They're Alive.... ALIVE!!!

It's spooky season, so we have an obligatory reference to Frankenstein. There's certainly some amount of parallel between the monster and the collection of characters created by any author. Or mad scientist.

It's been a little over one week since publication of Toward Oblivion and it's been great fun receiving messages as books find their way into people's hands. At this juncture, I think it's a great moment to reflect on the creations and to play around a little bit. Seeing as I'm a writer and not an illustrator (I tried that once or twice, back in 4th and 5th grade... it didn't go well), I went over to the fantastic platform at GetImg.ai to do a little bit of character concept art. I hesitate with the use of AI - there are positives for the creation of these machine systems and language models, but drawbacks aplenty in the creative space. (Alas, I digress.)

Without a movie or TV adaptation, we are often left with what an author writes to describe and form a picture of the characters. I've tried to leave a lot to the imagination in my descriptions, but I figured I would share a few of my visions and have some fun in the process. Without further ado, here are three characters I love dearly:

Robert Zimmerly

Concept art of Robert Zimmerly

Alone, Robert is a strong man who questions his ability to change the course of the world. Supported by others, Robert will fight for his convictions and try to save everyone. I played around here the least, as Robert is probably the one I have envisioned the clearest. It's a little off, mostly with the hairstyle, but I don't hate it. At some point in time, I had a list of "What-if" regarding which actors I would love to have in which roles. Chris Pine jumped immediately to mind for Robert, but I feel like this AI rendering is a weird cross of Chris Pine and Robert Pattinson with extra bleached hair.

Favorite Robert quote:

"Have you ever heard the phrase 'some people just want to watch the world burn'? All I see is a world on fire. Constant war, with no end to the cycle until we all die. ... it makes me sick to watch. I want to put the fires out."

Beth Olentan

Concept art for Beth Olentan

Beth is brave, caring, quick to love and forgive, and holds immense hope for the future. She simultaneously questions whether or not her hopeful future is anything more than a pipe dream. I spent a solid 10-12 attempts at phrasing to get this one right, but I still don't feel fully satisfied. I wish I could remember who I had decided to portray Beth, but nobody immediately comes to mind at this juncture. If only I had that list.

Favorite Beth quote:

"I thought I knew what I was doing traveling with you,... but now I find I'm traveling with a man who doesn't know himself. Tell me what you're going to do next, Robert."

???

Concept art of a creepy dude.

This guy. Hmm hmm hmm. He crosses paths with our pair from above in Chapter Four, where Beth notes he has red eyes. Using the AI was fun for a while, but I cannot get the eyes right at all. I tried about 16 different prompts with various levels of failure. Something about red eyes being unnatural, I guess? The clothing is wrong, too. I gave up.

Favorite ??? quote:

"Bravery and foolishness walk a fine line. If you falter, you will die."

What next?

A challenge! I'm curious to know who you would like me to prompt the AI to try to create OR to see a character from your point of view.

After all, you get to walk with them for a while, to share in their story. I'm curious to see where your imagination takes you.

As ever, be well.

D. James Reed