When I write, I always Googled for images of locations and people who I think resemble my characters. Then I print those images and stick them on a HUGE cork board as a reference during the process. (Curious if anyone else writes this way?) I did the same for Suddenly Rural Girl, our Christian YA novel. This time, when we finished the writing, I tried my had at some of that AI image generation (Midjourney, Dall-E, Firefly, etc.) to create images of the characters. (I used absolutely no AI in the novel writing process–though I’ve researched it thoroughly for work–I’ll share more about it at the end of this post.) Creating the AI generated images afterwards was FUN for this book, and they turned into some great marketing images. I’ll share a few below along with brief descriptions of the characters.
Dak Moore is our protagonist, and Suddenly Rural Girl is written in first person. Her are a couple things she says about herself in the book.
“My hair has always been long and dark brown. Cocoa with a touch of cherry–probably from my dad’s Irish side…Today, I wore two French braids with a part down the middle. Symmetrical, except the daisies on one leg of my overalls offset things just enough.”
and
“I got this,” I said, turning away from Liam’s hand and stepping toward the edge. If a girl’s gonna make something of herself, she can’t do it holding hands with some boy–no matter how cute he is.”
George Washington Young is the wise old neighbor, who happens to be a blind . . . and a horse owner. Here’s what Dak says about him:
“He pulled his hands away, and his eyes showed more kindness than I’ve seen in most folks with perfect vision…Mr. Young and I were two people separated by a gravel road and eighty years, and I could have at least told him how much a lost and lonely girl from Michigan appreciated his kindness, his unlikely friendship.”
and
“Some folks didn’t like them Bashkir Curly’s on account of how they look a little different,” Mr. Young answered. “Let’s keep prayin’ folks quit judgin’ things by how they look.”
Ms. Bousta may be my favorite character. Here’s what Dak noticed:
“She was an outgoing and outstanding woman, full-figured and full of bubbly energy with a wardrobe to match. She’s hard to miss, like an enormous used car dealer billboard along the highway…but you’ve never seen a heftier woman move with more grace. Her pink, floral tunic hung down to mid-thigh and floated behind her. She was light of foot, carried herself with poise…and came toward me with surprising speed.”
and
At that moment, she somehow tucked her head and left arm like a gymnast doing a roll, so that she curled onto her shoulders, flinging her legs over her head and into a rotation like some helicopter move you’d see in a breakdancing movie.
“Whooo!” Ms. Bousta exclaimed after a shaky breath. “I haven’t done that one in a while.”
Jackson is the story’s mystery character. An outcast with a life-changing secret. Here’s how Dak introduces him to us:
Jackson stepped out like a shadow. He was as dirty and disheveled as ever, standing silently with his palms up helplessly, but he displayed neither shock nor fear.
The last image I’ll share in this post (though there are lots more) was an A-Frame house tucked into the woods. Dak’s suddenly new home in Suddenly Rural Girl.
You can see lots more characters if you visit http://www.dannhurlbert (dot) com/suddenly-rural-girl.
And, if you’re interested in learning how to do some AI filmmaking (scripting, storyboarding, image generation, etc.) I whipped up a short tutorial course, which is available at http://www.carleton (dot) edu/its/blog/ai-filmmaking-with-dann
PS: Thanks to everyone in this group who has read or may be reading Suddenly Rural Girl! You are a blessing!