Because I wanted to.

I can't tell you how much hate I've gotten in my books for my decision to recast characters. It's almost on a daily basis at this point, even though my explanation for recasting a character is usually in the cast chapter.

There are different reasons for why I recast.

1. I think the person fits my vision of the character. In Aegis, I recast Newt as Max Barczak because I think he's a great fit, he's younger, and he has a softer look that I feel matches my version of Newt in that book. I have absolutely nothing against Thomas Brodie-Sangster! Also, this is why I changed Clint Barton's faceclaim in Sick of Losing Soulmates. In my opinion, Rick Cosnett looks much more similar to how Clint did in the comics.

2. The character was POC in the original media and then got cast as a white person in a movie/show. This is the case for Katniss and Jennifer Lawrence. In Caged, I recast Katniss as Neelam Gill because Katniss is meant to be a WOC. I also write her as a WOC in Radiance even if I didn't outright cast Neelam in that book.

3. I don't support the things the original faceclaim did and find it too difficult to separate the person from the character. This is why Bellamy Blake, Clarke Griffin, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, and (again) Katniss Everdeen have been recast in various books of mine. For some, the faceclaims look so different from the original actor that I feel the need to make a formal announcement about the change to help my readers visualize what they look like. For others, I just prefer to include the change in the cast list.

If a celebrity has done something and I don't recast a character/change a faceclaim, it does not necessarily mean I support what they've done. I don't keep up with everything that people do, and it's fine for readers to bring things to my attention, but attacking me for choosing a faceclaim if they did something you didn't like doesn't solve anything. I'm a busy person and I put significant thought into who I choose for my stories. I don't have time to research every single one of my faceclaims to see if they've done anything sketchy recently, search for a new person to play the character, and change all of the graphics & gifs in my stories.

Most of the time, I just imagine the canon characters from a series however I choose to describe them. I don't necessarily imagine Holland Roden when I'm writing Mostly Ghostly, hence why I didn't recast her. If I'm imagining a specific person as I'm writing, I'll usually include that character in the cast list (like "TMR cast as their characters" or Josh Hutcherson as Peeta in Caged's cast list).

DON'T LIKE IT? COOL! Keep it to yourself. It's unnecessary to comment things like "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS", "wtf", "Um no", or "yeah this is where I stop". It's literally just a faceclaim change. I am not climbing into your brain and forcing you to imagine them. Announcing to me that you're going to stop reading because I changed Newt's faceclaim from one blond guy to another is truly unwarranted.

You can imagine the character how you want, but I would STRONGLY prefer if you not imagine my POC characters as someone white. I can't tell you how many times I've seen this happen. People comment that they imagine Fallon, Lena, Nadia, Graham, and other characters of color to be white actors and it bothers me so much. "I'm imagining Lena as Lucy Hale" Please no.

If you comment things like "I'm still gonna imagine her as JLaw lmao" or something to that effect, it grinds my gears. I don't care if you want to ignore the recast, but if you're going to, maybe just? Don't comment if you don't have something nice to say? It isn't as funny as you may think it is. It's rude, repetitive, and bothersome.