Character's Physical Description

ashlynnb · Dec 22, 2011

I'm more of a "in their head" type of person when it comes to writing characters, so I'm curious what you all think about when it's absolutely necessary to include a significant amount of detail so the reader can also picture the character.
As soon as possible, or would it be ok to let the image build over time?

MJNL · Dec 22, 2011

For me, unless it's necessary to the story, I don't really care what a person looks like. If it's important to know that she's a scrawny girl vs a woman body builder, I'd like that info as soon as possible. If it's important to know that he's overweight and short, vs tall and athletic, I'd like to know asap. If someone's missing a limb, has extra limbs, etc, I assume that all plays into the plot and I probably need to know that up front.

If it has to do with the color of someone's hair... I could never know and get along just fine.

ETA: I once critiqued a short story where the author neglected to tell us the alien had wings until half-way through when he suddenly used them--and it was from his POV, and she'd spent loads of time previously describing him. That was jarring and annoying.

ashlynnb · Dec 22, 2011

Ok, so say the story started off with the female protagonist, and isn't until a couple chapters later when she meets this stranger and we learn from the stranger (because it will switch to his pov for a bit) that her hair is blond or whatever...because up until this point her appearance hadn't been of much interest to herself or others who know her and don't constantly think about her appearance...but when she meets a stranger, he takes note of that and that's when the audience would be introduced to that information as well.

Does that make some sense? If not, I can give it another shot and try to clarify. Haha!

MJNL · Dec 22, 2011

So she's essentially non-descript. Then I don't need to know much more than her gender and age to understand her physically. Other things--like the quality of her clothes, what work she does--will help develop her in my mind. So if I was later told she was blonde when I'd been picturing her as a red-head, that's no big deal--for me, anyway. Again, I'd even count it as unnecessary info. (ETA: But, to be honest, unless her being blonde becomes important or is a regular talking point, she'll still be a read-head in my mind.)

BethS · Dec 22, 2011

I like to know what characters look like, at least generally, because I'm very visual and undescribed characters are like blank spots I can't see.

When in POV, description has to be handled subtly and naturally, and it can be added piecemeal to over time. Or you can use another character's POV to describe the MC. However, really stand-out characteristics, such as a character who is handicapped, or (as someone else mentioned) has wings, must be made clear sooner rather than later.

ashlynnb · Dec 22, 2011

That makes sense. This my first full-length novel from a different POV than I've ever written from before so I'm just trying to figure out what is the best way to go about it without it seeming really obvious, like "and now I'm going to tell you her height, hair color, eye color, and perhaps explain the various moles and birth marks scattered over her entire body...then we'll jump back to where we left off".

But I think I can work in little details that would build upon her physical appearance throughout the first couple chapters.

quicklime · Dec 22, 2011

ashlynnb said:
I'm more of a "in their head" type of person when it comes to writing characters, so I'm curious what you all think about when it's absolutely necessary to include a significant amount of detail so the reader can also picture the character.
As soon as possible, or would it be ok to let the image build over time?

go read a book. Not snarky, read three or four of your favorite books, actually looking for description.

You will be surprised how little you find, I bet. Overdescription is one more form of bad writing.

bonitakale · Dec 22, 2011

I'm not very visual, but I like some idea. If I only find out she's white, blonde, and short in chapter five, I'll be constantly readjusting as I read. Or trying to.

And it depends on what you're writing. Romances seem to want more description, for example. I can't remember what the James Bond novels said (it's been a long time) about what he looked like, but did it ever matter?

mmallico · Dec 22, 2011

I'm going to be the odd man out, but I do think a brief description can do wonders. It can be as simple as a tattoo, or the smell of someone's breath, anything that describes a character. But physical description, it can depend. I don't like reading long paragraphs of description, but I find that dispersing it throughout can do wonders for flow.

Bufty · Dec 22, 2011

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and one person's idea of a handsome hulk or a beautiful woman may not match someone else's perfect image.

It's not necessary to describe anything other than what is perhaps unusually striking or different about a character - readers need very little information indeed to form a mental image of any particular character.

