Character descriptions - how many times say X or Y?

Once. Some people don't want to see it at all. I, however, do, but I don't want to keep reading about it.

If there's a reason to describe what the character looks like, then do so. If not, why bother?

I don't need to know that the character has black hair--unless their life is in danger because of their black hair, and the "black hair" inspectors were knocking at their door due to suspicion, and they were trying to dye their hair blond to save their life, while an angry crowd chants, "death to the black-haired!" holding up lengths of bloodied black hair. Get the point? If you're describing like that, I don't think readers would miss it. Then bring that up everytime it's relevant.
Otherwise, just seems like a needless detail; our minds will fill in the blanks if they don't matter.

I'm not I'm not really sure I've seen many reader requests for character description.... that said I remember reading the first Anita Blake book and seeing it so many times I was absolutely fucking sick of it. Read a book like the first Anita Blake book where they describe character constantly and then read something else anything else looking for descriptions of the mc and note ho w few there really are.

In character description I tend to believe less really is more.

Often, when I'm reading, I completely ignore character descriptions and picture them the way I want to anyway.
It annoys me to death when someone mentions how blue his eyes are, or her midnight black hair, over and over again.
I agree that once should be fine.
I wouldn't do it at all, but I know some people like to know. So if you're one of those people, you can damn well pay attention when I mention it...
once.

Osulagh said:

If there's a reason to describe what the character looks like, then do so. If not, why bother?

I don't need to know that the character has black hair--unless their life is in danger because of their black hair, and the "black hair" inspectors were knocking at their door due to suspicion, and they were trying to dye their hair blond to save their life, while an angry crowd chanted, "death to the black-haired!" holding up lengths of bloodied black hair. Get the point? If you're describing like that, I don't think readers would miss it. Then bring that up every-time it's relevant.
Otherwise, just seems like a needless detail; our minds will fill in the blanks if they don't matter.

Click to expand...

This is a good idea sometimes but not all. We know what Harry Potter looks like from the books for example, as well asLuna, Hermione and some other characters. Even Tolkien tells us what hobbits look like and that the Rohirrim are blond.

Considering some people completely ignored the fact Rue from Hunger Games was supposed to be pictured as black, I think character descriptions can be important even if people ignore them like with Rue. Non white characters shouldn't be relegated to issue books and by not describing a character at all whether they're non white or not people can contribute to the white default. Something I personally wouldn't want to do.

Mention it when needed, then get on with the story.

Lillith1991 said:

Considering some people completely ignored the fact Rue from Hunger Games was supposed to be pictured as black, I think character descriptions can be important even if people ignore them like with Rue. Non white characters shouldn't be relegated to issue books and by not describing a character at all whether they're non white or not people can contribute to the white default.

Click to expand...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't remember there being a point of Rue being black.

Now, I don't want to get into the whole debate of race nor really sprout a separate discussion, but personally I see no reason to enforce skin color for no other reason other than to mark that other skin colors exist. I think token characters do more damage than good.

The whole "race default" is chocked up to the reader's own perception; if they miss it, they miss it and will probably fill in the blanks unless it matters and they're reminded why it matters.

I like to know what characters look like when I'm reading a book, because I have to picture the scenes in my head as I read - if I can't picture it I have to go back and re-read until I can (I don't know if that makes me weird, but it definitely makes me a slow reader). So if I don't have any information up front, I have to make up my own idea of what they look like. Then if the author drops in a bit of late description that contradicts my established image.... oh no no no NO. Malfunction. System reset. Loss of data.

So when I write I like to sneak in descriptive details as early as possible. I reinforce them later on only if they need reinforcing for the sake of plot or characterisation. For instance, if someone's appearance causes prejudice against them, or suggests something about their status, or even just is the reason another character is attracted to them. I don't see the point in mentioning it again if there isn't a good reason. I like to think that once it's established it's there in the reader's mind.

Minior details here and there. Things that I can take in easily without being ripped from the plot. I don't want whole paragraphs of description, just enough to form a picture in my head.

Osulagh said:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't remember there being a point of Rue being black.

Now, I don't want to get into the whole debate of race nor really sprout a separate discussion, but personally I see no reason to enforce skin color for no other reason other than to mark that other skin colors exist. I think token characters do more damage than good.

The whole "race default" is chocked up to the reader's own perception; if they miss it, they miss it and will probably fill in the blanks unless it matters and they're reminded why it matters.

Click to expand...

According to the author her description of Rue and her district was meant to evoke the antebelum south and slavery. She meant for Rue to be black. The other stuff I won't go into, we'll have to agree to disagree. I will say I wasn't talking about token characters but situations like the Rue thing, or say the main character in a book being black or some other form of non white and the reader thinking of them as white unless the writer explicitly states they're black or some other form of non white.

Either way I prefer sparse but still vivid descriptions of characters, things that stick them in my mind.

Once, for me, is generally enough. I read somewhere that most readers conjure up their own image of what a given character looks like anyway, and don't really need a lot of physical character description.

