But, I digress. Imagineers are known to do that. It's part of our endless charm.
Anyway, I've been a daydreamer - oops, I mean imagineer - since an early age, brainstorming epic plots over a series of weeks during daytime hours, and even segueing into night-time dreams. Horse adventures, super heroines, teen romances... many inspired by books and comics in which I cast myself as the main character.
Crafting plots for novels isn't a whole lot different, although these days I spend as much time building characters and settings as I do plotting. I also tend to remove myself from the story, except as the narrator.
When I recently discovered The IF List (The Imagine Film List), I was delighted to find they included novels as well as movies in their dream casting set-up. (Read more about how and why the site was founded in this interview with their CEO.) It really got me thinking about my finished novel, what the cover would look like, how my elevator speech would sound, and who I might cast if my story ever went to film. Who doesn't daydream about that?
It didn't take me long to discover I'd need to polish my character descriptions in a way that would help total strangers cast actors to fit the roles I'd created. It might not hurt to have some sketches to use as avatars instead of head silhouettes. I'm thinking I should re-do the book cover too. It turns out this imagining tool has me polishing up aspects of my novel I usually leave until much later. I think that's a good thing, because it's helping me crisp up my story before I'm well into revisions. To that end, The IF List is a terrific writing tool. Go here to find out more.
Then go add your novels to the site. You never know where it might lead!
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