Dialogue and actions/reactions are often perfectly adequate to allow a reader to create their own image as to height, size, hair, eyes, teeth, clothes etc..

writingismypassion · Dec 22, 2011

If it's something I need to know, say it up front. Otherwise, I don't care one way or the other. If I have no details about a character, I'll come up with my own. If you give me a few, I'll typically picture the character that way, but not always.

brianjanuary · Dec 22, 2011

I think it's important to give a general description right away (and leave it at that).

Later, other characters can relfect on the MC's looks to remind the reader, if you'd like. But don't overdo it.

Layla Nahar · Dec 22, 2011

Adding to what I think is a building consensus, describe the character only to the extent that the description is important to the story, and do it as early as possible.

Logan! · Dec 22, 2011

ashlynnb said:
I'm more of a "in their head" type of person when it comes to writing characters, so I'm curious what you all think about when it's absolutely necessary to include a significant amount of detail so the reader can also picture the character.
As soon as possible, or would it be ok to let the image build over time?

I don't think it's usually necessary to include a "significant amount of detail" in most instances. For me, two or three pieces of interesting/important/distinguishing info around the time the character is introduced suffices.

quicklime · Dec 22, 2011

to add one more thing, if you have not read "On Writing", do so.

It certainly isn't the end-all and be-all of writing books, but the section on description and the rabbit with the "8" on its side is excellent. The short version is he writes a couple paragraphs saying there is a table int eh middle of the room, and on that table is a cage, and in that age is a white rabbit with an "8" tattooed on its side.

Never says if it is a dinner table or surgical table or granite butcher block, never says if the cage is a glass aquarium, wire cage, etc., but he does describe the "8". Why? because we can fill in the cage details, and the story doesn't hinge on them. The story does likely involve the significance of the "8" however, so that gets some stage time.

If you do a mirror scene just to describe looks, it is irritating and transparent. If you give us 2-3 details, we probably have plenty to fill in the rest as a composite of people we know/details our subconscious selects, and we can keep moving along nicely, instead of throwing the car into park out on the freeway just to count freckles. as a general rule, you can get by with way less description that you probably think you need--like i said, re-read a few books and see how much attention they really gave.

(by the way, I can think of a few books where description WAS over-done and it was annoying. the first Anita Blake book springs to mind, as I pull my long, black hair back and tie it behind my petite frame.....)

Grunkins · Dec 22, 2011

Less is more. Let the reader participate in the physical building of the character. If a character's height, weight, hair color, eye color, facial build..etc. is not important to the story then let the reader choose.

edit: for example in my current WIP the only description we have--in the first draft anyhow--for the protagonist is that he was a teenager a few years ago.

Anninyn · Dec 22, 2011

I do like a little description, and fairly early on or I can be jarred when the author says, halfway through the book, that the woman is a blonde when all the while I've been thinking of her as a redhead. But you don't need loads of it, and you don't to have it all at once.

If you're writing in 1st person, remember people do occasionally think about how they look, but only in situations where it becomes important. AVOID THE LOOKING IN THE MIRROR THING. More like - this is a terrible example, but it's an example nonetheless - if I am flirting with someone and they turn me down I might wonder if they don't like redheads. As I say, a terrible example, but a situation in which a 1st person narrative may become concerned with their looks.

VoireyLinger · Dec 22, 2011

I always try to include base information, even in that character's POV. My girl isn't going to be waxing poetic on the beauty of her mahogany hair and how the sun burnishes it with copper, but she can push her brown hair from her face.

I don't need a detailed picture but a few key points of identification help... and definitely, anything that is vital to the story or unusual.

dangerousbill · Dec 22, 2011

ashlynnb said:
I'm more of a "in their head" type of person when it comes to writing characters, so I'm curious what you all think about when it's absolutely necessary to include a significant amount of detail so the reader can also picture the character.
As soon as possible, or would it be ok to let the image build over time?

No matter what you write, your reader will form his/er own mental image of the character. You disturb this process at your peril.

