Gryphos
Auror
For someone reason I've found that in my world there is an abnormal amount of swag. By that I mean so many characters have style when it comes to their clothing.
For example, there's a dude who shows up for literally one scene whose entire outfit 'seemed to have been inspired by a chessboard, or a zebra, or a badger, or– you get the idea'. He wears a white bowler hat and a white waistcoat over a black shirt, as well as white trousers and black shoes. he also has a black handkerchief sticking out of his waistcoat's breast pocket and tattooed serpents coiling up his forearms. That's a f*cking aesthetic, that dude clearly put effort into his outfit.
Then there's another dude who has a three-piece suit with golden dragon patterns embroidered all along the hem and lapel of the jacket, and of course an elegant top hat.
Then there's a dude who wears a white shirt, gold waistcoat, gold jacket and gold trousers. Even his pocket watch chain is gold, and he sticks a dandelion in his lapel.
And what about the woman with the sleek and form-hugging purple dress (rather unusual for this 19th century inspired setting), along with a black half cloak and hood. Her face is completely covered in tattooed black and white spirals.
You get the idea. I don't know why, but I can't help but give my characters really distinctive looks, even the minor characters like the aforementioned badger-bloke. There's even a bit where the main character is reading about a vampire who used to dye his beard blue and decorate his hat with a daisy chain. My world is just filled with swaggy people.
Does anyone else have this habit of infusing inordinate amounts of swag into their characters? What kind of swag do your people have? I personally think that something as simple as giving your character a distinctive look, creating a striking mental image in the reader's mind, can only benefit the memorability of those characters.
For example, there's a dude who shows up for literally one scene whose entire outfit 'seemed to have been inspired by a chessboard, or a zebra, or a badger, or– you get the idea'. He wears a white bowler hat and a white waistcoat over a black shirt, as well as white trousers and black shoes. he also has a black handkerchief sticking out of his waistcoat's breast pocket and tattooed serpents coiling up his forearms. That's a f*cking aesthetic, that dude clearly put effort into his outfit.
Then there's another dude who has a three-piece suit with golden dragon patterns embroidered all along the hem and lapel of the jacket, and of course an elegant top hat.
Then there's a dude who wears a white shirt, gold waistcoat, gold jacket and gold trousers. Even his pocket watch chain is gold, and he sticks a dandelion in his lapel.
And what about the woman with the sleek and form-hugging purple dress (rather unusual for this 19th century inspired setting), along with a black half cloak and hood. Her face is completely covered in tattooed black and white spirals.
You get the idea. I don't know why, but I can't help but give my characters really distinctive looks, even the minor characters like the aforementioned badger-bloke. There's even a bit where the main character is reading about a vampire who used to dye his beard blue and decorate his hat with a daisy chain. My world is just filled with swaggy people.
Does anyone else have this habit of infusing inordinate amounts of swag into their characters? What kind of swag do your people have? I personally think that something as simple as giving your character a distinctive look, creating a striking mental image in the reader's mind, can only benefit the memorability of those characters.