I'm really excited about this series, which will document my journey in bringing the main character of my book Morrigan: I am Your Fate to life. I hope that people will find it interesting and enjoyable to read about.
It was inspired by my series about designing book covers and I will talk about some of my work as a designer, because that is an important part of who I am as an author.
What is the project?
When I wrote my tutorial about designing book covers I talked about how important it is for any people you use in the images to actually look like your characters. For the redesign of Centuries it was fairly easy - I found an image of a pale redhead with long hair and I was happy that she looked like Elizabeth.
But for the example I gave of what not to do I used the example of Morrigan. Morrigan is set in 15th Century Carpathia. While it is not always 100% historically accurate - she is a werewolf, after all - I have done a lot of research about the clothing, food, and culture in that region at the time.
Because of that, and the fact Morrigan's physical appearance is described very clearly, it was never going to be easy to find a stock image that I could use to portray her on the cover of the book.
Morrigan is a character I care about a lot - the book is about overcoming abuse, and I put a lot of thought into every single aspect of her and her journey. I love her; I want to share this amazing, powerful woman with the world because she is fucking incredible and so I am working with an extremely talented photographer to bring Morrigan to life.
What does that involve?
Bringing Morrigan to life is an exercise for me as a designer because there are a lot of things that I need to consider when I am sourcing materials, designing and making the garments, and deciding which things are important to have in images and which are less crucial.
The first thing I have done is to think about what she looks like, and how that would translate to images of a real person, because the original book cover may have used a cartoon, but it is a superb depiction of the way she is described:
Her skin is tanned, her hair is white, and her eyes are the colour of Baltic amber or pools of liquid fire.
These things are important to the plot; people assume she is a white wolf when she is not, and her descendants 600 years later are described as having the same distinctive eye colour. She is one of the two wolves depicted on the family crest as a light silver wolf (in heraldry they often use bright silver in place of white).
Her clothing is initially not typical of what people at the time were wearing - she lived as a nomad in a group that was mostly hunter-gatherers, and she made her own clothing. The clothing she wears when she is taken in by the pack she joins is described in a lot of detail, and it is described through the eyes of a woman who has never seen things like this before.
The things she is given are of excellent quality, and there are several outfits that are described as being extraordinarily beautiful.
I did research into the clothing worn by nobility at the time, and the descriptions I have given are based on that research - there is some artistic license, but the dress that is 'The Dress' in some important scenes is a kind of dress called a Houppelande which is the type of flowing dress with big sleeves you would associate with the elves from Tolkien or gothic type fantasy gowns.
Because I have done this research and described things that could plausibly have been made and worn at the time the book is set, I don't have carte blanche as a designer with whatever I put her in for images. It would look wrong for Morrigan to be in a leather corset or lace lingerie even though that is the stuff I typically make.
Previous Projects
The first steps for this project were laid out before I even considered it: I described the character in a lot of detail, and so I have a great framework to base my designs on.
I'll give a couple of examples from Centuries that show how I typically work when I do this sort of thing.
I actually wrote a really detailed post about all the thought that went into the first design on my blog here (shhh, nobody is supposed to know who I 'really' am...) so if you're interested you can read about it in detail.
This is a set of lingerie that was made "for" my character, but the corset is something that was designed to be her. It has an applique from antique lace which has and cut and positioned over a couture lace which represents her scars and tattoos because those are important to her character and they are a part of her physical description.
It has a garter with a Sami knife, because she is the kind of person who has a knife on her at all times, and her partner is from Northern Sweden. After making this, I actually wrote that into the book; he gives her the knife as a gift.
The set below is one I described in my first ever book in quite a lot of detail (OK, she doesn't wear wings but this wasn't a shoot to depict the character as she is described) I described it (halter neck bra made from delicate metallic lace) and made it based on that description. I chose to make this specific set because it's one the character wears and feels confident in. She, like most of my characters, has scars that she feels conflicted about. I guess it isn't a subtle metaphor - she's scarred physically in one place before the start of the book and is scarred twice more throughout the course of the story. Those scars reflect her emotional wounds and the events which have shaped her the most as a person.
Spoiler alert/ side note: I have scars of my own, and I definitely gave some of my characters scars because they are the characters I relate to the most. If you're a reader of my work, you might find that cool to know, because a character with scars is definitely one I have put a little more of my own experiences and emotions into.
The set I made is one the character wears right at the start of book one, and at that point, she still only has one scar. It is important to her, and to her past encounter with the man, she now loves. She reflects on the fact the delicate metallic silver threads are like the scar on her thigh, and that it makes the scar seem beautiful rather than looking like a physical flaw.
(This image is by the same photographer I am working on this project with)
How does that relate to Morrigan?
I am not a costume designer, but I have fallen in love with my characters enough times now that I have been inspired by them and created things inspired by them and the things I have described them as wearing.
I have not yet taken that as far as I am with Morrigan, and I am approaching this differently because I want to do her justice.
I am going to be making something that I described in the book, and which I did research on before I even described it. In that respect, it's like the project with the metallic lace lingerie.
But I want it to be more than an outfit, so I want to do some things the way I did when I made the set for Francesca; it needs to show more of her personality than a garment alone. I have already been working hard to source the materials for the garment itself, but creating Morrigan has also involved a lot of other work.
I have spent hours looking at wigs, and contact lenses, and replicas of 15th Century European weaponry. I have thought about who she is, and what she cares about because I don't want to share a picture of a model in a white wig and orange contact lenses and tell people it's a picture of her when it doesn't feel like it is.
I want everyone to see the images and understand that this is Morrigan, and for people who have read about her to instantly know that it is her they are looking at.
I want to share images of my Morrigan, and everything she represents - crossbow and all.
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