Many authors use visual triggers to help them get into -- or stay in -- their story.  Sometimes these triggers are actual objects -- a vase like one the heroine admires, a silver letter opener like the murder weapon. More often, however, they use pictures, usually magazine photos, of the people and places in their book -- an actress who is the physical embodiment of their heroine, a picture of an old Victorian that is exactly what they had pictured for the hero's house.

Visual triggers, for the most part, haven't worked well for me.  I can never seem to find a picture that exactly fits the image I have in my mind -- if it's a little bit off, it's worthless.

With A Good Man is Hard to Find, however, I had a problem.  I knew Kade really well -- I learned a lot about him while he was stuck in the saloon -- but I couldn't get Ren to talk to me.

I had a general idea of who he was -- a tough ex-bounty hunter, emotionally scarred by his years growing up in a brothel, and hardened by life in general (This changed a bit once I got to know him.) -- but it wasn't enough to get into his head.  I was working on a deadline and I needed help.

Luckily, in this case, there was a celebrity who I thought was the exact physical embodiment of this character.  In my mind, Ren looked exactly like Paul Walker.  With that in mind, I found about ten photos of the man and hung them up around my computer screen.  Worked like a charm.

Btw, I still have the pictures up -- I find them quite inspiring, even without a character attachment. 

    
    

(Disclaimer: I am not making any implications about Paul Walker's sexual orientation. I chose him because he is a spectacularly gorgeous man of whom photos are easily accessible.)