Introducing your MC: by when should you have revealed the 'little details'?

Question · Feb 28, 2012

How soon should you reveal all of the details that readers don't (always) need to know but generally want to know, like age, immediate lifestyle, friendships/important relationships and physical appearance? I know you need to slip them into the narrative in little bits, but I'm assuming that you're supposed to do it before a certain point in the story or you risk jarring readers. For example, if an MC's blonde hair is only described at the very end, any reader who assumes that they are a redhead is in for a nasty surprise.

I'm asking because I have a tendency to only write in what is necessary to tell the story. My MCs tend to be people who the reader knows very little about (other than their opinions and their personality, which are clear through their thoughts and actions) for a very long time. A lot of facts aren't revealed until I get to a relevant part of the plot. For example, in one of my current WIPs, my MC's brothers aren't mentioned until 30,000 words into the story because there's no reason for her to bring them up or even think about them before that point. I don't reveal much about her either. You can tell that she's a school girl because the story starts with her in detention (with a throbbing black eye), and from the way she behaves you can tell that she's very spiteful (she's already plotting revenge), but you don't know much about her beyond the immediate scene. I do slip in that her school antics don't matter to her mother and her dad is "too dead to care", but I don't mention her brothers (because they're not relevant). It stays this way for quite a while. But anyway, I digress.

Is this a silly thing to worry about? I don't want my MC to be this transparent ghost, but then again, my idea of how much the reader needs to know at any one point in time might be wrong

mirandashell · Feb 28, 2012

It tends to be a personal thing to the reader but I don't really need a physical description of the main character. I can get by without it. In fact, it tends to annoy me especially in first and close third. All that 'she swept her long brown hair out of her eyes'. Pfft.

Devil Ledbetter · Feb 28, 2012

mirandashell said:
It tends to be a personal thing to the reader but I don't really need a physical description of the main character. I can get by without it. In fact, it tends to annoy me especially in first and close third. All that 'she swept her long brown hair out of her eyes'. Pfft.

Heh. I was just ranting about that very thing.

Domino Derval · Feb 28, 2012

I'm a visual reader, so I like to have details as I would see them if the book were a movie I was watching. So if it's important to you that the character is blonde or dresses a certain way or has a significant feature, I'd like to know that from the start. By that same token, you could save the scar on her belly for a scene where her stomach is exposed, and I don't need to know about any brothers until they're relevant to the story. As for her school antics, some stories call for having that information upfront in a bit of exposition, others keep it as a mystery, and others don't care about the details as long as we know there were antics to be had.

Disclaimer this is of course only my opinion and tailored toward my likes others will disagree and these are not deal breakers usually.

Buffysquirrel · Feb 28, 2012

Okay, a question. If the brothers aren't relevant, why does your character have them?

HoneyBadger · Feb 28, 2012

I'm writing in 1st person, and the first physical description of the MC appears on page 9, where he says: "I have black hair, like a Flat-Coated Retriever."

The next mention of his appearance isn't until page 26, when another 1st person POV character sees him.

Buffysquirrel · Feb 28, 2012

Hmm, page 26, where he refers to himself as 'mousy little me'.

HoneyBadger · Feb 28, 2012

The answer is clearly: page 26.

Question · Feb 28, 2012

HoneyBadger said:
The answer is clearly: page 26.

LOL! I just wanted a rough estimate! For example, people usually expect to know if the MC is a boy or a girl, and the writer needs a good reason for waiting to release that piece of info xD

But if it's a matter of preference then I guess I don't need to worry about it

RJK · Feb 28, 2012

If you're going to describe your MC, or any character, do it shortly after you've introduced him. If you don't, your reader will create his own description and be disappointed and jarred when you describe him differently.

mirandashell · Feb 28, 2012

You don't. If you don't describe the MC, most readers will form their own pictures.

Have you ever seen a thread about who to cast in a film of a book? The difference in opinion of which actor should play an MC just goes to show the different images readers can get.

jjdebenedictis · Feb 28, 2012

I can't remember now who the writer in question was, but:

I read about this writer who published a romance novel where he didn't describe the heroine. When he met fans, they often complained about this.

He would then say, "Well, did you picture her anyway?"

The fan would invariably say yes, and then he'd ask her to describe the heroine she pictured.

He said the fan always described herself, more or less.

He seemed to think this was a good thing, although I'm not convinced, given his fans were complaining. That said, it is an interesting thing. If you don't fill in the details, the reader's imagination may well do that anyway.

I suppose the danger to not describing your character initially is that by the time you do, your reader will have already assembled a different mental picture.

You can always get around that by never really describing them. In The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. LeGuin describes one of her characters as having the placid, almost-sly look of an otter. I certainly pictured that fellow--but there's no guarantee what I imagined matches the author's idea of what he looked like. And that's really not a problem since the story hinged on his inner character as a human being, not his looks.

Rizdrah · Feb 28, 2012

mirandashell said:
It tends to be a personal thing to the reader but I don't really need a physical description of the main character. I can get by without it. In fact, it tends to annoy me especially in first and close third. All that 'she swept her long brown hair out of her eyes'. Pfft.

