Describing character's appearances

[Lavender]

How do you go about describing your character's appearances?
For me, I keep it relatively simple. A line or two about their facial features, build, height and perhaps voice and mannerisms and a brief description of what they are wearing.
Extensive paragraphs describing every inch of a character's outfit, I personally find, unnecessary and can be quite boring. Or perhaps you disagree? Discuss/comment

 

[Kaellpae]

I have yet to really describe a character in story. But I would rather give out a description with off-hand comments after an initial 2 or 3 sentences for basic appearance.

For notes though I would just spout out what I could think of.

 

[Map the Dragon]

Go with the minimalistic approach. Paint the picture that is absolutely necessary, and then let the reader decide the rest. For non-human races, especially of your own creation, you may need to give readers a bit more. Again, use minimal details and let the reader figure it out. There are, of course, exceptions to every rule.

 

[Helbrecht]

I feel that if you think you must describe your character's appearance, don't do it in a long burst disconnected from the rest of the story. That's practically the same as infodumping exposition about the world's history or magic. Like with those sorts of exposition, they're best littered throughout dialogue (or action).

I think it was Kurt Vonnegut (undoubtedly many others, too) who said that a sentence shouldn't just be written for one purpose - rather, every one should serve two or three. I feel this rule should apply for any sort of exposition especially. Like, for example: "He scratched his greying beard thoughtfully as he watched his friend work" or "Her sharp features were pulled tight into a snarl when she spoke". With those, we're given insights into what these characters are thinking or feeling while also learning a bit about how they look.

The amount of description depends on your genre, too. If I was reading romantic fantasy or YA, I'd probably expect a lot more. On the note of romance, actually: if you're describing a character from a viewpoint of somebody who's attracted to them, then it makes sense to go into a bit more detail, because they'd be paying more attention to that sort of thing than someone who isn't, and certainly more attention than a third-person omniscient narrator.

 

[Kaellpae]

I would definitely agree with Map and Helbrecht. I have yet to really do anything for my writing though. I'm still in the brainstorming phase for all my writings.

 

[Lavender]

I feel that if you think you must describe your character's appearance, don't do it in a long burst disconnected from the rest of the story. That's practically the same as infodumping exposition about the world's history or magic. Like with those sorts of exposition, they're best littered throughout dialogue (or action).

I think it was Kurt Vonnegut (undoubtedly many others, too) who said that a sentence shouldn't just be written for one purpose - rather, every one should serve two or three. I feel this rule should apply for any sort of exposition especially. Like, for example: "He scratched his greying beard thoughtfully as he watched his friend work" or "Her sharp features were pulled tight into a snarl when she spoke". With those, we're given insights into what these characters are thinking or feeling while also learning a bit about how they look.

The amount of description depends on your genre, too. If I was reading romantic fantasy or YA, I'd probably expect a lot more. On the note of romance, actually: if you're describing a character from a viewpoint of somebody who's attracted to them, then it makes sense to go into a bit more detail, because they'd be paying more attention to that sort of thing than someone who isn't, and certainly more attention than a third-person omniscient narrator.

I agree with this approach. But I think an initial description is often needed and then finer details can be explained within the dialogue or the actions of characters.

 

[Deborah Dalton]

Just my 2 cents - I usually try to build the character's important features/charateristics INTO something the character is doing, or into something that demonstrates the need for these traits. I find it better than, "Character A had long, curly red hair". And try something like "Character A's ruby ringlets snagged in the milking machine she was inventing..."

Weeeeelll, I'm sure you get the idea.

But I agree with you on that it's best to keep it simple and let people's imaginations stretch their own muscles.

 

[Digital_Fey]

The authors I admire most are the ones who can give you a sense of what the character looks like without going into detail about facial features, hair and clothing - with just a few sentences about the character's posture, the gray in their hair and the impression that they make on people watching them, it's possible to get a visual image and a ton of characterization across. Overly detailed info about clothes, hairstyles and weapons tends to make the writer sound like a fangirl/boy for their own character - not that I haven't been guilty of that

 

[Caged Maiden]

I try not to describe too much. I like to give a reader some leeway, you know? also, I find APPEARANCE and CLOTHES two completely different things. I tend to mention things about appearance when they are pertinent, but I make them pertinent early on, so as not to be incongruous with what a reader might be envisioning. If he's tall, I might say: They stood there in front of the garden bench, eye-to-eye; well, almost. Martin was a foot taller than the petite Alice, even in her heels.

Appearance is important, and there are things that reveal a lot about the character without spelling everything out, such as: facial scars, flowing tresses, manicured hands, greasy hair, a smell that could makes the rats scatter.... It's nice to have some help in envisioning exactly how beautiful or repulsive someone is, but it would be horrible to read a whole paragraph that reads like a personal ad...

I like to be vary vague about clothes, and that's just a personal thing because I am a costumer in real life, and I know it would be too easy for me to go crazy..... SO I only describe clothes vaguely unless they are pertinent to the story. I might describe clothes like this: She donned a sturdy wool dress, perfect for her journey, though a bit plain. At least it was gray and would hide the dirt she was sure to pick up from the road... OR for a more important garment to the story... "With your tacky, mismatched doublet, and that laughably oversized codpiece, I can only assume that you are standing in for a jester this evening," she laughed rudely...
Yeah clothes can get too detailed so as to be terribly boring. I want to know what color it is, what it's made of, and if the style/cut is important, go on and give me that too.
Maybe that's naive of me, though, for instance, in one story I mentioned a character convalescing in a linen shirt and knickers..... I assume people know what that would look like, I don't care if they picture the shirt with buttons or ties or a collar or drawstring neck, nor whether they feel knickers are shorts or knee-length... it doesn't matter to the story.. what mattered was that the character was healing and out of commission, and laid up in bed in underwear.

