Characters description

[Marie Evergreen]

Hi
How do you work a character's description into a scene?
Marie

[Scotsman]

A number of ways. For instance ...

Like his father's, his jaw was chiseled square. His mouth, too, was capable to quickly smile, laugh, or tighten to reinforce a command.

The ceiling light shone upon his recently trimmed brown hair, reflecting their red highlights. Like his father’s, Jeremy’s intense ocean-green eyes could give the appearance of a gentle calm, yet, without warning, he could attack relentlessly.

[Lookin^Up]

The real trick is how to describe your POV character, when mirrors or other reflections are considered a cheat.

[Tommie Lyn]

I don't do a lot of physical character description.

I usually give hair and eye color and maybe I say if he is tall or she is delicate. But I work those things into the narrative in bits and pieces in conjunction with what the character is doing or what someone is thinking about them.

The funny thing is, from what little I do say, combined with the characterisation inherent in the thoughts and actions of a character, readers develop their own ideas of what the character looks like and don't realise that I haven't actually provided that physical description.

I asked a few subtle questions of some who read ...And Night Falls and got answers such as "Oh yes, I know exactly what Clay looks like," and they'd tell me some actor who they thought looked like Clay, or they'd describe their concept of Clay to me.

[Phy]

Roger Zelazny is widely regarded as being a master stylist. From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zelazny):
Zelazny was considered one of the leading lights of the "New Wave" movement in science fiction, which changed the face of the genre in the 1960s. He incorporated elements from literary novels of the mainstream into his fiction, and experimented with allusion, lyricism, and mythic imagery.

Despite his lyrical, colorful prose, he was known for being a fairly spare writer. He left much to the imagination, and his formidable imagination flitted lightly from subject to subject.

I mention all this because of how he introduced his characters. He never gave you more than three attributes at introduction, trusting that the reader would get a clear enough idea from there. He'd add in little embellishments later, but relied heavily on the reader's imagination to fill in the blanks, and it worked fantastically well.

He was gaunt, with a damaged right eye, and walked with a limp.

Which three attributes best describe your characters?

[Ransom v. Unman]

Tolkien, I've noted as I've yet again found myself reading LotR (:o), was also quite sparse with these descriptions. He used concise metaphores, bare treatments, and really only mentioned the things that would have stood out.

I've heard that one cliché of my pet-genre (fantasy) is the superflous description of characters who are supposed to be attractive, and then bare-bones descriptions of everyone else. Happily, I think, there is a medium that can be reached, and better writers of any genre achieve it.

Oh, and one last note too - if a character's description bogs down the pacing of the story, that's a surefire sign it needs to be re-worked. Description exists to aid the narrative, not to hinder it.

[Tarin]

It's not important to describe every little of a character's appearance. Give the readers a few telling details, and his imagination will take over for himself. I like to be sure to include general height, hair color, and eye color - and one or two other specific details.

Also, one of my pet peeves is POV characters who describe their own appearance. When do any of us (well, unless we're in a particularly narcissistic mood:rolleyes:) stop and think to ourselves: Ah, my honey-brown hair is blowing in the wind, and my deep blue eyes are sparkling in the sunshine...

I don't think so!!!:eek:

What that means, of course, is that we're forced to utilize another POV character for describing. And when you don't have another POV character enter the same scene for several chapters, you run the huge risk of the readers' preconception of the character jarring against your description.

[Alice]

Usually what I do is one of four things:

1) Forget to describe the character
2) Don't bother to describe the character
3) Let their actions or other people's reactions describe the character
or
4) Mention them when someone else is looking at them, or when they are feeling self-conscious (i.e. thinking about how they look). Needless to say, these descriptions need to be short or they interrupt flow.

Good ways to describe without describing are to show how other people react to the character (can show age, attractiveness, etc.). I read somewhere that Ingrid Bergman was told to act as though Humphrey Bogart was great looking in Casablanca... and then he would seem to be. At the time, he had played mostly gangsters, so a 'leading man' role was new -- but he came across great, and her acting probably helped.

[jacks girl]

having characters in the story describe each other is the way to go.

Kelly looked over her shoulder the man in line behind her was gorgeous, his hair was really cut short he reminded her of Brad Pitt in a way but his hair was darker and he was a little taller.

Alex walked down the street he had another blind date tonight. What would this woman think about him. He'd been told by women latley that he looked like Elvis but he just couldn't see it. True his hair was black and his eyes brown but did that make him Elvis.

I love to find different ways to describe my characters without the pov doing it.

[melw]

i like to know a bit about my charater's looks, but it often when they are met by or meet someone they will be included some looks.

I have been involved a story where the looks were important. Vital to the story so had to describe some of them.

MEL

[Jonathon89]

I was going to post another thread on this but I thought I just ask my question here. So here goes.
How would you properly describe a charcter's race in a story? Like if a charcter is African American, Asian, Indian, Jewish, you name it. How would I describe it?

[pajarita_deDios]

Just come right out and say it Jonathon. You could mention skin color or an accent, but I wouldn't be afraid to just be straight up about it. As long as you're not being sarcastic or ugly about it, there is nothing wrong with calling someone what they are.

Hope this helps! God bless - Laura

[Lookin^Up]

I agree with Pajarita. When I have a black character, I call him/her black in passing, and not as the first adjective, either. The color is not who they are; words like cheerful, moody, husky, beautiful often come first. With a Mexican character, same thing; I'd mention it without calling attention to it. Otherwise, I treat them like any other person.

[Alice]

I've often seen it successfully done with a description of something about the character, and a mention of where she got it (from her father's side? her mother's?).

"Jane pushed her dark hair back from her skin that always looked like it had a deep tan. She got it from her father's side of the family. Although growing up she had envied girls with light skin and blond hair, she had since come to appreciate her Indian looks. For one thing, she didn't show blushes as easily -- and she never got sunburned."

Well you could write it better than that, but you see what I mean. :o

[Jonathon89]

Just come right out and say it Jonathon. You could mention skin color or an accent, but I wouldn't be afraid to just be straight up about it. As long as you're not being sarcastic or ugly about it, there is nothing wrong with calling someone what they are.

Hope this helps! God bless - Laura

Thanks Laura!:)
I just wanted to make sure that when describing something like race in my WIP, that I wouldn't offend anyone, especially my readers.

[righter1]

I was going to post another thread on this but I thought I just ask my question here. So here goes.
How would you properly describe a charcter's race in a story? Like if a charcter is African American, Asian, Indian, Jewish, you name it. How would I describe it?

Jonathan, I've often wondered this, too, and I don't want to be offensive, so I study my favorite writers and how they handle things.

For instance, in the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich, the character Lula is usually introduced as 'a full-figured black woman' and other things that emphasize that Lula's a big woman and what her race is. The character Ranger usually has some indicator that he's of Cuban or Hispanic descent, but the emphasis for him is his lean, well muscled body, not that he's Cuban (it's just there.)

So, I'd recommend reading or re-reading books by your favorite authors--or those in the genre you're writing for--and see how things are approached. It'll give you a good feel for what's acceptable. Of course, stay away from anything that's a slur, unless the narrator actually is sexist or racist or whatever. That can be used as character development. ;)

[pajarita_deDios]

Thanks Laura!
I just wanted to make sure that when describing something like race in my WIP, that I wouldn't offend anyone, especially my readers.

No problem. Never be afraid to ask! :D