describing a celebrity's looks without giving a name

Trauntj · Jun 22, 2009

have any of you ever wanted a certain actor or celebrity (or a character that looked exactly like them) be in your novel but didn't want to give their name outright? is it best to just try and describe the person's face as much as you can and hope they piece together something similar in their mind?

for my novel I want the main guy to look pretty much like actor Hugo Weaving with long hair (like this: http://dic.academic.ru/pictures/enwiki/72/Hugo_w.jpg) but I don't want to say his name outright for obvious reasons. has anyone else had this problem?

Thanks!

James D. Macdonald · Jun 22, 2009

The obvious reason being that it'll quickly date your novel?

Ian Fleming described James Bond as looking "like Hoagy Carmichael." How many people today could describe Hoagy Carmichael?

Let the description serve your book and your character.

Salis · Jun 22, 2009

Uh, no. I've always found the (seemingly quite common) practice of basing characters or character's looks off of photographs of celebrities to be oddly fetishist. Just to be clear, I have nothing against it, per se, it's just really strange to me.

I just sort of have composite looks in my head that are very distinct from reality. In fact, I find characters that are supposed to look superrealistic (as in, portrayed on the cover with a photograph of a real person) hard for me to imagine, or I imagine them as very different from whatever photograph they used.

I am probably in the minority.

As for sneaking this in, I suspect the most amenable way to do it would be if your book takes place in a contemporary setting. In that case, you could have someone say, "Hey, you really look like X." This happens all the time in real life. I have been variously compared to Johnny Depp and Harry Potter. In my experience, people saying "Hey, you look like X" are full of shit, but hey, it's a sneaky way to do it as an author.

katiemac · Jun 22, 2009

You might want to ask yourself if it really matters, for the sake of the story, if the readers don't picture the character the way you do.

Trauntj · Jun 22, 2009

fair enough, I could always go for the whole "put the whole MC on the cover type deal"

honestly I would use the look-alike dialogue but I don't want it to be in a culturally modernistic setting. as far as making the people super realistic, I'm actually with you on that note. I do like having a personal look for a character though I always enjoy seeing what the author's idea of what the character would look like as well.

sunday morning · Jun 23, 2009

You could describe the person's most noted features to give the audience the idea you want without spelling out who it is. I've done this & I think it works pretty well. For instance, if you were picturing Angelina Jolie, you could describe your character's full lips and long dark hair.

I've read Hollywood based novels, too, that had characters based on real actors. I figured out who most of them were supposed to be by their descriptions, which pointed out the said actor's most prominent/noted features.

john barnes on toast · Jun 23, 2009

Salis said:
I am probably in the minority.

well, it's a minority of at least two then.

I don't think physical descriptions are particularly necessary, and can be an obstacle to a reader's immersion into the story just as often as they can be an aid.

The thought of referencing a character directly to 'celeb' seems odd and lazy. No offense to the thread starter, but I find this fixation on celebrity depressing and annoying in equal amounts. By and large these people aren't particularly impressive in their given field of expertise (acting, miming to pop songs, adopting brown babies, etc.) so having them migrate into other areas is cultural pollution as far as I'm concerned.

Leave Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt in crap movies, where I can easily avoid them. I don't want them in my books.

rant over.

Phaeal · Jun 23, 2009

I think it would be hard to describe Hugo Weaving so well that I would know for sure you were talking about Hugo Weaving. G'head. Try it.

For most celebrities these days, I'd say no problem. They look pretty much alike anyway. Weaving is one of the glorious exceptions.

maestrowork · Jun 23, 2009

Describe your character the way you would with any character -- if the descriptions are relevant.

It really is not a big deal if your readers understand: oh my gosh, he looks just like Hugo Weaving. It may be important to you, but trust me, your readers will have some other ideas. And many probably don't even know who Hugo Weaving is.

