How To Describe A Character?

That's pretty horrible, because it's not at all the way anyone but the most obsessed narcissist would think of himself or herself.

When was the last time your hair or eye color ever entered your thoughts apart from when you are actively analyzing your appearance, such as considering a change to it?

Forcing description into sentences like that is always intrusive. If you mention a descriptive element, it should be because the character is very aware of it at that moment, not just to slip it in as a portrait artist momentarily stepped outside of your character's skin.

 

I appreciate your blunt response, and as I even said myself, it's a horrible example. This might work (a better example) if the character is in front of a mirror.

 

If it's first person past tense the character can discribe how he/she used to look.

ex- It was back in the 90's. My hair was still long and brown, and my dull eyes where bright green, and enquisitive."

I wrote that on the spot so sorry for any errors.

 

you could also describe his family...

"My sister shared my blonde hair, but got her blue eyes from our mother; my dad's and mine were brown, something he told me was 'manly'"

 

First ask yourself just how much you want to force the description on your reader. Some description helps the reader picture your character; too much bursts the bubble of the image the reader paints in his or her own mind.

 

I think it depends on your writing style... because if you are writing in first person but its sort of the observant/all-knowing narrator than you can still says "his eyes twinkled..." and etc.
If it's first person, chances are the "author" (narrator) would also want to describe the other characters.
The only thing you have to watch out for is if it is within the realm of something your narrator would say. If your narrator is say... an ex-con "His bright blue eyes twinkled' is just not right, but "I saw a flash behind his blue eyes which made me... " etc. would probably work.

Also, don't go crazy jumping over backwards to describe someones hair color or whatever if its not integral to the story, even if its how you imagine the character their personality is more important than their appearance and personality is best described with actions instead of statements.

Good luck!

 

What you choose to describe, and what you choose not to describe, should serve to tell something about the narrator.

For example, in mystery novels told from first person perspective where the central character is a cop or a private investigator, it's very natural for that character to take notice of details. For a good example, read any of the alphabet mysteries by Sue Grafton. Not only are the descriptions detailed, they are colored by Kinsey Millhone's cynicism.

Similarly, when Patricia Cornwell narrates from the perspective of a psychopath, his observations of his victim are slanted to show his obsessions with certain faetures or assumed personality traits.

But if your character is meeting up with someone he sees everyday, he's not going to give any thought to her hair or eye color, or height or weight, unless something about the person is different enough for him to take notice. Hell, ask a guy what color his girlfriend's eyes are, and half the time he won't even be sure (unless he's been blasted for not noticing)!

So keep your descriptions in character with the person whose viewpoint you are using, and consistent with the scene as well. If his friend is running toward him, screaming in terror, he won't be noticing what color shirt he's wearing.

 

for physical descriptions, I have written things where my characters described themselves in relation to their family members. For instance:

"My mom's hair used to be the same bright red shade as mine, but it had turned white within the twenty years that I had been away."

or:

"I was the only one in my whole family who didn't have bright red hair."

something like that. I find it's most natural for a character to describe their looks based on their families..

also you can do something subtle that relates to the situation, like "I ran my hand through my short hair, wishing it was longer, like his."

 

First I think you need to assess what characteristics are important and what aren't. I case of mistaken identity might make a very detailed description important. While a story revolving around battle scenes and such could place less emphasis on the appearance.

 

I haven't read everything of what everyone else has stated, so forgive me if I start bantering about what other people have already stated.I'm writing in first person POV and haven't described what my character looks like for a number of reasons.

First off: Why not leave it to the reader's imagination on what your main character looks like? You don't have to give us a jeweled description of everyone in the book, even if they are the star of the story. It adds more interest to us (sometimes) when we can pretend what the character looks like.

Second: The reader can get a certain outlook on the way the character might look depending on their lifestyle. If they are rich, they obviously (<--misspelled that word five friggin times, wtf?) will not have a grunge style to them. They will be of high class, maybe have a somewhat perfect look to them. Straight posture, etc. As for someone who roams the streets, they will be muddled up. We can also get an idea from the occupation. Rogues will have dark camouflaged clothes, and I imagine a lot of them would be pale, by creeping about in the night so much. True that this does not go for all characters in stories. But it lets us be creative, rather than you having all the fun. In the end, ask yourself: does it really matter what the character looks like?

Third: Most of the time in first person, it's easy to use a cliché when getting it through to the reader on what the character looks like. This is bad. Readers don't like clichés. The whole, "My blue eyes scan the books on the shelves" gets old after a while. Your character will not be thinking of what color their eyes are as they look at something, okay, people? This is the major thing with first person. Hey, you're in first person, think about it for a second. If you start to do something, do you think how you look when you do whatever? Doubtful. Reflections in the water can be okay, given the situation. Or even the mirror event. They are clichés, but say some teenager is skidding to a halt in the bathroom, fixing her disheveled hair, putting on the last touches of make-up, groaning at another pimple that popped up from her skin, etc. The point in making a character's description is to keep the action going. If you can't do this, then don't bother with a description.

Fourth: In first person, there's scant few ways to describe a character's appearance. Below are a few ways that it could be done.

- Clichés that were stated.
- Have another character comment on the MC's appearance. (This is what happens in my novel.) This does not fully describe the whole body of your character, of course, only a bit. Such as a bad hair day. Or, ew, that's an ugly looking wart you got there, mate.
- Putting clothing on that is too short for your character, thus showing us they are either fat, or are too tall. Also the reverse.
- Bad habits can give your reader an idea. Such as biting nails, biting the lips (which would make us know they are chapped), running hands through their hair to try and make sure a certain cowlick stays down, rubbing their stomach because it's hungry or just...sticks out, etc.
- Having the character look back on a certain event. Such as, if they have a scar, they could touch it a lot if it bothers them to know it's there, and perhaps there's an event or something's that's been said that makes them remember how they got it. Or if they have shortness from a family member, and they think about it like that.

Hm...I guess there are a few ways to describe a character in first person, eh? ...I think I just taught myself some new tricks. XD Anyway, these might work to a certain point, but you don't need to give the reader everything about the character.

 

A useful technique I've come across whilst writing in first-person is describing the main character in the prologue. For example, you could write the prologue from the POV of the MC's mother.

 

Thats pretty tough, usually the Show Don't Tell rule applies mostly to personality but if you tweak it a bit you can probably use that. But sometimes i just think it's good enough to let the reader imagine his/her own version of the character, so unless they make a movie of it, everyone will be happy. Plus usually the name give you a sort of insight on the character's appearance in my opinion, like say:

Bruno- to me sounds like a big, barrel-chested bald guy, with a leather jacket
Bob (lol)- A working class guy with a black- swipe over sideways Donald Trump hairdo thing.
Emily - A young brown haired, green eyed girl

Something like that i'd say.