Hey, Guys! I often read that “Your character’s eye color isn’t important”. So, how much description is ok?
IDK, they say to avoid putting your character in front of a mirror. So if you have more than 1 MC they could describe another a bit (like eye color, or whatever) and you could get away with that. If not then try not to spend too much on MC descrition, since you have to treat them like you would a real person, and note small things like clothing or something like that.
@Cave Troll But how many description is needed in a story. I can't write the character from A til Z. That's annoying the reader!
Enough, but no more. If the character's eye color is important to the reader's understanding of the story, put it in. If not, don't.
I dont follow description rules. If I did my characters would look like a blank slate because people I have come across and articles I have read, seem to have a personal vendetta against detailed description that puzzles me. So I put as much as I want to reveal in my story. I desribe a combination of what is necessary for the reader to see and what I WANT the reader to see, even if it's not necessary. I personally like a lot of description in my stories and I have decribed the clothes/hair/eyes etc with no regrets. I just avoid making it into a bucket list though, I sprinkle it through out the scene or chapter.
Is it, though? Sometimes I wonder who exactly this reader is that we talk about sometimes on this forum. On this very forum we have people who enjoy quick-fire 100 page stories while others read 3,000 page novels. It's just insane to me to sometimes speak of the reader while no two actual readers will ever share the exact same taste. But to give an answer that makes sense to me: I'm looking for something you have to say. Reading a novel isn't just enjoying a good story but also a journey into the mind of the author (at least that's how I see it). If you think that describing a character in a single line is enough, so be it. If it takes a whole page, so be it. I realize that this stance makes it difficult to express any critique at all sometimes, which is why I rarely offer any criticism of this type. I can recognize boring writing, bad writing, bad prose, plot holes, and many other mistakes, but I would always be careful to tell authors straight up: "Don't do this thing!". I remember a description of a character in a short story by David Foster Wallace that spanned almost an entire page and it was just hilarious. Granted, he was a genius level writer and a mortal might struggle with that, but still... Make the description of a character as long or as short as you think is entertaining/insightful/necessary/exciting/something else. Don't listen too much to what others have to say. (Which is quite the paradox, since this means that you should also ignore me... Oh boy.)
@tapioka What if I give u a description full of adjective or adverbs where isn’t any new innovation. It'd hurt my eyes!
That would most likely hurt my eyes, too . Which is why you have to make it interesting. Like BabyNayahi said, you don't have to drown us in information. You can scatter information about the character throughout many pages and paragraphs. Maybe a characters size is important because he/she tries to squeeze through a hole in the ground. His tall athletic build made it hard to... Then something happens underground, maybe he meets someone who points a flashlight at the character: His blue eyes were pierced by a ray of light... Something like that. You can describe a lot without just dumping a dictionary on the reader. Who knows, maybe it doesn't matter at all if this guy's eyes are blue or red or pink. But if you feel like you want to include it, why not start with that? You can always remove that information later if you want to.
A lot of aspiring writers seem to strive for minimalism or take that approach. I was there at one point, but I've come to really enjoy reading lavish prose and playing with that. I want more than just the story or just the basics. I do think description can be tricky, and the ability to indulge a bit in description improves with practice and reading authors that handle this well. I don't think I'm ever going to be an overly descriptive writer, but I do like to add texture.
It depends on your style and what works for the book you are writing. Some excellent books are extremely descriptive, others very spare.
I think it also depends on how specific you want the character's image to be in the reader's mind. Some stories are successful because there are so few descriptors of the main character that the reader can just insert themselves as they wish. I personally enjoy when characters are very real and slowly exposed to me as of I'm actually getting to know them in person ie, a little explained here - a little more there. You don't notice everything about someone when you first meet them, so I wouldn't suggest just dumping it all up front.
You need as much as is necessary for the reader to understand what's going on. Description can never get in the way of the narrative flow of the story. I had a friend many years ago who started writing a book and it literally took him 6 pages to get a character out of the car because he described everything in excruciating detail. Description should give the reader a feel for how and where things are happening. Their imaginations can take over from there.
