I always imagined the Mac as the hobo animator from the Simpsons who had Itchy and Scratchy stolen by Roger Myers father. You know the one who bought a gold plated rocket car with his lawsuit win.
But then I always get every book character wrong or mixed up with other types and can't visualise the description with the random ADHD nonsense floating around my head. Such is life as a neuro diverse post modern random art generator.
Totally get the intro points… I never have a more than a graphic novel level of a character’s visage in my head when reading. When well imagined (described), they are a bit nebulous visually - but my brain totally fills in “the who.” Which makes no sense now that I read it - but I always have a strong view of the character.
Chewing glass on the 2026 outcome. What a total bummer… and we’re sure you’re just as thrilled 😶.
Plus many readers don't incorporate the discription from the text into their mental image of the character, for example when certain populations lost their collective shit when a girl of colour was cast as Rue in the Hunger games movie inspite of the text describing her as "Dark-skinned with golden eyes and thick dark hair".
I think this particular case is instructive: if details about a character's appearance matter to you, you need to say them repeatedly. Most readers aren't keeping notes, and something said just once while you introduce the character (when no one cares about them yet) often doesn't stick.
There is a risk, if you devote too much effort to describing appearances, of going a bit Dan Brown (the McGonagall of prose). Probably wise to leave it alone.
You're in good company: Jane Austen is very light on her descriptions of central characters. We know Elizabeth has dark eyes & that Darcy is tall, but that's about it for that beloved pair.
I uh, never really thought about what any of the characters in Cruel Stars look like. I guess, going from memory Jaddi has a big horn and is large. Lucinda is shortish, dark hair and muscles. Seph strikes me as taller, with those blonde dreds. Booker is in that African body at the moment. At least he's not a hedge trimmer. Mac I just pictured as old angry scottish man. I didn't picture Capaldi but if I saw a movie adaption and he was playing Mac I would think "huh, that makes sense".
I'm on my third re-read of the two at the moment. And I've um, I've even started writing fan fiction of a sort. For myself. In the setting, not using any of the characters, God forbid.
Weirdly the only character in the Cruel Stars that I pictured very clearly as a real person was Mac, and, you guessed it, I immediately imagined Capaldi. Everyone else gets imagined as you've described in your post, which is fascinating. When Mac is regenerated into a younger version of himself, because of the Capaldi image I imagined him having regenerated into David Tennant, but that's 100% a Dr Who fangirl thing, and nothing to do with your descriptions 🤷♀️
I'm always fascinated by that thought experiment about asking people to think of an apple. Some think of it in minute detail, some as a 2D cartoon image, some can't picture an apple at all even though they know exactly what one is. I struggle sometimes with that experiment. As such i never really think of major details of what someone might look like. Space nazis are just generic huge dudes(TM) with a massive chip on wide shoulders, with the chip possibly made out of wood, maybe out of potato. And its one of the main reasons why i dont like watching a film adaptation of a book first and then get disappointed when its the other way around. Sometimes that's to do with how they deal with the story to fit film constraints and others its with the casting choice forcing its visual upon my brain (although i wont hear a bad word about Ian Mckellan not being the right choice for gandalf, But will happily enter a discussion about that other rip off wizard and that Richard Harris was a much better Dumbledore than Gambon who is an amazing actor but not right for the role imo)
There are several fairly reliable rules of thumb in fiction. One is that if the writer gratuitously describes hair colour in the first paragraph, the story is going to be less than great.
The only exception is if the hair is green and it is snakes and people turn to stone when they look at the character.
"I’d be very surprised if anyone didn’t imagine this guy as Mac"...even me...
Anyway, I agree, we all know what each of them looks like, and there'd also be limited agreement as to what that was.
2026? Booooooo to the publishers
I always imagined the Mac as the hobo animator from the Simpsons who had Itchy and Scratchy stolen by Roger Myers father. You know the one who bought a gold plated rocket car with his lawsuit win.