...I do this in the opening line of my WIP

Arch Stanton · Feb 28, 2012

This is how my current WIP opens:

John checked himself in the rearview, admiring his caterpillar eyebrows. He ran a manicured finger down his hawk-like nose, then grinned, his lips full and pouty like two banana slugs mating on the white marble floor of his teeth. He swept aside his brown bangs and smiled. It was good to be John. Hell yeah.

Just kidding.

Modog814 · Feb 28, 2012

RJK said:
If you're going to describe your MC, or any character, do it shortly after you've introduced him. If you don't, your reader will create his own description and be disappointed and jarred when you describe him differently.

This!

Rizdrah · Feb 28, 2012

Arch Stanton said:
This is how my current WIP opens:

John checked himself in the rearview, admiring his caterpillar eyebrows. He ran a manicured finger down his hawk-like nose, then grinned, his lips full and pouty like two banana slugs mating on the white marble floor of his teeth. He swept aside his brown bangs and smiled. It was good to be John. Hell yeah.

Just kidding.

I would read that.

mirandashell · Feb 28, 2012

I wouldn't! That would hit the wall, no problem!

Modog814 · Feb 28, 2012

Rizdrah said:
I would read that.

I would too. I thought it was pretty well done for a "no-no"

Modog814 · Feb 28, 2012

Personally, I don't bother describing characters unless the characteristic is either a) important to the story (she's a blonde trying to dispell the rumor that blondes just want to have fun!), b) it's an unusual feature (the man is very tall or short), anything that would really draw attention to someone, or c) the POV is describing someone he's infatuated with so it makes sense that he notices the freckle just above her knee.

flapperphilosopher · Feb 28, 2012

I'd say... it depends, haha. For obvious physical stuff, like hair colour or height or whatever, if you're going to include it (and have a good reason to), do it early on or don't do it. For stuff like age and lifestyle, I'd say make sure the reader has a general idea from early on (are they early 20s, middle-aged, etc.), but not actually specifying 23 till later is fine (if it's ever relevant, of course). If her brothers have no immediate impact on her for the first while, it's fine we don't know about them until they do, that doesn't change our picture of her. It sounds like you're totally right in approaching it as you do, not getting into details until/unless they're relevant!

Kelsey · Feb 28, 2012

I find that there are natural points to mention things, and by sticking to these natural points (i.e. not forcing in description I think needs to be there), I am only giving the necessary information. Like some of the posters above, I don't often put physical information in. However, in my current WiP, it's important that my character is undersized, and has mousy-blonde hair, whereas her brother is taller and blonde. They live in Austria in 1943. I try to add physical details and details of the character's personal life as they become part of the conflict of the story.

Buffysquirrel · Feb 28, 2012

This is how my protag describes someone he's just met.

He was a little taller than me, and even in profile he looked intelligent, and thoughtful, yet inward, as if he were not quite in the room with us, yet not anywhere else. Like a man reading a book while listening for the doorbell. Or a man waiting for this to be over so he could go home, but who still thought something might come of the meeting, even if nothing ever had before.

My beta reader and I were discussing whether the two of them look anything like the characters in Outland (which I've never seen). When I said, no, his hair's dirty blond, she said, I thought so.

Hmm? See it anywhere?

Domino Derval · Feb 28, 2012

Buffysquirrel said:
This is how my protag describes someone he's just met.

My beta reader and I were discussing whether the two of them look anything like the characters in Outland (which I've never seen). When I said, no, his hair's dirty blond, she said, I thought so.

Hmm? See it anywhere?

I dunno, the description you used doesn't really mean anything to me. I'm happy to fill in the details myself if you don't care what the reader thinks the guy looks like, but I'm not sure that vague descriptions are objectively better than just saying, "He was tall (telling), his girth wedged against the door frame (showing), a mountain of a man (concrete metaphor)."

rwm4768 · Feb 28, 2012

I think it's important to give enough description that the reader has a vague idea. In my current novel, my main character gets described for the first time when he's looking in a mirror to check if he's still invisible or not. Yes, I know mirrors are overused, but I think it actually makes sense in this case.

Jamesaritchie · Feb 28, 2012

Unless there's something really weird about a protagonist, like being eight feet tall, or weighing 1,000 pounds, or having three arms, I really don't describe him at all.

But for everything else, I can only answer that I describe something when and if it becomes an issue.

Introducing your MC: by when should you have revealed the 'little details'?

Question

Soon I will be invincible

mirandashell

Devil Ledbetter

Come on you stranger, you legend,

Domino Derval

FREAKING OUT!

Buffysquirrel

HoneyBadger

terribly loud, emotionally distant

Buffysquirrel

HoneyBadger

terribly loud, emotionally distant

Question

Soon I will be invincible

RJK

Sheriff Bullwinkle the Poet says:

mirandashell

jjdebenedictis

is watching you via her avatar

Rizdrah

Arch Stanton

New kid, be gentle!

Modog814

Rizdrah

mirandashell

Modog814

Modog814

flapperphilosopher

Kelsey

Book Slut

Buffysquirrel

Domino Derval

FREAKING OUT!

rwm4768

practical experience, FTW

Jamesaritchie