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  1. NateHawkings

    NateHawkings New Member

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    When do you describe your MC's appearance?

    Discussion in 'Character Development' started by NateHawkings, Nov 22, 2017.

    Right now, after a short opening paragraph, I'm describing my characters appearance and backstory. So that had me wondering, when is the best time to do this? And in how much detail do you do it. Do you try to express the exact image you have, or do you leave a lot of details up to the reader's imagination?
     
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  2. LazyBear

    LazyBear Banned

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    It used to be easy when I made cartoons, but when writing, I either get a wall of text to throw away or descriptions that are too late and may contradict the reader's mental image. If I ever publish anything, I will make sure to include an image of my main character since I am better at drawing than writing.
     
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  3. NateHawkings

    NateHawkings New Member

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    Kind of having the same problem. My story comes forth from what was supposed to be a game (but I felt the story didn't get what it was worth with my development skills) so I have concept art for the main character, and that image is really etched into my mind. Letting the readers form their own image is quite the struggle for me, even though I think it's better if they have freedom to form their own mental image.
     
  4. izzybot

    izzybot (unspecified) Contributor

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    I feel you on this. I'm a really visual person, but for some damn reason I picked up writing instead of any visual medium when I was younger, so here I am :p

    I think you're right that it's better to let the reader fill in the details on their own, though. Detailed descriptions slow down the narrative and really just aren't that interesting or in fact necessary to your story. When it comes to descriptions my method is to say the important bits and get out to let the story keep rolling unencumbered - usually that means sprinkling things into action and narration as I go.

    In my WIP one of the two main characters is very short/small, and this is relevant to the plot a few different times because they can't reach things and are easy for the other main character to pick up and carry. They also has vitiligo, predominantly noticeable on their face and hands, which is relevant because they're trying to hide through some parts of the story and, well, they're kinda distinctive because of it. So these are details that I picked out as important, and got into the narrative quickly and kept reiterating organically to make sure that they'd be incorporated into the reader's mental image - however else they pictured the character. Because the rest of the details don't really matter, and I have to convince myself that I don't have to paint a pretty picture with words and try to shove it in the reader's face.

    Just let them know what they need to know and get out. But do it soon before they've had a chance to solidify their own mental image, and be sneaky about it.

    That said, I'm not sure if the opening few paragraphs is where character description should be. Like I said above, it's not super interesting to read, and you really want something interesting and engaging in those first few paragraphs and pages to hook'em in. Unless it's sprinkled into action - and I'm assuming it's not since you also mention backstory.
     
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  5. ChickenFreak

    ChickenFreak Contributor Contributor

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    I'm much more worried about the backstory than the appearance. How much backstory?

    But if you're only a paragraph in, I don't think that the appearance at that point should be more than, oh, five or ten words. I don't think that the reader will care enough, yet, to see a long description.
     
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  6. Iain Aschendale

    Iain Aschendale Lying, dog-faced pony Marine Supporter Contributor

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    Depends on your style and your story, but less can be more. Elmore Leonard said:

    Unless it's important to the story, a minimal description of the physical appearance is usually fine, most readers are going to come to their own conclusions anyway. Terry Pratchett described Nobby Nobs at length because it was plot-relevant, but if he described Sam Vimes, I've forgotten it. I imagine him looking something like Nick Frost though.
     
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  7. Partridge

    Partridge Senior Member

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    Agreed. People are good at filling in the blanks. It's actually pretty annoying if you have made a picture in your mind, and the author tries to interfere with that.
    I think it works best to drop in one or two details, and let your reader's imagination do the rest. Michael Connelly does this really well in the Lincoln Lawyer, by getting the Mickey Haller (the MC) to give the reader these details through dialogue.

    "Where's the pony tail?"
    "The bar objected to it, so I cut it off"

    - We know he has longish hair.

    and something like:
    "You're dressing nice, but not too nice."
    I was quite offended. I was in my best Hugo Boss.

    In my view, it works well because it's unobtrusive, not spoiling the flow of the story. Connelly doesn't give us huge info dumps to chew through, but enough pointers to build an image in our minds that are something like his.
     
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  8. Iain Aschendale

    Iain Aschendale Lying, dog-faced pony Marine Supporter Contributor

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    What kind of...

    Oh, the law. Barristers, judges, that sort of thing.

    Yeah, that makes more sense, no ponytails allowed there.

    [​IMG]
     
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  9. jannert

    jannert Retired Mod Supporter Contributor

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    I don't mind if an MC or any other character is fully described within the story. However, chucking in the description right at the start of the story, in an opening 'paragraph' can be a huge mistake.

    We don't know this character at all, and the physical description, unless VERY deftly done, is not likely to register. We're starting from scratch and reading along, trying to get a feel for the character by what the character is doing or thinking or what is happening to them as the story opens. We want to know what the story is about, and that's what we'll be looking for. A dry list of hair and eye colour, height, weight, etc doesn't really stick at this point. The story won't be about hair and eye colour, height and weight, will it? And furthermore, dumping these kinds of details on the reader right at the start screams 'amateur writer,' doesn't it?

    Have faith that you can give us the description details AS THEY MATTER. I'd say 'age' is one of the first things that matters. It doesn't need to be an exact age, and you can just hint at a character's age by what they are doing, but it's good to know very early on if the character is a baby, a young child, a teenager, an adult, or an old person. That can really affect how we see the character, and it's the kind of detail that not only will stick, but will actually matter. Hair and eye colour? Not so much.

    As for backstory. Don't give an unconnected biography to bring us up to speed on the character's entire life. Give us a reason for this particular backstory. The main character can't stand hearing about a dog being beaten because their hated stepfather used to beat their dog. Jane has always wanted to hike the Himalayas, but she's been a cripple since birth and can't even walk. When Jason's wife and child were both killed in a car crash, years ago, Jason decided he would never marry again.

