Casting your Novel

I don’t mean casting it into the deleted files. I mean with actors you already know, or people around you.

I never actively try to do this, but every once in awhile someone sneaks in. They are never the main character, and it usually doesn’t happen until the character already has some dialog on the page. It happens occasionally when I read someone else’s work too. I just start hearing the voice, it doesn’t change my visual about the character.

I suppose this could happen with any length of writing, I just don’t stray from novels. One time I was reading a pretty mediocre bit of fantasy, and one of the characters developed the voice of Jeremy Irons. I thought it was weird, until it happened to a couple of my own characters.

Like I said, it always seems to occur with supporting characters. My first one was the voice of Gregory Peck; no idea why. Since then Danny Glover, Michael Ironside, and others have just started voicing my characters. (In my mind.)

I hope it’s a sign the character has become more realistic, that he or she has risen to a higher level. If that’s the case, maybe I ought to be worried for my main characters. I always worry that I’ll start writing the character for the actor and lose something in the story. What about the rest of you, confessions and advice are both welcome.

I may be strange, but I’ll bet I’m not the only one out there who experiences this. Does this happen to any of the other writers out there? Should I be worried about losing the character to the actor?