Patti O'Shea's Blog

Many, many times I’ve seen readers discuss which actor/actress they imagine when they read this book or that one and it’s never been a conversation I’ve participated in even when I wasn’t writing. The characters in whatever book I was reading were always themselves, not some actor.

That became even more true when I focused on my own writing. I rarely “see” my characters, but I have such a strong sense of them that I can go out on the web and find a picture of someone that’s “them” and use it as a reference, but it’s very rarely an actor or actress. Even when it is, it’s their face I’m using, not their personality or the personality of any character they’ve ever portrayed. My characters come in with their personalities in tact and refuse to cooperate with any adjustments.

Given all this, the one question that someone asked that absolutely left me scrambling for an answer was “who would you choose to play Ryne and Deke?”

I explained how they’re their own people and how no one really fits my vision and so on, but the person pressed and I tossed out the first response that came to my mind. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. But that was a desperation answer.

It was one of those things that I’ve just never thought about. Not only because that’s not the way my mind works, but because even if one of my books was optioned for a movie, I wouldn’t be given any control over casting and I’m not sure I’d want it anyway. I’ve seen film versions of romance movies before and they’re usually achingly bad. It’s one of those things that I believe an author would need to totally distance herself from or lose her mind.

I’d ramble on some more, but I have to get going. I’m off today, but have a morning appointment and I’m pressing on time already. I’m not sure how I always end up running late in the mornings!