Marissa Meyer's Cinder Inspiration Photos

MARISSA MEYER’S

CINDER

INSPIRATION PHOTOS

Y’all know how much I loved the awesomely cy-borged out fairy tale retelling, Cinder. Ever wonder where authors find inspiration? For Marissa Meyer, inspiration can be found in photos. Let’s get right to it!


I love collecting pictures that inspire my writing. Sometimes it’s out of necessity—whether because I’m having trouble picturing a scene or this character hasn’t started to feel like a true human being to me yet. Other times a totally random photo will spark my imagination and lead to a new character or plot twist. Sometimes I can gather new details to drop into the story world that wouldn’t have occurred to me otherwise, and those details are often what brings the setting to life in my imagination.

So far, I’ve amassed 40 inspiration pictures for Cinder and 69 for the rest of The Lunar Chronicles. Here are some of my personal favorites:

Characters

CINDER
My original inspiration for Cinder’s character was Sailor Jupiter in the live-action Sailor Moon TV show, played by this actress: Mew Azama. Although Cinder changed both physically and emotionally during the writing of the book, this picture will always make me think of her. (It’s also largely responsible for the outfit Cinder is wearing in the last chapter of the book.)

MECHANIC GIRL
Mechanic Girl by CoolSurface
I love how the girl in his picture is so grimy looking. While her expression is sad, she looks totally comfortable surrounded by all that machinery, which is precisely how I imagine Cinder.

TINKERING
Tinkering with the Robot by GenevieveGT
This is another one that harks to Cinder’s personality—lost in concentration as she works on fixing a robot.

KAI
My original inspiration for Kai, and it still makes me swoon. Sorry, I have no idea who he is.

DR ERLAND
This one took a long time to find—photos of old men aren’t nearly as prevalent as young, cute ones! But this one is spot-on, all the way down to the hat, and now I honestly can’t remember if the hat was in the story first, or if I wrote it in after seeing this picture…

LEVANA
Yet another photo in which I don’t know who the person is. I’m sure she’s probably famous and I’m showing my pathetic lack of pop culture knowledge as I write this. Still—her smug beauty fits the character to a tee.

IKO
Little Robot by Wadaka
I collected many robot pictures during the creation of Iko’s character, but this one still comes closest. Differences, though, are that Iko was given rolling treads instead of legs and her arms are more spindly.

Settings

ORIENTAL MARKETPLACE
Oriental Marketplace by Blinck
This was my desktop image for almost the entire time I was writing Cinder, and it really helped me grasp the feel of the weekly market where Cinder has her mechanics booth. I love how it has both the feel of a bustling metropolis and a very Asian vibe in the architecture and details.

CHARON DOCK
Charon Dock by Vonmurder
This image is precisely how I imagine New Beijing’s rundown industrial district where the plague quarantines have been set up (minus the creepy thing hanging over the buildings, that is).

SUMMER PALACE
This is the Summer Palace in Beijing (the real Beijing), and if you were to make it bigger and multiply the amount of buildings/towers, you would have the royal palace where Prince Kai lives—cliff side and all.

Clothing

BALL GOWN
My very first concept of the royal ball was to make it a masquerade (because I have a thing for masquerades in fiction). Though that idea didn’t even make it into the first draft, this picture I snagged for Cinder’s ball gown lingered. That said, her final gown looks almost nothing like this.

BOYS IN UNIFORM
Boys in Uniform by Porotto
These outfits gave me the idea for the special coats the thaumaturges wear to announce their rank in the Lunar Court—white signifies the highest rank, followed by red, and then black.

Those are some of my favorite images that helped me visualize Cinder’s world as I was writing it—I hope they help bring it to life for you as well!


Thank you Marissa and The Teen {Book} Scene for this awesome tour and guest post!