Ultimately you are writing for yourself. If you like to read a lot of description, write a lot of description. Personally I avoid character description and agree with Cephus
Certain genres are definitely going to be open for more descriptions - I don't know if I've ever read a romance that didn't describe someone's eyes. And I think when people complain about description and use eye color for the jump-off point it's because what does having blue eyes really say about your character … not much. So it's less about description and more about making the details count. Utilizing words to ensure they give an impression rather than just describe a flat appearance. Also you can make this work for everything you need to describe. Don't focus so much on creating something that is movie-style visual -- I turned the doorknob to open the door -- unless there's something spooky on the other side and you're drawing it out for dramatics, it's just extra empty words. If you want to improve your descriptions read poetry. It shows you how to describe things beautifully and be beautifully concise.
They say that, and then I keep reading recent traditionally published books with a character looking in the mirror/lake/video camera/whatever. Hell, sometimes they don't even look in the mirror and just directly narrate their appearance. The "don't use a mirror thing" is sort of like "don't write mary sues who are special for no reason," and, "chosen ones and love triangles are over." People say that, but they keep on publishing and selling them. I'm personally relieved when I get a mirror description in the first four pages. It just beats the hell out of getting the odd occasional "clue" five chapters in that causes me to stop picturing them like the nameless commercial model I subbed in for lack of any direction from the author.
My current WIP is from the first person perspective of the protagonist, he never describes himself because it just doesn't matter.
Gives me an idea for an MC to be a hermaphrodite with split personality disorder, in which two are women and lesbians, and the third is guy. That is a love triangle with a few odd angles.
You know I'm right when I say that sometimes it's acute thing when you're so obtuse. My advice to the OP is to write it, then edit out everything you think is too much when you're reading through it. If you'd notice too much description in another book, then you have the tools to recognize it in your own. If you can't? Well, that's why beta readers come in handy.
I'm one of the minimalists someone was talking about. If it's not relevant to the story, I don't want to know about it. It's about attention span: I don't have a whole lot of it (and I don't believe most people do). No matter how much you write, your character will always be one or at most two characteristics in my mind. So you can tell me about the cracked leather vambraces and unhealthy complexion all you like, what I'll picture is "this dude's a redhead, that one's tall, and that one's a short woman". In longer stories I may even forget that single detail, but it doesn't matter because, to me, a character/person is much more what they do than what they look like. Ideally, that's what the story is about.
Honestly, it's going to depend on the reader. Some people like heavier descriptions than others. I think it's another one of those things that you have to decide for yourself. Rule of thumb for me personally: If it's not that important of a character, they usually don't get too much description, but if it's a main character, especially if their looks are important to the story in some way, then descriptions will be heavier. I like to describe a character's fashion choice, color choices, hair length, and the way they might sit, stand, and walk because these are all things that can say a lot about a person, and I think physical description is as important to showing who a character is as the things that they do. Sadie might wear pink to indicate that she's very feminine. John might have long hair because he is against the status quo. (Especially if he is described as the only one in his family with long hair.) Jesse might have missing teeth because he gets into a lot of fights or has an addiction to drugs. Jane might have tattoos and piercings all over her body because she is a rebel. Goerge might wear olds styled clothes, carry a messenger bag, and wear his hair swept back because he has an appreciation for classic things or maybe he is an intellectual. I might describe a character wearing black through the whole story and on the last chapter describe them sporting a white shirt to indicate they've gone from a dark outlook on life to a brighter one. I might describe a character's face as fresh and youthful at the beginning of the story and later in the story describe them as having wrinkles to point out that they've aged with time. I do the same with naming characters as well. I also tend to write very character driven stories, so I put a lot of focus on who they are.
i've got to recommend the book Story Genius here. Look it up; Lisa Cron explains that the whole purpose of the book is to understand the story of the character. Why do we care about them? Why do they care about what's happening? Those questions are critical to what you write and why you write it. If you understand what makes your character tick, you'll understand what matters when you describe them.
I try to put myself in the POV character's head when describing. For example, if my MC is lounging in a hotel pool and sees a beautiful woman, I'll describe the things that he noticed on her. I guess that puts me into the heavy description camp.
