Character, Physical Descriptions...

[Leelyloo]

I prefer a bit of vague description to no description whatsoever...or too much description. I hate it when authors go on and on about their characters' looks.

Just pick your approach and stick with it, IMO. It's jarring to make it halfway through a book and suddenly find out that a character you've been picturing as X is actually Y, especially if it somehow becomes important to the plot.

 

[Cathbad]

I prefer a bit of vague description to no description whatsoever...or too much description. I hate it when authors go on and on about their characters' looks.

It's jarring to make it halfway through a book and suddenly find out that a character you've been picturing as X is actually Y, especially if it somehow becomes important to the plot.

Yes! If you're going to describe the character - especially the MC - do it right off the bat!

 

[SilentRoamer]

Personally I don't understand the "don't describe anything and let the reader do all the work" mentality. The story must have some foundational basis in a physical reality - the physical characteristics can be very important to character interactions. I think not describing characters attributes, both physical and not, weaken the characterization and don't allow the reader to build a good mental image.

One of the problems for me as well is that a lack of physical characteristics can end up causing a conflict between the reader and the author - in that the mental picture developed by the reader is contradicted by further information later in the novel.

I remember reading Malazan and I had imagined Quick Ben as a short ginger haired man until he was physically described.

Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice does a similar thing - the entire novel uses non gendered pronouns so it's bloody hard to figure out if the person you are reading is either male or female. While I enjoyed the novel I found the lack of character physical description (in this case identifying gender) to be a bit of a burden during the read.

 

[Cathbad]

Nothing wrong either way - describing or not, imo. But, where physical characters come into play - at any time in the book - it would seem best that a description should come early on.

 

[The Bluestocking]

Unless it's important to the plot, literally nobody cares what your characters look like.

Depends though. If your characters are all human then you can get away with that.

But if your characters (like mine) are supernaturals that aren't werewolves or vamps, then some description is in order. I don't hit the reader with a full-on description though - just a quick sketch through little cues like "her vulpine eyes" or "the fins lining her arms snapped open". And people know some of my characters are petite because they have trouble reaching the top of the shelf or the car pedals...

 

[Overread]

I forget the name of the book, but recently I was reading one of those cheaper kindle ebooks that had a reasonably high rating and gave up because of the character description delivery.

Now the book had several major other flaws and style choices that I won't go into, but the writer went the path of describing the character very little. The only real detail was their name which was slightly ambiguous to gender. As a result the only means to identify with the character was how they were written and their choices of actions.

Thus I got well over 1/4 of a way through the book before the revelation that the lead character, that hither too I'd considered female, was male. As a reader that detail, appearing quite casually too late in the book, threw me. The character I had envisioned wasn't real, all the events, choices and approaches from the earlier pages were now thrown into confusion.




The same is true of late descriptions of body too. If you have a strong character, but never present that strength until its needed in the story then you can run a risk that your character is changing to suit the story to avoid plot holes.


I think characters need to be described to a level whereby your reader can develop a mental picture of them. No I don't mean hype detail and you can leave out the eye colour too unless their eyes are bright glowing balls of fire or something. But a reader should know if the character is tall/short (compared to others around them); if they are strong or weak; fast or slow; fat or thin; male/female/other. Notable features like voice or limps etc...

The more you establish that early on in introducing a character, the more faithful the readers mental image can be; thus the more they can predict the characters actions and status in situations. If they know the character is abnormally tall then it doesn't shock them when they can reach something to escape from a room when others couldn't.




I do agree that you don't want nor need to go into hyper levels of description; that is often wasted on a reader. What you need is comprehensive which is then reinforced through the story. Remind your reader about characters casually. Repetition is how most people learn, plus I know that sometimes I tend to remember a character by their role or description more than their name - esp if the story has a lot of named characters. Ragle Wasspoff might not be a name I recall 3 chapters away, but the fat guy who casts spells and has a long beard now that I might recall!

 

[Cathbad]

Ragle Wasspoff might not be a name I recall 3 chapters away, but the fat guy who casts spells and has a long beard now that I might recall!

*scratches out the character description for my next MC*

 

[Mouse]

Depends though. If your characters are all human then you can get away with that.

