Playing Dress-Up

So I'm in the middle of revisions right now (as you likely know, since I've mentioned it about every third minute since they started), which means I'm doing what any reasonable writer would:

I'm finding other things to do.

One of those is constructing my frankly AWESOME Halloween costume, in which I:

Will transform into this: 

Let me tell you all, so far I'm NAILING it. 

But that's not really the point of today's word-vomit. Today's barely-formed idea is that as authors, we're basically just playing pretend, constructing costumes that we hope pass muster, day in and day out. 

How many times, when you're trying to imagine what a particular character's expression looks like, do you attempt to scrunch your face up into what you're hoping to describe, then work to verbalize "pinched here, snail-shelled over there?" I can't be the only one who actually tries to walk a certain way, or put on a certain piece of clothing, or even visit a certain store/restaurant/city, just to get my character's reaction to it right. 

Basically, I hope no one ever records me when I'm writing.

The whole point is to "inhabit" our characters, mentally try them on for size, and if some section doesn't fit, re-fashion it. And my words are, in some sense, a costume for what's really going on; they're patching together some version of a world that exists in another space, hopefully accurately enough that all of you understand the references immediately.

I think it's sort of like a more boring, mostly internal version of method acting. 

Which isn't the same as putting on a costume and dancing around for people, but it does stand to reason that folks like me, who try to pretend to be someone else--even if it's just a different version of myself--for the span of however many words, are really, REALLY into holidays like Halloween.