Libbie · Jun 23, 2009

Just create a doppleganger for your story. They could look entirely different but in your brain they're really a golem constructed of words and fantasies, with part of your celebrity of choice's soul trapped inside their candy-coated shell.

roonil_wazlib · Jun 23, 2009

Like maestrowork said, describe the traits of the character that are important. Unless it's essential to your plot, I wouldn't bother mentioning that he looks like Hugo Weaving. You know what your character looks like, but your readers may see someone who looks completely different and that's okay. That's the beauty of writing/reading - hundreds of people will read it, but very few people will see the same person in their head (this has been an ongoing debate among fans of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series - one person's Jamie looks nothing like another person's Jamie and all suggestions have been nixed by Diana Herself).

My own characters are based on actors, but all the reader knows is that they're scruffy/dirty/pale/tanned/etc. If they want to put Brad Pitt in as the character while they read, that's fine with me - they're the ones who paid for it

Wark · Jun 23, 2009

Let the reader decide. Even if you try to get Hugo's looks down, you just can't.

My MC in my WIP is described as not unattractive or featureless, but not standing out in any way. Brown hair is mentioned. My two females are only described by the haircuts they have initially and their clothes when it is important.

Though it's fun to have a short, fat man with a handlebar mustache show up too.

scarletpeaches · Jun 23, 2009

YOU can know what the character looks like but the reader doesn't have to.

Me? I model my characters' looks on real people but hardly ever make mention of their physical appearance. It doesn't matter what they look like. What they DO is important.

If I can picture them it makes it easier to write. Would picturing my characters make them easier to READ? Probably. But everyone has a different idea of what's attractive, so I leave it to the reader to make up their own mind.

Kris · Jun 23, 2009

James D. Macdonald said:
The obvious reason being that it'll quickly date your novel?

Ian Fleming described James Bond as looking "like Hoagy Carmichael." How many people today could describe Hoagy Carmichael?

Let the description serve your book and your character.

So funny! I came across that recently (Casino Royale, I think?) It made me laugh so hard.

Kris · Jun 23, 2009

Salis said:
As for sneaking this in, I suspect the most amenable way to do it would be if your book takes place in a contemporary setting. In that case, you could have someone say, "Hey, you really look like X." This happens all the time in real life. I have been variously compared to Johnny Depp and Harry Potter. In my experience, people saying "Hey, you look like X" are full of shit, but hey, it's a sneaky way to do it as an author.

This is exactly how Ian Fleming does it in the book that Jim MacDonald mentioned above. He has a sexy girl meet James Bond and comment to her friend (in her sexy French accent, if I recall correctly) that he looks like Hoagy Carmichael. It really took me out of the book for a second. But it didn't spoil it for me, or anything.

Kristiina · Jun 23, 2009

scarletpeaches said:
If I can picture them it makes it easier to write. Would picturing my characters make them easier to READ? Probably. But everyone has a different idea of what's attractive, so I leave it to the reader to make up their own mind.

Heh. Visit the imdb page for the upcoming 'John Carter of Mars' film and check the threads were fans argue about how Dejah Thoris, the heroine, who is described as 'The most beautiful woman of two worlds' in the book the movie will be based on should look like. The fun part is that Edgar Rice Burroughs actually does give a fairly long description of her looks (the book is written from the pow of the hero, John Carter, and 'he' spends several words on her when he first sees her) and a lot of the ideas from the male fans don't actually sound all that much like the description (mostly it has to do with her figure; a lot of them seem to picture a very full figured woman indstead of somebody 'girlishly slim' like in the book).

Well, part of the blame goes for the illustrators, most pictures of her show somebody with very large breasts and a big behind. I guess they too were overwhelmed by that 'most beautiful' part and draw what they would have wanted to see, instead of what the writer described.

scarletpeaches · Jun 23, 2009

Even then saying someone is 'the most...' is dangerous, because as you say, everyone has different ideas of what constitutes such superlatives.

There's no need to describe someone's looks - even less to say they're the most this, the fastest that, the biggest this, the smallest that.

Other characters' reactions. That's the key.

I mean, I think Angelina Jolie is the most beautiful woman in the world and I'd sell my soul for one night with her but apparently some nutjobs disagree. Go figure.

ccarver30 · Jun 23, 2009

I ONLY use celebrities for my characters looks but you have to know how to describe without a name.

