How to describe appearances

Well some little touches like that add to characterization.
Now spending a scene in front of the mirror, to describe
all of him physically would be a big no no.

 

I don't really agree. I think that if you give the reader juuust enough, you're going to leave them with a rather bland world.

Maybe it only matters that Jimmy wears sneakers that are not in pristine condition. But once the sneakers are onstage, I think that it can be useful to add a detail that makes them specific.

 

But as you got at with the emotional connection thing, there are different ways to he relevant or interesting and if everything was only of the most immediate relevance it would feel more like a script than an interesting novel, and even scripts include some extra colour.