I try to give the vital details upfront, as soon as possible after a character is introduced. The rest is left for a reader to construct while reading. This is how I introduce my viewpoint character in my wip:

I stood up, checking my reflection in a glassed painting on the wall to be sure my hair was still under control. Most of the eyes in the room followed me, perhaps because I was older than the others, and by several inches the tallest woman in the room.

This is all I say about her. The rest is constructed by implication, for example, her black hair. But if a reader wants her blonde, that's okay.

Bufty · Dec 22, 2011

Only thing there is that surely in her POV she wouldn't be thinking about the colour of her own hair when she pushes it back - it's a movement of habit millions of folk make dozens of times a day without even thinking about it.

"No thanks. Find someone else, love. I prefer blondes." would achieve the same thing.

VoireyLinger said:
I always try to include base information, even in that character's POV. My girl isn't going to be waxing poetic on the beauty of her mahogany hair and how the sun burnishes it with copper, but she can push her brown hair from her face.

I don't need a detailed picture but a few key points of identification help... and definitely, anything that is vital to the story or unusual.

blacbird · Dec 22, 2011

ashlynnb said:
I'm more of a "in their head" type of person when it comes to writing characters, so I'm curious what you all think about when it's absolutely necessary to include a significant amount of detail so the reader can also picture the character.

Unless the character's physical characteristics are "significant" to the story, you shouldn't expect or require a reader to have the same physical image of a character that you might. A lot of people attach a certain image to a certain name, for instance, based on familiarity with a real person of that name. But your Elizabeth image may be far different from my Elizabeth image. Which doesn't matter much, unless it carries story weight. Brown eyes v. blue eyes? As a reader, I usually don't care. And too much of such irrelevant detail just bogs down a story for me.

caw

ashlynnb · Dec 22, 2011

All great suggestions. I think I fall more in the "less is more" camp myself. The last thing I want is for it to feel forced, but as my story is more psychological in nature, I want my audience to understand how I've created the characters from a psychological standpoint, and then visualize them however they would like, outside of a few key characteristics, like maybe her small stature, or rosebud tattoo scrolling up her arm.

Because you're right, most of the time when I look in the mirror I don't think, "your hair is brown" (although it is)...I do however think, "is that another grey hair sticking up at crazy-like"...haha.

RobJ · Dec 22, 2011

You might also want to check out this related thread about character description:

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5668799

.

rugcat · Dec 22, 2011

quicklime said:
Overdescription is one more form of bad writing.

He was about ten feet away from me. His arms hung loose at his aides and a forgotten cigar smoked behind his enormous fingers.

Slim quiet Negroes passed up and down the street and stared at him with darting side glances. He was worth looking at. He wore a shaggy borsalino hat, a rough gray sports coat with white golf balls on it for buttons, a brown shirt, a yellow tie, pleated gray flannel slacks and alligator shoes with white explosions on the toes. From his outer breast pocket cascaded a show handkerchief of the same brilliant yellow as his tie. There were a couple of colored feathers tucked into the band of his hat, but he didn't really need them. Even on Central Avenue, not the quietest dressed street in the world, he looked about as inconspicuous as a tarantula on a slice of angel food.

His skin was pale and he needed a shave. He would always need a shave. He had curly black hair and heavy eyebrows that almost met over his thick nose. His ears were small and neat for a man of that size and his eyes bad a shine close to tears that gray eyes often seem to have. He stood like a statue, and after a long time he smiled.

--Raymond Chandler, Farewell My Lovely

GFanthome · Dec 22, 2011

I like to describe my characters somewhat, because I'm a very visual person and I enjoy having a bit of information about what a character looks like when I'm reading a story... but not too much.

I think that's the reason why movies made from novels are usually such a disappointment because the physical appearance of the actors chosen for the roles are very likely not going to be visualized the same way for each reader.

Character's Physical Description

In transit.

A Little Lost

In transit.

A Little Lost

In transit.

all out of fucks to give

Where have the last ten years gone?

~Charity~

Seashell Seller

all out of fucks to give

Grand adventurer of the couch

Stealing your twiglets.

Angel Wing Fetish

Retired Illuminatus

Where have the last ten years gone?

In transit.

Lost in the Fog

At the computer, opening a vein