Character descriptions

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Nameless65

Just finished reading Time’s Eye by A. Clarke and S. Baxter. I liked it even though I’ve never been that fond of Baxter’s stuff—I always found his stories lacking in the character development department.

Anyway, I was very surprised that a secondary character wasn’t described until page 98. Ninety-eight! Now, keep in mind that there are a lot of characters in this book and, as I said, this character wasn’t a primary character, but he was a POV character early in the book. Then one-third of the way through the book the authors throw in some very detailed descriptions—his nose, posture, hair, etc—and it kind of threw me off.

Any preferences on when a character should be described? What about how much detail? Do you, as a reader, need to know his/her hair color, height, etc? Does the character feel incomplete without them?
 

macalicious731

Hey Nameless!

About four pages back there's another thread that addresses this topic. Physical Descriptions: p197.ezboard.com/fabsolut...=604.topic

I'm not sure if the content is going to answer your first question, but it will give you people's thoughts on eye color, hair, etc.

If I remember correctly, the general consensus was that if a character is going to have a description at all, it would be mentioned early on in the novel. But, needless to say, there are always differations from the norm, and Baxter may have had legitimate reasons to put it so far back in the book. Or, perhaps since you found the description jarring, it's something that shouldn't have been done - "wrong" ways are also described in the other thread.

(Actually, page 98 of how many?)

Good luck!
 

Nameless65

Thanks for the link! Yes, it was actually on pg 98 of 337. It wasn’t the manner that bothered me, they were describing the character through the POV of one of the main players – perfectly acceptable to me. It was just the detail didn’t match what I’d created in my mind so far into the story.

Here’s another example – Stephen King’s Hearts In Atlantis. More than two-thirds through the story he has a minor character point out the main’s “ski jump of a nose” and how it reminded her of Bob Hope. Obliterated my image of him.

I guess after seeing this from yet another very popular author(s) I started to question whether readers (in general) need to see detailed descriptions. If readers—again, in general—don’t mind seeing very specific facial/physical details 90 pages after the character is introduced.
 

James D Macdonald

From my point of view, and in my opinion, details of character appearance only belong if having them is vital to the story.

And if they're vital to the story, they're vital from the moment the character first arrives in that story.
 

maestrowork

I described one of my characters right when he first appeared, and it was important to the story; however, the importance was not apparent until later. So it was a foreshadow.
 

ElonnaT

I think that if an author is going to include a description, it should be as early as possible. There have been several books that I have read where the characters aren't described until later and that is just annoying. By then, as a reader, I have the character pictured my way in my head. If I have a character visualized with dark hair and they end up having blonde hair later in the book, that is just aggravating.

In one particular book where this occurred I actually argued with myself/author about the color of the character's hair. No matter how many times the hair color was mentioned in the book, I still visualized the character my way.

So if the description is worth mentioning, it should be early, imo

OK, sorry, off my :soap
 

Yeshanu

It was just the detail didn’t match what I’d created in my mind so far into the story.

I agree that if an author is going to describe a character, it should be as early in the book as is practical, for precisely that reason.
 

macalicious731

hair color...

Elonna, I know what you mean. If I already have a character mental picture before the author describes him/her, I'm not going to give up my own image.

When I read the first Harry Potter I thought of Draco as having dark hair. It wasn't until the movie came out that I realized he was blonde. It was very jarring to see him on screen that way, so much so that I went back and read the first book. Sure enough, Rowling described him with blonde hair - and as soon as he was introduced for the first time - but I was apparently blind to this information.

Now when I read the newer books, Draco doesn't take on an appearance at all. Sometimes it doesn't matter what you do - the reader will still see it their way!
 

maestrowork

Re: hair color...

Now when I read the newer books, Draco doesn't take on an appearance at all. Sometimes it doesn't matter what you do - the reader will still see it their way!

Absolutely.

However, it's still irritating if you have a character on page 1, then on page 232 you describe him as blond/blue-eyed with big ugly scar on his face. ARGH! Too late. You either describe that on page 1, or not at all (unless the description is not that jarring -- such as a small birthmark on her ankle or something, which can be revealed later in the book)
 

Sunny7l

Re: hair color...

It was just the detail didn’t match what I’d created in my mind so far into the story.

I totally agree, Nameless. I think the description(s) should come fairly early in the process because by page 98 you've already decided, for yourself, what the characters look like, if it hasn't yet been explicitly stated.

If a detailed description is reserved for later, I think enough of an impression should have been made to where the new info won't come as a surprise.

I think it's okay to be vague, at times, but flaws and other unusual characteristics should be made clear early on.
 

Vulpes Sapien

Re: hair color...

Okay ... if I make it clear that my story is set in Mesopotamia, in the Bronze Age -- I should trust my readers to make up their own minds about exact appearance?

Only twice do I mention appearance in my WIP - "Vibrant and energetic, Rachel caught the eyes of men wherever she went, much to her father and sister’s dismay. Right now, her brown eyes were bright with breathless excitement, and her long, black hair was loose and disheveled." (I don't LIKE that paragraph, but I'm not sure why.)

Later, I describe two slaves as being "Egyptians from the land of Nubia" (in dialoque) and the POV character wants to call them beautiful but their dark skin is so different from anything she's ever considered attractive, so she's left confused.

I have left all other characters without description, except in dialogue. Should it be self-explanatory what a Bronze Age Hebrew looks like?
 

Jules Hall

Re: hair color...

In general, I think so. We all have our own ideas about what characters look like, and unless it's important to the story (or to the viewpoint character's perceptions, in 1st person or 3rd limited with a close POV style) my preference is to leave the details out. Obviously others disagree, as such details do make their way into many stories, and the general consensus probably varies from genre to genre.

On the subject of the paragraph you don't like, there's two things about it I'd seriously consider changing in editing: the juxtaposition of "right now" in a past tense sentence, and the adjective "breathless" which doesn't seem appropriate in a phrase that describes eyes. Both of those caught my attention as not fitting with the rest.
 
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