I'm struggling with describing my character

[crystal haven]

I've read books where I've created a visual

Actually, wouldn't readers prefer some description of major characters early on? Picturing a character one way and finding out they look different later in the book bothers me a little. For example, if in chapter 10, the main character "...brushed his purple hair out of his eyes," and all through the first nine chapters, I had pictured him with a blond crew cut. Also, would it bother readers if you never described the main character or hardly anyone else?

I've had this happen to me when reading.

I agree with the comments that it's not necessary to describe a character in a book, but I also think it depends on how close the pov is to some degree and the situation the character is in. If someone is afraid of a character, or attracted to them, then describing the colour of their eyes, or the greasiness of their hair, could be a good idea because fear or attraction fixes images, so the pov character is going to be drawn, for instance, to those piercing green eyes.

 

[The Bluestocking]

Personally, I try not to do the Romance novel thing - i.e. we get a full-on voyeuristic description of each of the characters right at the beginning of the story.

Instead, I slip in bits and pieces here and there where relevant - sometimes to provide a quick but distinct impression (e.g. a quartermaster in my WIP has a shock of bright orange hair as a nod to just how zany he is), sometimes to illustrate their "race" as it were, particularly if they are a supernatural being (e.g. banshee, imp, kitsune etc), sometimes to emphasise a relationship/point (both characters are half-siblings but inherited their mother's brilliant green eyes). Never wholesale though - that would be overkill.

Most of the time, I work on getting the character across through their movements, speech patterns, responses, personal tics etc. Seems to work...

 

[Dan Jones]

I thought "aubergine biceps" would sound weird.

It's not usually the biceps for which aubergines are the body part stand-in vegetable of choice.

 

[Juliana]

Actually, wouldn't readers prefer some description of major characters early on?

As a reader, I like some broad strokes early on (an idea of hair color, for instance). But I tend to zone out long descriptions... I recently read Maggie Stiefvater's Raven Boys and thought she does a good job with 'mood descriptions'; descriptions that are there to tell more about personality than physical description. The tense line of someone's jaw, a sharp and brittle smile, that sort of thing.

As a writer, I tend to under describe everyone. That was one of the things my editor had me work on in my YA novel – adding character description.

 

[ErikB]

The way a character is described depends a little on how a book is being written and what the subject matter is. I do like to establish the basics initially for my readers. But I don't go into too much detail.

In my new series for example the main race of aliens is a male dominated society and the eye colour shifts with social status automatically.

The base colour of all of these alien's eyes is a golden metallic yellow. However as they move up in social standing they experience changes and their eyes turn metallic yellow-orange, then orange, metallic red, then violet, then deep purple, and of course the highest ranking males such as their emperor and some of their strongest leaders and warriors have blackish eyes with just a faint hint of purple.

Thus eye colour is an important aspect in describing a member of this race. And even though the eye in general remains the same colour until they shift up or down in rank, if you scare one of them suddenly the eye colour will lighten a bit below the normal colour. The same thing for eyes darking above the norm if you infuriate or excite one of them.

So if a certain feature needs to stand out then it should be made to do so for the reader's understanding. But if you describe a character in such detail that nothing is left to the reader's imagination then it detracts from their connection to the character.

People like to have enough to be able to distinguish whom it is that they are reading about, but not to have to remember a lot of things about how they are dressed etc.

The character develops as much in the sense of gradually becoming familiar to the reader, as they do within changes in your story.

Best of luck with your writing. Cheers!