But if your characters (like mine) are supernaturals that aren't werewolves or vamps, then some description is in order. I don't hit the reader with a full-on description though - just a quick sketch through little cues like "her vulpine eyes" or "the fins lining her arms snapped open". And people know some of my characters are petite because they have trouble reaching the top of the shelf or the car pedals...

But that is, like I said, important to the plot.

 

[The Bluestocking]

But that is, like I said, important to the plot.

Well, more important to their characterisation than the plot, I would say - they have very different ways of showing their moods and thoughts compared to humans.

 

[SilentRoamer]

Unless it's important to the plot, literally nobody cares what your characters look like.

I disagree. I've covered it in my post above but how the characters look matters to me - it forms part of the internal movie that plays out in my mind. I like to know what the author intended - I don't need to know how many freckles Cordelia Naismith has, knowing she is a freckled redhead is enough and I can fill the rest in. Does her being a redhead change the plot? Of course not, but physical descriptors are as much a part of characterization as non physical ones - at least IMO. So whilst they may not be important to plot (although they sometimes are) they are definitely important to the mindset and image of some readers.

Depends though. If your characters are all human then you can get away with that.

But if your characters (like mine) are supernaturals that aren't werewolves or vamps, then some description is in order. I don't hit the reader with a full-on description though - just a quick sketch through little cues like "her vulpine eyes" or "the fins lining her arms snapped open". And people know some of my characters are petite because they have trouble reaching the top of the shelf or the car pedals...

This is a really good point - a lot of the things we on here are likely to read do contain non human characters - in which case sometimes you might be pointing out the physicality of a human (if they are the different ones). Subtle uses of description such as Bluestocking mentions above are much better for me, they describe without telling and can gradually build a picture.

Interestingly one of my favorite character introductions (and species introduction) is WickRackRum from Vernor Vinges Fire Upon the Deep - completely alien and introduced in a totally confusing but ultimately brilliant way.

 

[-K2-]

So, I suppose I should share a little bit about how I've worked this in what I'm currently poking away at and see if it causes anyone to grimace.

The protagonist is not described fully until the tenth chapter, past noting that 'she is a she' (first line of first ch.), and briefly that she smells from not bathing. There is simply too much action and too many other things require description. That point about her not bathing is noted about everyone and how foul the air is due to it.

We're also told that though most people wear 'altered (for style) pastel poly-paper jumpsuits and tire tread sandals,' even though it's hot and the humidity is high, she wears full heavy-leathers that has special organic armor on it. That clothing is noted as being very uncomfortable for her, yet for various reasons she must wear it.

Until that tenth chapter, we encounter numerous other characters. All we're told about them is their gender, that they originate from this nation or that (to hint at race and accent), and that everyone is starving, so, they're described as weak, slow moving, loose skin, in some cases general age, yet nothing specific.

At the 3rd chapter we learn the protagonist has tattoos on her neck and extensive facial scarring. By the 8th chapter we learn she has some very serious tattoos and scars covering her (which she has tried to hide revealing who she is), and we also discover that contrary to most women (everyone losing fat), she has breast implants from before everything fell apart making her an oddity.

At the tenth chapter, things change. The people can't bathe unless it rains (and it has been two months)... in that chapter, one of the brutal storms hits them so as you can guess it's a celebration of public bathing (besides the fact they're crammed in there shoulder to shoulder). That's when the protagonist and deuteragonist are described fully as they look each other over, including scars (extensive on the MC) build, height, tattoos and even that the MC a facial implant which she removes.

In that tenth chapter the people in general are described. Skinny, loose skin (on those older), short and underdeveloped (those younger **no one under 18**), swollen joints, numerous bruises, scabs and abrasions from sleeping on hard surfaces, and so on.

Descriptions then are revealed as needed (some are extensive due to a leprosy like disease), though most are not unless pointing out size differences between our protagonist and them. All of those I'm comfortable with.

All that said, even though I get the point about not wanting to be surprised regarding the protagonists description, so mention it early on, I'm just not sure it matters or applies until that tenth chapter.

Thanks for all of the input everyone, it helps get me thinking!

K2

 

[The Big Peat]

For me, it would be a minor sin to go that long without describing your character and then go "Hey! Hear all about her" for two reasons.

The first is that, given that some of the physical description is plot important, I feel like Chekhov's Gun is being planted a little late (although I don't know how long this book is going to be so maybe I'm wrong).