My avatar is actor Henry Cavill... also my male MC for The Duchess' Ring.

Kristiina · Jun 23, 2009

scarletpeaches said:
Even then saying someone is 'the most...' is dangerous, because as you say, everyone has different ideas of what constitutes such superlatives.

There's no need to describe someone's looks - even less to say they're the most this, the fastest that, the biggest this, the smallest that.

Other characters' reactions. That's the key.

I mean, I think Angelina Jolie is the most beautiful woman in the world and I'd sell my soul for one night with her but apparently some nutjobs disagree. Go figure.

Well, in defense of Mr Burroughs, the tale is told in the first person, and the teller is head over heels in love with the incomparable lady, so of course she is the most beautiful woman ever. But it is also rather illustrative of how much good even a detailed description will do, as you said, especially after you tell that your character is say, beautiful. About the only parts that seem to stick in the readers minds are hair colors, and possibly skin and eye colors, if mentioned (the red humanoid martians are sorta copper colored).

Well, 'The Princess of Mars' was also his first story. And it was written about a hundred years ago.

maestrowork · Jun 23, 2009

That's the problem with the "most" anything though, especially "beautiful" since beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Avoid these empty adjectives. I mean, I remember going to the movie Troy expecting to meet the world's most beautiful woman who launched a thousand battle ships, and I got Diane Kruger. Don't get me wrong, she's cute, but the most beautiful woman who had 100,000 men die for her? Don't think so. That's the problem with these claims in fiction: what exactly is the most beautiful? The fairest princess? The mightiest hero? They're all vague and subjective.

maestrowork · Jun 23, 2009

That said, in my WIP, I have one CHARACTER describe another as more beautiful than Vivien Leigh in Gone with The Wind.

It's time appropriate (the story happens in 1941). And even if the readers never saw or heard of Vivien Leigh before (who was regarded as one of the world's most beautiful women at the time, much like Angelina Jolie is today), they must have heard of Gone with The Wind. And that sets up a cultural reference. If you know who Vivien Leigh is, then you can get a mental image. If not, you can substitute it with any classic beauty in your mind. Either way, the most important thing is:

The CHARACTER thinks that way. That says more about that character than the woman.

blacbird · Jun 23, 2009

Lara said:
This is exactly how Ian Fleming does it in the book that Jim MacDonald mentioned above. He has a sexy girl meet James Bond and comment to her friend (in her sexy French accent, if I recall correctly) that he looks like Hoagy Carmichael.

But he doesn't. He looks like Sean Connery. No, wait, he looks like Sean Connery used to look. No, wait, he looks like Roger Moore. No, wait, he looks like Timothy Dalton. No, wait, he looks like Pierce Brosnan. No, wait, he looks like Daniel Craig. No, wait . . .

caw

maestrowork · Jun 23, 2009

Hoagy

I'm hungry.

Devil Ledbetter · Jun 23, 2009

Trauntj said:
for my novel I want the main guy to look pretty much like actor Hugo Weaving with long hair (like this: http://dic.academic.ru/pictures/enwiki/72/Hugo_w.jpg) but I don't want to say his name outright for obvious reasons. has anyone else had this problem?
Thanks!

How about "balding, with the lips of a trout"?

scheherazade · Jun 23, 2009

Dude, I have no idea who Hugo Weaving is. As a reader, it would be much more effective for me if you just describe what it is about Weaving that your character has in common. Long wavy hair? Okay. Does he look like a beach bum? Like a biker? Like a rocker? Like a spirtiual person? What does that appearance say about him?

If I adored Hugo Weaving and saw the similarity, maybe that's what I would envision in my head. But maybe I was a total long-haired Orlando Bloom fan instead, and I'd much rather make that comparison when I visualized your character. Best to leave the option up to the reader. Just tell them what they need to know about what the apperance says about the character in terms of age, personality, social status, etc.

describing a celebrity's looks without giving a name

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