The look is important because it will shape the first impression the character makes on other characters and how they will behave around them when they meet them for the first time. They can be impressive, so that everybody will at once respect them and not forget them easily, they can be frightful, so that people will rather stay away from them, they can be attractive, so that people will want to appeal to them, they can be plain, so that they will easily be overlooked, they can be grotesque, so that they will draw attention all the time, ... Some looks can also lead to a character being recognized as what/who they are at once. Long robes, a pointy hat and a staff say "wizard", fine clothes and a crown say "queen", armor says "warrior". Of course sometimes the look and the personality of a character can be rather contradicting. Common tropes are the gentle giant or the short bossy person. So, yeah, I would say looks are pretty important.
I have a clear idea of their appearances in my head, but I tend to scatter description in with the story so I’m not indulging whole paragraphs just to characters looks. Rose, my protagonist is described as having green eyes and long Black hair, either tied in a braid or straight and loose. The only time I mention her appearance is in the prolog, when she is a small baby. The reader can fill in the details as the story progresses. The only time I go out of my way to describe something is when it has an immediate impact on the plot, like when Rose’s hair colour changes to platnuim white later in the story.
I don't think you need a list of character features and flaws, as others have said it can be though out the chapter. I'm sure you would want to get it done early. I always feel that you should be able to identify them if you had them meet you somewhere.
I tend not to go into detail as I like to allow the reader some flexibility. I may allude to height, physique and stature and usually specify hair color and length. Wardrobe helps depict a view of themselves along with socio-economic status. As a reader I never liked writers who insisted on painting a detailed picture of a character. To help my (limited) description and to keep a clear vision of a character over starts and stops on a project I often will search the internet for images of people who embody the look I'm going for. I find this particularly useful in defining secondary characters I haven't given great thought about their appearance. Most supporting characters are more important for what they DO in a story and I've found myself neglecting physical attributes that will help the reader.
I'm learning that the voice of your character may be as important as their look When it is easy to identify who's saying what to who, there is less of a need for tags.
I don't go into a lot of detail. Maybe one or two significant characteristics, and I put them in right at the beginning. I don't believe the scattering approach works, because the reader is going to form a mental image of your character as soon as they're introduced. Anything you describe right up front has a decent chance of being included in the reader's mental image. Anything you describe much later is likely going to be ignored at best, and jar the reader at worst. I don't believe it will change how the reader envisions the character.
I agree with Steerpike it should be done with in a couple of paragraphs of their introduction. There is room to add little quirks later but the image of them should be complete early.
Appearances are important to me because, as an artist, I always have a very clear idea of how my characters look, especially the main protagonist. I try to keep physical descriptions down to just a few sentences/one short paragraph, though. I like being able to draw my characters if I have the opportunity.
I guess I could try adding more description when I introduce characters. Info dumping just isnt that great to read. It’s good to blend description with plot and action. I guess it’s good that we can edit our work before or after feedback.
I 'cast' my characters. 'She reminded her of Mr. Bean in drag...' That was just an example, of course...
This is something I'm currently grappling with. In the process of coming up with my story, I've developed pretty specific images of how my major characters look like- which, interestingly, is not something I used to do when playing around with story ideas and writing. But now that I've come to sitting down and (slowly ) actually writing my story, I'm not sure how to handle the issue. Certainly, I shouldn't try and include every physical detail, and I know that it's good to try to incorporate character descriptions into the flow of a scene, but how much can I fit in a way that actually works for the story? For now, I've decided to write more minimal character descriptions to play it safe, and add more details over time if I deem it fit.
I'm likely gonna be the odd one out, but I never imagine a look for my character. I don't honestly know what any of them look like, except perhaps their hair colour. I "see" my characters in much the same way like I "see" my friends or family. If someone asked you to describe your mother, what would you say? No words would be enough to ever really, truly describe her. None of your physical descriptions would come close, and neither would any other adjective you seek to try and describe her character. But you have a fully formed feeling about the person, you know just what she'd say, just how she'd react in such and such situation, what she might say. There's presence. That's what you feel when you think of someone you know, this general presence that's just beyond words. And I feel that of my characters. I have no shape or words to describe them, really. Like, sure I can find a few words to pin them down but none of them ever feels quite adequate. I just know them, and that's enough for me to write them. Besides, no matter how you describe your character, your reader will have their own image of them. I'm the sort of reader who, no matter what the author writes, will view the character the way I imagine the character.
They all look like Baywatch hotties!!!!!...... nah, i'm just kidding. Lol. Funny enough, despite my Characters being toned and fairly strong I can't stand overly muscular characters, so none of my characters are muscular in physique. Even in a setting where they should be muscular, I I don't use it However the majority of my characters are toned in physique with some muscle. The women generally have a to b cups. There is one woman who does have D cups, but there's a reason for that, she owns a Tavern!!
Like people, generally. They're often, as I've mentioned, loosely based on people I know or have known, so they look kind of like them. Makes them a nice varied bunch.
My MC is a bleach blonde 80s guy who cuts his own hair. Visualize The Police, Regatta d'Blanc era. He's about 5'8". His best friend and band-mate is a big handsome man who has an "Elvis-like" quality. One of my other characters resembles a youthful 60s Barbi Benton, round green eyes and wavy brown hair. One of my favorite characters is an older Jamaican man with dreads down to his waist. The bottom two thirds of his hair is black, but from his scalp down, the top third is white, as if something made all his hair go gray at the same time.
I realised recently I have a big thing for characters with Auburn hair and green eyes. In every story, at least one strong-willed woman turns up who has flaming hair the colour of Autumn leaves and clear, almost transparent green eyes. I have no idea why this is something I include, but it's always there. Other than that, I either get an image of my character pop into my head, or I'll start writing and suddenly just know what that character looks like, how they dress, etc.
I'm not that keen on lengthy descriptions of a character's appearance. It kind of reminds me of preteen pretend sessions and can get Mary or Marty Stu-ish pretty fast. I read an article once that said you should be a little vague with your main character's appearance, because a more detailed description may cause some people to dislike your character. Maybe you've made your young hero look just like a bully who beat them up in middle school, or maybe your charming Prince is the image of the man who left them alone with 3 children to run off with his secretary. I want to imagine every protagonist as looking just like me, their helpers looking like my best friends, and every love interest as looking like a woman I find attractive. I imagine antagonists looking like people who've ticked me off. Unless you are deliberately describing a character for definitive plot reasons, physical appearance should be done in very broad strokes.
My characters don't generally look any particular way, and darn close to 90% of them aren't even human. So like, they're generally bilaterally symmetrical bipeds with two or more eyes and dexterous appendages? I also tend to use fan disservice a lot so they're usually ugly or smack in the middle of the uncanny valley and designed to make people uncomfortable. I always have a solid idea of what my characters look like and always include illustrations of them somewhere in the story. I usually use their appearance to indicate certain character traits or occupations, such as a character that gets in a lot of fights having a crooked nose and smashed ear cartilage or a hedonistic character being pudgy because they just can't help themselves around food.
