Inventing New Characters: Time to Morph

Writers have all kinds of ways to come up with character descriptions. We adopt a favorite film or television actor, sometimes we comb through the rosters of modeling agencies, and other times we pick someone we know--or a stranger off the street.

But how cool would it be to morph your own character? You know how two friends get married and you can't wait to see how cute their kids are? Well, it's possible to find out now. And not only can you see what two people's kids will look like, you can blend any two people into a third person with ChangeFace.

Let's say you found a photo of a man whose dark looks you like, but you also admire another man's piercing eyes. Load them both into ChangeFace and see what you come up with. The site is pre-loaded with all kinds of celebrities, but you're welcome to upload your own.

Here's an example of a combination of Jackie Chan and Leonardo DeCaprio:

It could be fun to play around with. And if you're feeling creative, check out these other links and posts to flesh out your characters:

Writing Roulette: generators for writers who need inspiration, Part 1 and Part 2.

Kenda Turner's post on coming up with unique character names.

Give your character a quiz or psychological questionnaire to understand them better.

Sources for historical and modern day photos, including photos of every beard you can imagine.

One of my most popular posts: Facial Expressions-How to show your character's emotions.

And here are twenty close-up photos of all different kinds of eyes.

So how do you come up with a new character? What do you use to find unique names, and describe the person you have in mind?