Only add the necessary details of your detail. You don't have to entirely tell what they look like. Readers can imagine your characters on their own, even if they have different imaginations.
D'oh! I voted "middle ground" when I probably should have voted "bare minimum". Then again, I draw my characters before I write them in a story... so that I don't really HAVE to describe. I only give basic description like hair color, and IF I'm feeling generous, hair texture; eyes, don't bother with the shade. I do describe height. And I'm almost afraid to take on skin shade, if only because it feels unnatural for me to basically throw in: "Oh, by the way, this guy is (Asian) Indian, or this girl is dark cocoa because she's BLACK, etc." Though race is important, but I feel like I'd offend someone with the wrong description of their race. I don't do facial features at all unless it's freckles or a beauty mark. Can I get a revote?
I HATE with a passion the 5 pages of character description and backstory some people dump in the beginning of a character's appearance, especially when they NEVER refer to their appearance again. For example And it will go on in this fashion for another 5 pages and we will NEVER READ ANYTHING AGAIN describing him or his mannerisms or attributing any emotion whatsover. The author is just lazily throwing in a bucket of description and then moving on with the next 60,000+ words. These writers invariably throw in 20 pages of exposition, followed by 10 pages of 'he said', 'she said' dialogue with no adverbs or variation in the dialogue tags. If I had a dollar for every crap story I'd read, I'd be able to retire. And I would - putting a red pen to EVERY crap piece and posting it back to the author for corrections.
For me, it depends upon the character and their relevance at a given moment. I don't necessarily pack a detailed description of a character into the first introduction to him or her but, if the eyes, hair, build, height, etc. seem pertinent to the overall image of him or her at a given point, then I will include such description. It may be irrelevant that her nails are fashionably long or his eyebrows always look as though they were just waxed. But, if some tic or gesture or whatnot comes into play and those particular features may be a part of that, then I do include those facts like the dimples, the permanently arched eyebrows, muscular calves, etc. On the other hand, if the character's personality and mental agility are more important than looks, then I may go light on those aspects and hit their mannerisms, ADHD antsiness, introversion, or whatever instead. For me, it's all about what the character and the reader need to communicate with one another.
I rarely describe the type or color of my characters pants. Does this imply that they run around naked?
The reason I don't like that approach (though this is just my own subjective preference) is that I form an image of the character in my mind very quickly upon introduction. I find that once the image is formed, it doesn't change in my head. When the author waits until later and starts dropping in new bits of description, it often ends up conflicting with the image I've already formed. As I said, my mental image doesn't change, so I don't end up incorporating the new material provided by the author, instead it ends up being a bit jarring because it is in conflict with what I've already envisioned. So I prefer light character description, and even for that light amount to be provided quickly upon introduction of the character.
"The President of the United States, in a onesie, strode out before the members of Congress, the Senate, and the Supreme Court to deliver his State of the Union address ..."
It's been a while since I and K have laughed at a post, but that did the trick. However, I stand by my stand.
Okay, on second thought, after rereading some of my old stuff, I might be guilty about describing hair TOO much... evidently, I like hair a lot... at least it doesn't last more than a short paragraph. I would NEVER forgive myself if I was that descriptive with hair.
I think minimum personally - 2 or 3 pertinent details. Dialogue can make you visualise the character if it's particular enough as well IMO.
For a story I have to go with middle ground. Start with a physical description. That helps the reader visualize. Don't use much more than when they're introduced. You want to slowly let the reader learn more about the character. Keeps them hooked and wanting to keep reading.
I tend to get carried away with these, but I learned it's best to just give a base description of physique but not too much more.
I tend toward little or no character description, unless the description is relevant to the story. To me, what is important about a character is his or her moral and emotional makeup. Here are a couple of examples from my blog. In Cold Vengeance, I have a clear image of my characters, but I don't put it in the story, Each reader can visualize the characters their own way, although I'd not be surprised if most readers see the characters much as I do, physically. Blue is one of my older short stories. It was written for a short story competition shortly after I joined the site. The nameless woman in it is described only by her eye color, dress color, and hair, and one of those is a key plot component.
Unless it is something relevant to the scene or character development, I do not want lots of details. Example in a love story, lets say the woman has a slight hook nose and therefore is not considered beautiful by any means, yet the man found her far more attractive than any other woman he's ever been with. That sort of detailed description of the nose is alright because it adds to the story. However, if someone has a big black mole on the cheek for no reason, then don't mention it. I prefer my imagination.
I want to add some insight to support all those people who like filtering description through other characters or believe description says more about the character who is doing the noticing/describing rather than the one being described. I shared a photo of a model with my friend on Facebook the other day. We were still talking about it, and she wondered how he got that scar on his stomach. My response was, "He has a scar?" She was also able to list what many of this tattoos were without looking while all I could've told you about his tattoos were that he had one I specifically remembered (because it was two words in big letters that stood out to me) and that he had some other tattoos on his chest and maybe his arms, but I wasn't even sure about his arms, and I didn't know what any of his other tattoos were. This doesn't really answer the question, but I thought it was fascinating to see this come into play in real life, even in a small way, after it was discussed on this thread.
I guess it also dependes on the importance of the character. A mc you can describe a little more thoroughly than a secondary character, but anyway I prefer the minimalistic approach. Plus I find it kind of annoying if the author drops a detail about a character appearance in the end of the novel when I've already made a picture for myself what the person looks like. I'd say description should come as early as possible.
I knee-jerk voted "Bare Minimum," but afterwards thought a bit more. It would depend on the genre and the relationship between the characters really. I usually only involve a couple of details: hair color, a particular ring they fiddle with when nervous, an important scar. I think physical descriptions must serve a purpose: identification (You'd know the 'red-haired man' is always Joe, even if the POV character doesn't yet.) or characterization (The ring fiddling as nervous tic above.
I try not to give too much details, but I always include some details somewhere in the story. If I write a third person p.o.v. story I tend to describe my MC; hair color, eye color, posture and if it's important to the setting the clothes too (e.g. if I write fantasy I tend to describe the clothes more than when my story takes place in the "modern world"). If I write a first person story I mention details here and there, but way less than when I write in third person. I usually drop hints here and there ("my dark hair", "I'd really like to have blue eyes instead of brown ones"), but I don't really go into detail.
my description strength lies within landscapes usually, but yes, i do describe people between medium and highly-descriptive-styles. depending on what they wear or what markings they have (i have a race that is prone to scars and can be identified by those alone) i usually limit myself to what is necessary in my mind. the reader can fill in the blanks.