The second and most important is a question of style. I think the way an author handles character descriptions is a big signature of their style. If you've been taciturn about the subject and then all of a sudden go into detail, that to me is going to cause a bit of dissonance. That said - I don't know how much dissonance because I don't know how you'd do it. Maybe it'd still feel like you. But I think this might be a case where it'd be easier to fail than succeed.

And make no mistake, style is as important as plot. Maybe more.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

What no one has mentioned is the impact of point of view style on character description. If you write in close point of view, you simply have very little room to describe, because we don't stop to think what people who are already familiar to the character look like. In fact, if someone I don't know enters a room I don't think the tall, graceful woman stepped into the room, light shining off her butter-locks and enhancing her dimpled face.

I think a woman entered the room. Maybe a middle aged woman, or a woman with a limp, or a woman holding a baby, but nothing more.
So, if you're writing a close POV to describe you either have to move to Omni, or you need to be smart about how to do it. Stretching out legs and taking up space show height, a slight dip as someone steps into the room, also. A joke can work - 'cold, up there?' Or not being able to reach the pedals works too. But, like everything else, you have to be smart at it. So far, I'm on chapter three of The New Thing and one character has been described as broad-shouldered, one as caramel coloured (it's okay, it's okay, it's in context not creepy food-allocation to skin colour stuff) and that's it.

Having said that, I'm not known for my descriptive abilities.

 

[The Big Peat]

What no one has mentioned is the impact of point of view style on character description. If you write in close point of view, you simply have very little room to describe, because we don't stop to think what people who are already familiar to the character look like. In fact, if someone I don't know enters a room I don't think the tall, graceful woman stepped into the room, light shining off her butter-locks and enhancing her dimpled face.

I think a woman entered the room. Maybe a middle aged woman, or a woman with a limp, or a woman holding a baby, but nothing more.
So, if you're writing a close POV to describe you either have to move to Omni, or you need to be smart about how to do it. Stretching out legs and taking up space show height, a slight dip as someone steps into the room, also. A joke can work - 'cold, up there?' Or not being able to reach the pedals works too. But, like everything else, you have to be smart at it. So far, I'm on chapter three of The New Thing and one character has been described as broad-shouldered, one as caramel coloured (it's okay, it's okay, it's in context not creepy food-allocation to skin colour stuff) and that's it.

Having said that, I'm not known for my descriptive abilities.

I'm going to disagree with this because

A) I will sometimes think about what people who enter the room look like, even people I know. I've even got a few of the best ones written down somewhere for future use.

B) More importantly, there's a lot of differences between how people think (and act) and how characters think, because it makes it for a smoother better story. I mean they don't routinely spend five seconds trying to think of the right word, or have their internal dialogues interrupted by remembering a minor thing that happened on the train last night, or have conversations that go "Hey where's that thing" "What thing" "You know, that thing" "Oh yeah its over there", or go "Uhm" every five seconds, or have to constantly repeat themselves to anyone with a different accent etc.etc.

If this is another case where characters are a bit different from people, then I'm okay with it. Tbh, it had never even occurred to me to question it until you mentioned it

 

[-K2-]

@The Big Peat ; so just to hash your thoughts out, let me mention this and you tell me what you think.

For every character until that tenth chapter, past us knowing that they're skinny/malnourished (which implies a lot) and unwashed, for the most part people are 'gender, head, hands and baggy clothing' (which is pretty much all the same except for our protagonist). I mentioned how race/nationalities are mentioned, what I didn't is that one woman stands out being a guard (large framed and armored), that there are transgender individuals, that (in the 6th) there is a large Frenchman who is armed and armored (and his size and weapon types are mentioned).

Again however, past head and hands, gender, general age, and race (for some)... besides having no reason to say more, no other character could see more.

So the protagonist is revealed as everyone in the story would define her as they encounter those aspects. Head and clothing 1st, then facial scars and neck tattoos 3rd, waist up 8th, whole nine yards tenth.

Thoughts?

K2

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I'm going to disagree with this because

A) I will sometimes think about what people who enter the room look like, even people I know. I've even got a few of the best ones written down somewhere for future use.

