Vaginal Fantasy Book Club discussion

I'll admit, I don't feel that I'm great at casting on the best of days as I rarely find the images I build in my head correlate with anyone in the real world. But in the latest book, The Fire Lord's Lover, I'm finding it impossible to cast Dominic. Not just because I find it difficult to find someone, but because the author's description of him is completely separate from what I instantly created in my head upon first reading him.

I get that the whole elven line in her world have blond hair and are hawt as hell. But for me, a lot of the descriptors used instantly made me think of a brunette. Burly, butch, masculine,- these all conjured a brunette beefcake to my mind. I'll admit that I've a tendency to like brunettes over blondes anyway, but I found that no matter how many times she used words like flaxen or silver I couldn't help but see Dominic as a big burly brunette. Which makes casting completely impossible.

I'm wondering if anyone else has had this issue where the descriptors of a character and what you imagine them to be like are completely at odds. This has actually happened more than once, like as soon as I started reading the second in the series, The Lady of the Storm as well as with the female lead in Ghost Planet.

I think it may be with the fact that when I start reading, the personality builds me an image and if the description of the character doesn't happen soon, my image gets set pretty quick (which happens a lot if there's first person talking about others but not themselves).

It makes the inevitable casting question very difficult for me.

Eliste wrote: "I'll admit, I don't feel that I'm great at casting on the best of days as I rarely find the images I build in my head correlate with anyone in the real world. But in the latest book, The Fire Lord'..."

I totally understand your situation; it often happended to me that a character in a book was described differently from how I envisioned him/her (probably that's why I had a problem with watching "the lord of the rings"). But we could always cast someone who's the closest to our vison of the character (changing few optional details if necessary) or (if omeone has the skill) draw the character

I feel a little silly putting forward suggestions for a person who fits my view fairly well, but it is completely antithetical to how the author described the character.

The author may've done the best job creating the description; but the reader may ( once recieved the description, the character's actions and how the other characters reacht to that character) form a different image with traits more fitting for that particular being

I have the same problem with casting. I can never find anyone in real life to match my imagination either. I also am guilty of ignoring the description of the characters and making up my own vision based on personality or what I personally find attractive.
I had a hell of a time with Fire Lord's Lover because I do not find slim blonde men attractive, especially with hair down to their butt. Ick :P When I imagine the most beautiful man alive it certainly isn't that dude on the cover! He reminds me of a younger version of Lucius Malfoy haha . Now I would cast him as Mor'ded but unfortunately Dominic is supposed to be almost twins with him. Sigh... so since he is supposed to be blonde and Elven blah blah, I tried to think of Orlando Bloom as Legolas or something close to that.

My response to Dominic is sort of the converse of yours, @Eliste. The long-haired blond elf thing is so clearly defined by the LOTR movies that a different one pops up (Legolas, Haldir, Thranduil) whenever Dominic gets mentioned. It's as if my brain substitutes "Elf Male" every time it reads the word "Dominic" - throws me out of the book.

All this talk about elves made me think; do elves tell brunet jokes?

Joia wrote: "My response to Dominic is sort of the converse of yours, @Eliste. The long-haired blond elf thing is so clearly defined by the LOTR movies that a different one pops up (Legolas, Haldir, Thranduil) ..."

I'm curious how much they're going into the elven races/hierarchies in the 2nd Hobbit movie, since there are non-blond (full blood) elves.

I too create someone in my head, not always based on the actual description the author gives of the character. I do also sometimes automatically gravitate towards to someone that is an actor/actress regardless of the description. Most of the books that we read the men always have longer hair, and I NEVER usually picture the person in my head with the long hair that they are given!