Placement of character description

I'm kind of confused as to how you do describe your characters. You don't seem to like introductory descriptions but you don't like working a persons features into the narrative. Perhaps I've missed something you've said?

 

Be very, very careful how much describing you do in your story. There are only two reasons you would want to give a physical description of a character:

1) Their appearance is a defining feature. The Lannister twins are beautiful and blonde, as suits their lineage. George R R Martin never describes elderly characters beyond the fact that they are old, because that's all you need to know (which is a big deal, given his propensity to spend page after page detailing everyone in a banquet hall and what they're wearing/doing/eating)

2) A character is observing another, in which case the only details they'll notice are the ones that stand out/are important enough to remember. Even then, very few people describe to themselves what someone else looks like unless they're
a) Obsessive, possibly with poor self-image issues.
b) A professional whose job involves memorising details (Sherlock for example)

I have four characters whose images are rock-solid in my mind, but I honestly can't imagine a scenario where I could naturally work their physical appearance into a scene with the exception of the thief/assassin that wears disguises all the time.

Basically, if it doesn't sound like the way your character would actually think - and keep in mind very few people maintain a constant internal dialogue detailing the appearance of every person they look at - you're doing it wrong.

 

No, that's not doing it wrong. It depends on whether your MC is in character or not. You'll find that some people can and will notice details about everyone they meet; not everyone looks at someone and thinks "oh, look, another blank person". At least whenever I meet people, I notice the small things, like hair colour, skin tone, sometimes height and weight. It's perfectly fine to mention someone's appearance in brief; it's if you're going into strong detail for every person you meet, that's when you're doing it wrong.

 

Yes, but writing something like that usually isn't character thoughts, it's more like narrative and then i think it could be ok to slip in the color of the hair. A character wouldn't think "oh, now she's brushing the clump of..." either. If it would be a character thinking about the person I agree that it would look strange, but then it would be phrased differently, I think.

 

The way I want my story to start is with a boxing match in the middle of the town square(this takes place in a fantasy setting, so more medieval than Rocky). I would love to just get a few important details about the character's appearance nailed down, the little things I'm not willing to let the reader come up with on their own. But I also want to hook them with that first sentence, and descriptions aren't the best tool for that in my opinion.

 

You can always try to stick the descriptions in at the beginning before the action starts, it might even be a good idea if you work it in so that it builds a little bit of suspense before the drop. Otherwise there's nothing wrong with fitting descriptions in after the action scene.