B) More importantly, there's a lot of differences between how people think (and act) and how characters think, because it makes it for a smoother better story. I mean they don't routinely spend five seconds trying to think of the right word, or have their internal dialogues interrupted by remembering a minor thing that happened on the train last night, or have conversations that go "Hey where's that thing" "What thing" "You know, that thing" "Oh yeah its over there", or go "Uhm" every five seconds, or have to constantly repeat themselves to anyone with a different accent etc.etc.

If this is another case where characters are a bit different from people, then I'm okay with it. Tbh, it had never even occurred to me to question it until you mentioned it

Yes - but you don’t seek to write deep-deep point of view, so that’s fine. What I’m saying is for those who do, character description becomes much harder because we can’t pull out easily to capture it.

 

[tinkerdan]

Many good point have been brought to bear on the subject. Sometimes the seem conflicting; however I would guess that's because there isn't a right answer to this.

I've found many good examples of the full description and then the more vague descriptions that have both worked within the context of the story.

I would guess a key is that any notable features should be addressed as soon as possible--and well before the reader has an opportunity to form their own indelible image.

Also there are many wrong ways to do things and that means that you need to approach this like all writing by addressing it with the best writing you can manage.

One problem I've recently encountered is where the author decided to separate each character description into their own chapters and then pounded the description and general bio and back-story into the first three paragraphs before resuming the story. The only thing worse would have been something at the beginning or the end with photos and bios and back-story--like some old comics i recall reading.

In many cases its fine to not lead the reader around by the nose ring and allowing them lattitude to form their own image. However, that might not work with all characters and only the author knows where that line might be between too much and not enough information.

It is important for the author to have a firm idea of character from start to end while writing. It's also a plus if they can put that aside afterwords, when the readers start forming their own opinions.

 

[RJM Corbet]

Depends though. If your characters are all human then you can get away with that.

But if your characters (like mine) are supernaturals that aren't werewolves or vamps, then some description is in order. I don't hit the reader with a full-on description though - just a quick sketch through little cues like "her vulpine eyes" or "the fins lining her arms snapped open". And people know some of my characters are petite because they have trouble reaching the top of the shelf or the car pedals...

Well, this is one of the big tasks for a sc-fi writer. I completely identify with what you're saying.

 

[Overread]

I think the key is the mental picture your reader builds.

Different stories aim to build a different mental picture with extremes where in some stories the appearance of characters means nothing whilst in others it might be the primary focal point. Ergo one story might be built around a mystery or content that has no need for physical character attributes to be important to the visual creation; whilst many others the story requires at least some visual concept to build and populate the image in the minds eye to understand what is going on.

Also note that books do things differently to reality because a lot of the visual observations we make on a person are done in an instant. For most people we can tell gender, skin colour, size, muscle vs fat build up; stature; gait; hair colour etc.... all from a few moments of observation. Oddly things that oft get described in novels - like eye colour - are often some of the least important details that we often never pay attention too.
In fact most people have no idea about eye colours on other people they know unelss the person has very powerful colours in large eyes.



So like many things in writing there are no hard and fast rules to follow. That said I think the rule to follow should be to consider the mental picture you are guiding your readers to build and the one that they are most likely to build. Your job as writer is to populate that mental image, whatever it is, with suitable content; but also to ensure that youre writing guides the reader to that mental construct in the first place.

 

[The Big Peat]

@The Big Peat ; so just to hash your thoughts out, let me mention this and you tell me what you think.

For every character until that tenth chapter, past us knowing that they're skinny/malnourished (which implies a lot) and unwashed, for the most part people are 'gender, head, hands and baggy clothing' (which is pretty much all the same except for our protagonist). I mentioned how race/nationalities are mentioned, what I didn't is that one woman stands out being a guard (large framed and armored), that there are transgender individuals, that (in the 6th) there is a large Frenchman who is armed and armored (and his size and weapon types are mentioned).

Again however, past head and hands, gender, general age, and race (for some)... besides having no reason to say more, no other character could see more.

So the protagonist is revealed as everyone in the story would define her as they encounter those aspects. Head and clothing 1st, then facial scars and neck tattoos 3rd, waist up 8th, whole nine yards tenth.

Thoughts?

K2

I can't be sure without actually seeing it, but if that's all most of the characters can see then I think only describing that prior to having a big review would indeed work, because that sounds like it'd be consistent within your style.