for inviting us to help out. Thank you for teaching me ballet and helping me when I was struggling…. M’ lady, I thank thee…
Nicole : I’m having a great time playing with my puppies, playing with Sophie, practicing my twirls, and dancing my wonderful ballet dance. Thanks for letting me be a part of your book!
Amy : From one blogger to another…..I admit I am completely entranced and can not wait for further developments! The proof is undeniable…. the Teathered World is a tantalizing adventure that will keep you awake at night….. I literally did not sleep until I finished the sneak peak. 🙂
Thank you for sharing your adventure with us, it has been a great honor and privilege for us.
Thanks again !
Oh this is deliciously fun! How often does a writer get to hear directly from her characters?! This is waaay better than hearing voices in my head 🙂 Much more legit. Mind officially blown. Thank you, Larcen ladies, for coming by my blog and leaving your wonderfully, cryptic comments!
Haha! You don’t even change names to protect the innocent.
My characters are always closely based on real people 😉
Haha! You don’t even change names to protect the innocent.
Love this! I actually never considered using a celebrity “cast” of characters before I started mingling with other writers, although there are a couple look alikes. I think I subconsciously shy away from using celebrities too much, just because I don’t want my stories or characters “influenced” so to speak by the movies/tv shows or whatever that the celebrities are associated with. If that makes sense. :-p Mostly I just have a mental image of all my characters. Luckily, it’s easy for me to picture what I want, so I just go with that. I do have one character who is based almost completely off a real person personality-wise (one of my grandmothers, in fact). However, apart from her short stature, the rest of her appearance is different. The other characters have their influences, I’m sure, but Cathy has the most obvious counterpart. 😉
Is Cathy your grandmother or your character’s name? I’ll have to keep my eye open for her in your story!
Abby was the first to introduce me to her vast celebrity cast. I’ve since learned she’s one of many writers to do so. She’s a serious movie-buff though, so it makes sense!
Both. Cathy is my grandmother’s name, and my character’s name too. 😉 And Abby is the one who introduced me to the celebrity idea too! Haha.
Love this, Heather!
And I went over and followed Sadie. Good grief! Youâve done on Pinterest what Iâve done for Andi on her blog. 🙂
When is the book coming out???? Getting impatient to see the cover, girl! I finally finished The Last Ride, which is due June 1. Iâm on chapter 13 of the âfinal-final-finalâ edit/revision before sending it in to Steve.
Hope your spring has been going well.
Hugs,
Susan
Susan K. Marlow
http://www.CircleCAdventures.com
Courage is being scared to death . . . but saddling up anyway. ~John Wayne
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I am a total sneaky picture taker!! Once I couldn’t get a satisfactory sneaky photo, so I ended up asking the girl outright if I could photograph her because she looked like my character. Hehe. But mostly I just quietly do it and don’t ask. 😛 (Of course I just keep the photo for my own reference, not posting it on social media or anything!) How nice that you’ve found some lookalikes among your acquaintances! That makes it much easier. 🙂
I’ve done that too! Gotta do what ya gotta do, right? How did that girl respond? Hopefully she was flattered 🙂
Yes, this did turn out well. I want to be able to use the photos in various ways. This family did a photo shoot and gave me a ton of great pictures to use!