The Beards of Grudging

Beards are very important world building and cultural tool in Grudging. You've heard of the beard making the man? In Grudging, that is literally true.

A boy isn't considered a man until he "earns" his beard.

In the city of Colina Hermosa, earning a beard is different for every profession and even changes over time. For main character Ramiro in the military during wartime, that means living through a single, hand-to-hand combat experience. Until he's done that, he can't speak up in council or court a wife. And his military brothers will continue to tease him and call him bisoño and peach-face.

I had a fun time going through pictures online and looking for beards that fit my characters. Also looking for pictures of how I imagined my female characters--and no, they don't have beards. I created a pinterest board about it. 

I really want to find more awesome beard pictures to add to my collection. And I'd like to make a contest out of it!

Such as this great Ricky Martin beard.

You can't post pictures in blog comments, so it will have to be on twitter. Hmm. How to make this easy?

Tweet me your favorite beard picture (@Michelle4Laughs). Or if you read Grudging, a picture that reminds you of a character. (Keep in mind that Grudging is set in a Spanish-inspired land.)  Then so I can keep track, paste the link to that tweet in the comments of this post.

I'll pick three comments to win. One winner will be my favorite picture. Two winners will be random picks by number generator.

Prizes.

Hmm.

I'll let the winner pick a prize from these three options:

-a query critique (one round)
-an ebook of Grudging
-bookmarks of Grudging and a razor

These can be funny or sexy pictures. Please nothing naughty or that you couldn't show your grandmother. I will let this run through Monday, January 25th. You can check out my pinterest board link above for ideas.

So let's give this a try and see what happens! Did anyone else notice there is a nice beard picture in the post below this?