I'd like to hear more about how other people describe clothes. I may have this all wrong because I'm tainted with too much knowledge of historical clothing. Am I too vague?

 

[Ophiucha]

Unless there is something truly great to describe, I don't tend to give much description at all. Most people will fill in the basic blanks for themselves, and though it perhaps reflects poorly on us as a culture, I think most people in the Western world get a similar image when they lack a description. If I call a character a young woman, I think most of us see a Caucasian, late teens/early 20s, long-haired, blonde/brunette, probably thin but maybe less so in the chest area. Writing fantasy makes this even doubly true. "Elf" carries a certain connotation. I don't need to say "her pointed ears" because most people filled in that detail on their own. As such, most of my descriptors are limited to where they deviate from the 'norm', for lack of a better term. Vivian, one of my main characters, is a fat girl, for instance. We're talking 250 lbs or so. That's not something most people will presume, so I include a few references to it - as others have said, though, rarely outright "Vivian was fat" and more "Vivian, sucking in her gut a bit to squeeze between the wall and the chairs, followed", just to fit it in with everything else. Other characters, like Bartholomew, warrant a pause, as he is half-tree. Though I solidify the details in the same manner, "He reached towards me with a willowy branch" and such, I do give him a sentence of description as it is my narrator's first time seeing the man, too.

In general, I like certain details more than others. I don't really care about a character's hair or eye colour, I find those details to be easily forgotten and utterly unimportant (unless they are *magical* in some way, of course). Clothes rarely warrant a description beyond their function, saying a character is wearing heavy boots and camouflage gives me something, stopping the narrative completely to tell me that "Jane was wearing blue eye liner, matching her leather corset and stilettos, and a glittering gold lip gloss the same colour as her stockings" is going to put me to sleep before we hit 'corset'. But I do like to know a character's body type. Fat, muscular, gangly, curvy, fit, whatever. That detail more than any other will help me visualize them, and if that's all the details are there for (which, let's face it, they usually are), then I'd rather one of those gets tossed out than anything about their blonde curls or whatever.

 

[Sevvie]

I try to avoid describing my main characters--simply because I want the reader to define the character. Make it theirs, make it more real in their mind, without forcing it to be real. However when it comes to other characters I do spent a few brief sentences depicting serious things of note that define the character.

Then when it comes to my non-human characters, that are creatures/species that I've created from scratch and are first introduced, I try to be as detailed as possible, but as subtle as possible too. I don't want to spend 3 paragraphs describing this entirely inhuman creature... so I instead just imply certain details as the main character interacts with this new one.

 

[Memmorio]

When reading, I enjoy seeing the POV character described little by little. Little quirks and body issues piece by piece. Introducing none POV characters should contain a few sentences outlining at least the major features so that the reading can pain the picture without the pace being pulled to the ground.

 

[Argentum]

I agree with Memmorio. Of course it's important to describe what's needed in the beginning, but there is joy in learning about the character as you go along. I like to show a hint of the character's character, and then a light description of the appearance. Then as the story progresses, you get a clearer picture of the character's thoughts and values, and a clearer mental image of what they look like at the same time.

 

[fcbkid15]

I find it better if you don't just go out and state what they look like. You kind of work it into the story. So instead of saying "The elf had pointy ears and blond hair", instead say it like "His blond hair swooped behind his pointed ear." Or have a character mention something about their appearance, like "Dang, you've got some pointy ears." Eben commented. Hope I helped!

 

[CMeyer]

I agree with pretty much everyone here. Don't force your readers into putting your characters into a "single pair of shoes", so to speak. Give them freedom to use their imaginations. This will draw them closer to your characters and into the world you are writing about. Little details here and there are fine, but if you give out too much, your readers will focus more attention on envisioning the characters than on understanding the story.

 

[SeverinR]

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For me, my character descriptions tend towards what I notice about people.

hair color(style if it sets them apart), general height(taller/shorter then average), build if noticable(scrawny, plump, muscular) Eye color if important to the story. I think I include this more if I intend to have a romantic interest for the character. I do include it when shape shifter involved, as the eyes change first.

I think it is important to set the initial basis of a description but don't get to indepth.

 

[Dante Sawyer]

As some people on this thread have said, description (for me at least) in the beginning is very important, but more and more about the character is told as the plot progresses. Also I make sure one physical trait is very well known to the audience. My favorite example of this in my own writing is one of my main supporting characters, Dagon, who I describe as "the shady character" and "the man with ethereal green eyes". In my world, due to centuries and centuires of gene domination, everyone has darker hair and eyes making the green even more stuinning.

 

[Leuco]

I agree with Lavender's initial post. That's generally how I describe my characters, but I try to do it through the eyes of another character. I think that adds to the drama of the scene. Maybe the second character is intimidated or suddenly infatuated. That's a good time to reveal more about both characters. I think that helps. But you know, when in doubt, do some research. Find a book you like and see what the author would do!