    Of course this kind of revelation can be done slowly and with a lot of detail. Just make sure it's not delivered as a complicated 'character trait and development' list. Reveal these things with emotion and purpose, so they are meaningful to the reader and give a push to the story itself.
     
    Last edited: Nov 23, 2017
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  10. NateHawkings

    NateHawkings New Member

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    Very interesting insights from all of you, so thanks!
     
  11. Shenanigator

    Shenanigator Has the Vocabulary of a Well-Educated Sailor. Contributor

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    It depends on the story. In my current WIP, he's described twice, through the eyes of two different characters: first by an immature character who has a crush on him, and then later by someone predatory. The first is the more detailed description because there's a running gag that he looks a lot like someone else. He's also a very physical character, so it seems fitting that there's a more detailed description of his exterior.

    The female MC, on the other hand, has a very vague description. All we know is that she has a great smile and there's a description of her eyes, because those are the things that make one of the characters smitten for her before they get to know each other. This character is sort of mysterious, so a vague description seemed to fit.

    Contrary to current writing advice, though, I prefer detailed character descriptions. I find it grounding to be able to picture the character in my head. Lack of description is why I can't stand Hemingway. ETA: I don't mean so much detail you get bogged down in it, but enough to clearly form a picture of the person in my mind.
     
  12. Partridge

    Partridge Senior Member

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    A bit hypocritical when you put it like that, isn't it? ;)
     
  13. Iain Aschendale

    Iain Aschendale Lying, dog-faced pony Marine Supporter Contributor

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    Exactly.
     
  14. NateHawkings

    NateHawkings New Member

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    Based on the opinions and advice I've gathered from this topic I rewrote a few paragraphs at the start of the story. This, however, has led me to a rather difficult decision.

    On one hand, I think doing the action sequence before the essential backstory is a better way to keep it interesting, but on the other hand, the action holds much more intensity if the readers already know how the MC got here.
     
  15. raine_d

    raine_d Active Member

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    You can give a clue or two as the action starts as to how important it is to the MC, a hint of the backstory with a promise that more will come later :) Whay I think is probably more important is that you've given the reader some idea of their character - of why we should care about this MC - rather than their physical appearance.
     
  16. Iain Aschendale

    Iain Aschendale Lying, dog-faced pony Marine Supporter Contributor

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    I just finished reading an excellent book called Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel, which has some things that apply to this and a number of other discussions about diversity that have popped up on this forum over the past while. One of the main characters is named Jeevan Chaudhary. Other than mentioning that his mother came from... Mumbai? Sorry, forget which city, there's no mention of his appearance at all. He's athletic enough to jump up onto a theater stage and strong enough to push a heavily loaded shopping cart down a snowy street, but that's all we learn about him. The author has included effortlessly included a visible minority in her story. Another character is gay; we know this because he thinks about his boyfriend. Full stop, there are no romantic or sexual scenes in the story of any stripe, but we know that there's a gay main character.

    When the movie version of The Martian came out, I was among those who were disappointed that Mindy Park was cast as a lebensborn caucasian and Venkat Kapoor somehow became a black guy, but then I read Andy Weir's thoughts on his characters' appearances:

    *emphasis mine
     
  17. Jak of Hearts

    Jak of Hearts Active Member

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    The best time to give at least a general description of your character (sex, hair color/style, build, skin color/ethnicity) is within the first page they are introduced. You don't want a reader to develop a picture of the character in their head and then a chapter later you subvert that idea. I get frustrated when I envision someone with blonde hair and find out halfway through the book that she has dark hair. I also generally prefer to go with a "less is more" attitude when describing characters. The MC in my book's physical description is dark skinned with dreadlocks that flow over her shoulders. That's it. Period. One of the other MC's I don't even give a skin color for. As for back story, only give enough that is needed at the moment. Let the story reveal their backstory, do not just throw it out in exposition. One of my MC's starts by leaving the shogunate, it isn't said until later how long he was there or why he was kicked out, because at that point in the story its not relevant background.
     
  18. Antaus

    Antaus Active Member

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    To be honest, I rarely describe my characters at all, or at the very least in a very minimal fashion, unless they have some feature that is out of the ordinary. This isn't to skip out on writing to trying to take a shortcut, it's to let the reader use their imagination and see the character in their own minds their own way. Writing creativity isn't just on the part of the writer, a good part of it comes fro the reader too. I've read some works that give little, if any, description of the characters, but my mind definitely fills in the gaps about what they look like.
     
  19. ChickenFreak

    ChickenFreak Contributor Contributor

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    It may be worth figuring out how much of the backstory you really need.

    For example, you might be tempted to tell the reader that

    Flora grew up poor
    and so she wanted to study law and get a job at the Southern Poverty Law Center
    and so she's spent the last five years of her life studying law
    paying for it with her life savings and the inheritance that she got from her recently deceased aunt
    but she's failed the bar a few times
    and today her car broke down
    and so she's running late for her very last chance to take the bar
    and she borrowed the shiny new Jaguar
    belonging to her best friend, Mary Sue, the heir to a soft-serv ice cream fortune
    and there are carjackers
    that have been in the news
    in her town of Lilacville, Maryland
    known as the soft-serv capital of the world
    and one of the carjackers is pointing a gun at her.

    Or you can communicate the emotion of that with, say:

    "When the carjacker said 'your keys or your life', Flora had to think about it."

    and then proceed with the action scene, describing how Flora blinded the carjacker by throwing her soft-serv in his face.

    Can you chip away at that pre-action-scene backstory, item by item by item, and get down to the core emotional stakes?
     
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