Hi, everyone! I'm new here. First post! I recently realized I don't know how to describe my character's appearance in a way that doesn't come across a bullet list. I once read advice that opted to show personality and a connection to the readers before appearances, but it seemed I leaned way too much into that. Now I'm lacking in character descriptions for my stories. I want readers to envision the characters the way I see them in my head, or get close to an accurate picture. Important details such as hair color, skin tones, facial structures, and clothes. How do I smoothly integrate their appearances into the story in a way that readers will not only want to read but will also stick with them? Not necessarily for first impressions, but more geared towards a setting where the character arrives in a new outfit, such as for a battle, ball, or important event.
I would say these are all of very secondary importance, except some of them might become important in certain scenes or stories. I wouldn't describe these kinds of cosmetic things unless they did have story importance. Though if someone is unusually tall, short, heavyset, or thin or something I might mention that a few times. Things like that can make a person stand out in a crowd even from a distance, and can become a part of how you think of them. Then later you can just attach the word to the character as a reminder, 'the tall man' or 'the rotund woman'. It gets across a sense of who they are physically while also relieving you of the need to constantly use their names. Maybe certain other traits like 'the pale man'. In some kinds of stories physical appearance might be important, like in a romance where the lead characters are exceptionally attractive or something, but usually there's no need to mention hair color or eye color. Facial structure, I'm not sure how you could even work that in without it feeling really contrived. Again, unless it's something very unusual or something with strong story relevance. But I suppose it depends on what kind of stories you write.
First, thank you so much for the advice! I agree that I also think of those as secondary importance. I prefer to focus on personality and characteristics in stories, but since I write romance, I realized it's important for readers to visualize the characters in certain scenarios. I recently had a reader reach out to me saying that they could not picture one of the protagonist, so I started researching across sites on how to write descriptions, and I stumbled across here! I'm glad I did too. I can tell there's a lot I can pick up around here!
Oh yeah, if you write romance then it's different. It's largely about attraction, so those things will be very important. I was coming back in to say that I want to take back some of that—certain things can really stand out, even in non-romance, like striking red hair or pale ice-blue eyes. I would try to find motivated ways to work the descriptions in. What I mean is, instead of just saying 'She had pale grey eyes', maybe something like 'Her pale grey eyes had always drawn a lot of attention, for better and for worse.' And then spend the rest of that paragraph on the kinds of attention it had gotten her. But I'm not the best person to give this kind of advice, I'll let others do it who know more about it.
I do appreciate that you responded to my question though! First day on this website, and it's a joy to interact with people. I was worried the thread would be cold for quite some time!
Oh wow, I just noticed this is in a section literally called "Describe Practice"! I didn't even know this section existed. And here I am saying "Don't describe that... " Nope—it's a tag, not a section. Well then I don't feel quite so bad.
No need to feel bad! I'm new here so I'm probably going to be stumbling all over the place for at least the next week XD
This might be helpful to you, https://keyboardsmashwriters.tumblr.com/exercises_masterpost It's a masterpost of writing exercises that helps strengthen writing style, including character description and choosing important details. They're short and simple and very informative for beginner writers. Hope it helps!
One way I think you could incorporate specific details you want to invoke is by creating false details other characters gossip about. I'll give some examples below: If he's a reserved character, make him sound like some asshole playboy depicted through paparazzi magazines. If the best friend says he's an asshole misogynist, make the best friends perspective unreliable and he's actually the sweetest guy. But she rubbed him the wrong way or the other way around. By doing this, you create a contrast that makes the true characteristics stand out. Plus it adds slight level of depth to the character because it can make it seem like everyone is unreliable narrator/perspective; if the protagonist is in love with him, she sees him through the lens of love. A paparazzi see him through the lens of drama they can sell. A jilted lover sees him through the lens of hate. The only problem is that it may feel contrived or cliche if you use it too often. But it's still an effective way to emphasize details imo. Another way I can think of is hide the true characteristic; put him in situations where he acts/looks different from how he is inside really. Greece lightning does this quite well, in front of his friend he acts like an asshole and with the female protag he's the sweetest guy. It's similar to the gossip way but it can affect how the character behaves so it may not always be possible. The last suggestion I have is that you'd have to make the character pretty striking or odd in some way. If he's a classical handsome guy, vanillaish, then it's very hard to care how he has the blondest of hairs or the bluest of eyes (not saying that's always the case with blonde blue eyed people, they are just the unfortunate casualty of my example). Well I hope this helps in some way.
Ooooh I knew making a Tumblr would come in handy. I'm looking forward to reading their Description v Pacing segments. Thank you!
Oh, that's a good idea, and one I feel like people might often forget. They're more dimensional when seen through different lenses. Also, if there's one thing I love, it's unreliable narrators. They make the story so much more fun XD Thank you!
Unless it is absolutely necessary, I tend to break up my character descriptions...maybe the color of the hair here...eyes there...I feel it gives the people who care about the character's physical appearance a way to piece it together without info-dumping the description at them.
Have other characters describe them if you can. Putting them in front of a mirror is a huge no no. Also having them describe themselves is also not good (who does that?) You could always cheat, and have a model that looks like the character on the cover, works for romance and erotica. Though it has happened on other genre covers, but there isn't a lot of that these days, nor the cool commissioned artwork for them. I prefer to have a very base knowledge of the main character so I can use my imagination and see them as I want to, without losing the illusion of immersion in the story. So I guess I'm saying that on some level, less is more.
Good idea! I definitely don't want to drop a bunch of details into a single paragraph unless it's easy to digest.
Standing in front of a mirror reminds of those funny Wattpad stories XD And I agree! I want to know what the characters look like but without intense, precise descriptions, so I'm allowed some breathing room to picture them the way I see them. Otherwise I feel pressure that I'm not imagining them right.
