Put a face to it
Image via www.massiveblack.com
When writing a story, creating a character or understanding your intended audience (or players) a little better, it is a good idea to put a face to it.
Flick through the pages of a magazine until you find the person who looks like what you are looking for. Sometimes it will be an actor/actress who will exemplify your intended audience; sometimes it will be a book character, a friend or a collage of different personalities.
Anyway you do it, eventually you will end up with a face which you can look at, and test your creativity with. If it's an intended audience, will she buy/listen to what you have to say? Does he/she look like they'd care about your creative ideas?
If it's a character you are creating, can you tell their personality traits from the image? Does it help you imagine the character moving, acting and having depth and reason for action?
Next time you have to create something for an audience, try it out. Sometimes you will end up with Renée Zellweger, your mum, or that marketing executive you hate. But at least you know who you're looking at!
