I think most writers have specific types in mind when they start crafting characters.  I know when I start to flesh out my leads in particular, I start by coming up with a list of attributes, is she kind?  Spunky?  Sarcastic?  What color hair does she have?  Is she an only child?  Does she get along with her parents?  The more detail I can drill down, the richer the character ends up.  Being a visual person, I almost always end up picking an actor or actress in my mind that I associate with the character, down to the bit players who just show up in one scene.  It makes it much easier to keep everybody straight in my head (actually I cheat, I keep a spreadsheet of names, who they are and who they look like).  You can’t help but think – if they made a movie or tv series out of this story, who would play so and so?  In the spirit of this, here is my dream casting of who would play everybody in Angel of Mercy. 

Mercy – Amelia Warner – a pretty obscure British actress who I think is beautiful and spirited
Sam – a younger Jude Law, pre-Talented Mr. Ripley.  I came across a couple of pictures of him taken by the paparazzi and he was a little ruffled and baffled looking, it really caught that part of Sam’s clueless personality
Adam – Ian Somerhalder because let’s face it, he could play this character in his sleep and he’s just a sexy beast
Ben – Mark Rufalo – he has that every guy quality that’s easy to overlook sometimes, but he can be so charming!
Parker – Bradley Cooper – because he can play an ass and still be pretty to look at
Matty – Justin Long – I think he could pull off the slacker brother so well
Daphne – Amanda Seyfried – with that long blonde hair and blue eyes, she has that wide eyed innocence that I associate with Daphne
Weatie – Jeremy Sisto – I can totally picture him playing an intense, scruffy looking scumbag
Nathanael – Matthew McFadyen (go see him in Pride and Prejudice as Mr. Darcy) – He has the intensity to look really pious and thunderous
Walter (the bouncer at Eden) – Marc Blucas – he’s got the muscle and all American looks to be a sweet guy that just doesn’t ring Mercy’s bell
Rachel (the nurse) – No idea what her name is, but the red headed nurse from “While You Were Sleeping” was who I pictured, it was probably on TV or something
Jilly (waitress at Eden) – Kristen Bell – because I love Kristen Bell and I like to incorporate her whenever I can. 
Mariah (Adam’s wife) – Morena Baccarin – a la Inara from Firefly, because I could see her tempting an angel to fall from grace
Cephas – Badger from Firefly, because I love the accent and he plays a great baddie
Mimsy – one of my own cats!  Because she’s so cute and curious and her squeaky sounds are like nothing I’ve heard from a cat before. 

Did I miss anybody?

(I’d love to hear it, by the way, if any readers had a specific person in mind when they read the story as well!)