Each reader is different though. I'm embarrassed to admit I read Twilight (and enjoyed it-don't shoot me) but one thing I hated was the constant reiteration of what Edward looked like. We get it-he's hotter than a Greek god, can we move on now?

Just make it natural for the characters. For instance, while my WIP isn't primarily a romance, the MC has a romantic interest. He's going to notice that person's eyes more often than he does, say, those of the friend he swims with. And he's going to think about his own appearance because he's trying to dress to flatter himself and gain the attention of his love interest.

Actually, in any story where people are attracted to each other, I'd be surprised if they didn't spend some time thinking about both their own and their object of desire's appearance.

I'm in the camp of "don't mention it unless it reveals something about that person's character and/or the character or emotions of the person thinking about it." I don't feel it inherently matters what colour the characters' hair is. Though of course, it could-- if she's a natural blonde but has always dyed her hair red, well that's sort of interesting, why does she do that? If the girl he's falling in love with has eyes the exact shade as his ex-wife, what impact does that have on him and his feelings? I don't really see the point of just noting it so we know.

Calliea said:

But is that enough? How about others, whom characters meet? In deep PoV it just seems awkward to keep saying "She looked at me with her green eyes" and similar.

Click to expand...

There is no single correct answer to this, you know. Readers all have their preferences and you can't please them all, so may as well please yourself.

If it helps, try to approach this not as a description issue but a POV issue. What does your character notice about other people? What does he continue to notice versus what does he notice once and then it recedes into the background?

If you can keep the description grounded in his head, then you probably won't go wrong.

In my humble opinion, once is fine, especially in a romance or where there is a love interest. In those cases the main characters are noticing things about each other - eye color, hair color, that kind of thing. If it's described too many times, it tends to make me yawn a bit and nowadays I wonder if it's put in for filler or to up the word count.

It's one area I'm trying to keep to a minimum in my manuscripts, now that I've learned that saying things like eye color over and over again tends to be repetitive by times, and can bore a reader. I was horrible for doing it myself and I am learning not to do it much more than once, maybe twice, now.

Agree with the majority here. Once per book is usually enough, whether you're in first-person or third. Some people don't mention it at all, and I often don't care, but a lot of readers do.

Physical descriptions of my main character - once (!), if at all. Unless something changes about the character's appearance.

Physical descriptions of other characters - whenever it is important for the main character to notice them.

Emotions, moods, character - whenever the plot calls for it. Which is usually often.

I feel I have to say in my defence that it was my first book (not under this name) I was talking about *sheepish grin* and it wasn't baldly "her blonde hair" etc, more sort of slid in.

I do tend towards less these days, but will also mention it more than once, but not lots -- because once is easy to miss, but too much bothers people who have noticed.

Ofc whichever way you go, you'll end up annoying someone -- do it too much, you annoy the noticers, not enough and you annoy the people who haven't noticed.

As I said, write enough, have enough readers, and someone somewhere will hate something.


Personally when reading I like enough description to hang my imagination on and two or three times is fine if it's subtle (I might miss it otherwise, and it reinforces the picture in my brain), so that's what I do but I try to include it subtly (unless it's a POV point). If it's just a laundry list of height, weight, hair colour, eye colour, once is too much

How much description is very subjective so do what you feel you'd like while reading (though ofc it can be genre dependent as well -- romance tends to have more physical description for instance. Want to know how hot that guy is so I can drool over him!)

I generally don't describe characters unless it's relevant.

Usually, no matter how you describe your character, the reader will imagine it differently anyway. I read a novel recently where, in my head, the character was blond. He stayed blond no matter how many times the author tried to tell me he had dark hair.

When books give a lot of description about character descriptions that always comes across to me as trying too hard to give a description, and mostly unnecessary.

For example, if someone asked you what your friend is like, you probably wouldn't say "She has piercing green eyes and silky red hair", you'd say "she's loud and funny and loves to bake" or something that actually describes her as a person. So I feel like a physical character description should be the same, a fleeting comment in appropriate places to help the reader visualise the character, but nothing more.

I was reading yesterday and came across something that — when I stopped swearing — made me think of this thread.

I was on page 279, almost half-way through, and the author decided to describe the MC as having an oiled beard and a sharp hooked nose. WTF??? I've followed this guy all through his childhood and rise to power and NOW I'm told that the picture I was forced to paint for myself — because the writer never mentioned the MC's looks — is wrong.

Infuriating.

Please do descriptions early on.

Calliea said:

It's especially bitchy to do with 1st person protagonist, he won't be going to no mirror to look at his eyes and ponder his hair

Click to expand...

Once should be enough, but it takes no special trick for a first person protagonist to reveal his hair or eye color. You don't have to jump through hoops and have him chewing on his hair, either. He knows what color his hair and eyes are, and he can just tell the reader.

Are you writing romance stories? In the kinds of writing I do, readers don't give a damn about what color the protagonist's hair or eyes are, and I pretty much never tell them. I'd rather let them imagine him as they want him to be.

He does often describe other characters, but his looks just do have to be described, and unless he has something really different about his appearance, like a missing eye, it's usually better if they aren't.

WriteMinded said:

Please do descriptions early on.

Click to expand...

Or never.