But then I always get every book character wrong or mixed up with other types and can't visualise the description with the random ADHD nonsense floating around my head. Such is life as a neuro diverse post modern random art generator.
This definitely resonates.
Keep writing mate, love your books.
Totally get the intro points… I never have a more than a graphic novel level of a character’s visage in my head when reading. When well imagined (described), they are a bit nebulous visually - but my brain totally fills in “the who.” Which makes no sense now that I read it - but I always have a strong view of the character.
Chewing glass on the 2026 outcome. What a total bummer… and we’re sure you’re just as thrilled 😶.
Plus many readers don't incorporate the discription from the text into their mental image of the character, for example when certain populations lost their collective shit when a girl of colour was cast as Rue in the Hunger games movie inspite of the text describing her as "Dark-skinned with golden eyes and thick dark hair".
I think this particular case is instructive: if details about a character's appearance matter to you, you need to say them repeatedly. Most readers aren't keeping notes, and something said just once while you introduce the character (when no one cares about them yet) often doesn't stick.
There is a risk, if you devote too much effort to describing appearances, of going a bit Dan Brown (the McGonagall of prose). Probably wise to leave it alone.
You're in good company: Jane Austen is very light on her descriptions of central characters. We know Elizabeth has dark eyes & that Darcy is tall, but that's about it for that beloved pair.
I uh, never really thought about what any of the characters in Cruel Stars look like. I guess, going from memory Jaddi has a big horn and is large. Lucinda is shortish, dark hair and muscles. Seph strikes me as taller, with those blonde dreds. Booker is in that African body at the moment. At least he's not a hedge trimmer. Mac I just pictured as old angry scottish man. I didn't picture Capaldi but if I saw a movie adaption and he was playing Mac I would think "huh, that makes sense".
I'm on my third re-read of the two at the moment. And I've um, I've even started writing fan fiction of a sort. For myself. In the setting, not using any of the characters, God forbid.
OMG! Send me the copy and I will publish it.
Hahahaha, genuine laugh. Good job.
I got the Peter Capaldi visual too - not as The Doctor, more as Malcolm Tucker (In The Thick Of It)
Weirdly the only character in the Cruel Stars that I pictured very clearly as a real person was Mac, and, you guessed it, I immediately imagined Capaldi. Everyone else gets imagined as you've described in your post, which is fascinating. When Mac is regenerated into a younger version of himself, because of the Capaldi image I imagined him having regenerated into David Tennant, but that's 100% a Dr Who fangirl thing, and nothing to do with your descriptions 🤷♀️
I was thinking of Billy Connolly. ß-Þ
Ooh Mr Connolly as he is in the Boondock Saints would be 😘🤌
That is not what I imagined, and therefore you are clearly wrong.
Clearly. I apologise for being wrong and will update my headcanon accordingly.
2026!? Arrggghh!
I know rite?!?!!
I'm always fascinated by that thought experiment about asking people to think of an apple. Some think of it in minute detail, some as a 2D cartoon image, some can't picture an apple at all even though they know exactly what one is. I struggle sometimes with that experiment. As such i never really think of major details of what someone might look like. Space nazis are just generic huge dudes(TM) with a massive chip on wide shoulders, with the chip possibly made out of wood, maybe out of potato. And its one of the main reasons why i dont like watching a film adaptation of a book first and then get disappointed when its the other way around. Sometimes that's to do with how they deal with the story to fit film constraints and others its with the casting choice forcing its visual upon my brain (although i wont hear a bad word about Ian Mckellan not being the right choice for gandalf, But will happily enter a discussion about that other rip off wizard and that Richard Harris was a much better Dumbledore than Gambon who is an amazing actor but not right for the role imo)
There are several fairly reliable rules of thumb in fiction. One is that if the writer gratuitously describes hair colour in the first paragraph, the story is going to be less than great.
The only exception is if the hair is green and it is snakes and people turn to stone when they look at the character.
Haha. I had a publisher who routinely binned any unsolicited manuscript that described clouds in the opening paragraph. Same reason.