To start off this post, an announcement! The company which I submitted Borlin Against The Realms, has chosen another story. Not a problem, because honestly I feel good knowing the story is mine and I was willing to try. Please, read the short story, its an introduction to the Void Maddness Collection.

As the title of this post states, I have an opinion. Which I have followed up with some research. Fan Casting; To assign a real-life individual to a fictional character, based on one’s preferences as a fan. Except, I’m obviously not a fan, I’m the creator. It has come to my understanding that many readers are torn about the idea. Some like it, some couldn’t care, and others hate it; viewing the decision as the author’s inability to describe a character well enough or stripping away their ability to widen their imagination. I understand all of that, I accept that, but I’ve also come up with my own arguments to support the idea.

When building a universe of stories with characters at the heart of that, I find it difficult; as the author, to accept that hundreds of people will imagine Petrif in different ways. In-depth description or a lack of will still result in the same problem. No one will share an identical opinion. Similarly to how I’ll be crafting maps, to help readers visualize the layout of a realm, I’d like them to be able to visualize a character’s face. I’d love everyone to envision Merlin the way I do, when they’re reading his story.

Which brings me to my next argument. If I were to describe to you, the features that are most important in Roan B. Knight’s appearance and hid him amongst a group of people who look similar, you would all envision a different face. Some of you wouldn’t guess his true appearance and since opinions aren’t identical, Roan could be hundreds of different faces. Except he’s not and no one can imagine the face they want, behind the author because how else would you ever truly know what he looks like? Just like no one else can claim the face of Roan, hundreds of different ideas cannot claim what Petrif truly looks like. I say what she looks like, hence this decision to pick faces for my characters so everyone knows what they all look like.

This decision could also be argued that since I grew up playing with dolls and some of those dolls are the entity which I imagine most of my characters, that filling in the blanks for other characters is necessary. I have a Lego character of Merlin (that I created), I have a doll named Jason who is the exact appearance I imagine when I think of his character. Now I don’t have a doll when it comes to Petrif and Straval, they came around later, but now they need a face, just like my other characters. Some of them will be actors and actresses and others AI generated, a small collection will be dolls as well as legos.

Also, having photos of all the characters will be great for family trees. I would one day love it if I had art created for all of these characters. To properly represent them in their photos. I hope you’ll enjoy the release of Petrif and Straval soon enough. -D. B. Odd