A few years ago when I was stuck in the middle of writing Soul Boundary, I decided to attempt little portrait sketches for some of my characters, in hopes of learning more about them.
Some came out better than others, but the main surprise was how strongly Miriam (with the piercings and the hair and the scowl) showed up when I offered her the chance. I’d been trying to remove her from the story because she complicated things, but clearly she did NOT want to be deleted! Complications can be a good thing.