Characterization: My New Technique

In the “good ole days,” when working on the characters for my novels, I often used a sheet listing things such as hair color, eye color, build, etc. As far as physical descriptions go, these sheets served me well. They helped me keep them consistent throughout the book. However, with the advent of AI, I now draw them.

Here’s what I do. I ask AI to draw a character based on the description I give it. For example, in my current work-in-progress, one of my main characters is a young, mischievous nineteenth-century Southern belle named Martha. I told AI that I wanted her to have red hair, green eyes, and a mischievous smile. The picture shown here is AI’s result.

For another example, I gave AI the description of a setting based on the details I found in my research. In the picture below, the setting is the market in the Northern prisoner-of-war camp in Elmira, New York. Confederate prisoners often used tobacco as currency. True, I have period photographs of this prison, but I did not find any photograph that showed the market. So, this drawing helped.

Why not give it a try and see if it works for you?