After I wrote the books of The Seer Trilogy, I started sketching the characters. I've never done that before. I always see the characters clearly in my head, but unless characters' appearances matter to the story, I don't describe them. I prefer to let my readers imagine them however they want. But when I finished writing The Seer Trilogy novels, I wasn't ready to let those characters go, so I pulled out my pencil and started to draw.
The sketches were quick, 15 - 20 minutes. And because I was trying to stir up interest in the books, I shared the sketches on social media along with brief profiles of the characters. To my surprise, the sketches caught people's attention, and as the books hit bookstore shelves, many of my Facebook and Instagram friends bought and read them.
That was great, but the biggest takeaway for me was the realization that I liked putting faces to my characters. I discovered it was helpful to readers as well. Some people aren't great at imagining what characters look like, and my sketches gave them images to refer to. In the final book of the series, the publisher included all my sketches at the end. Bonus!
So when I finished the next novel, Bran, a spinoff from The Seer Trilogy but a total stand-alone, I decided to sketch those characters too. It's a fun way to add another dimension to my novels. Enjoy and cross your fingers that I can find a publisher.
