character description

[oracne]

How do you describe your characters?

All at once, the first time we see them, or in dribs and drabs? Or never at all?

How specific are you? As specific as the story requires? On what elements do you tend to focus? (It changes every time is an acceptable answer

Comments

[therck]

As a writer, I'm dreadful at visual description. I always have to go back to the draft and shoehorn it in because it doesn't come naturally. Part of that is that I don't necessarily know (or care much) what the characters look like. I know how they move but generally don't have the right words to describe it-- How is that hitch in someone's stride distinct from that in someone else's? What's the difference in hand positioning between a friendly hey-come-here wave and an imperious summons?

As a reader, I often don't register visual descriptions of characters or places. I will register conflicting details, sometimes (but not always), or very awkward constructions. Even when the author provides detailed descriptions of characters, my mental image of them remains a vaguely person shaped shadow. I may fix on cover art if it seems to fit because I actually see it rather than needing to imagine it, but I often don't do that, either.

[sarah_prineas]

Depends on the character. I never, ever, ever have a viewpoint character describe him/herself. I will almost always stop reading a book if a viewpoint character describes him/herself. Srsly.

How I do it: dribs and drabs, shown details, other characters' dialogue.

How specific? It depends. I tend to focus on hair color, build, eye color, clothing, a quirky feature.

As a reader, I want a general idea of how a character looks, I hate it when the author gives no clues at all. I think their looks are an important part of their character--frex if a man is big and bulky, he's likely had a different kind of life than a thinner man, and that shapes character.

Good questions! What about you?

[pantryslut]

Dribs and drabs, but I try for very specific dribs and drabs. I focus on whatever elements are appropriate to the character and/or what the viewpoint character would notice.

This is how I do all visual description, really. I provide evocative elements and let the reader fill in the rest with their imagination.

I almost never describe the viewpoint character. Sometimes it's appropriate, though.

[ericaceous]

As a reader, my image of characters tends to be elastic and mutable, and I can usually incorporate whatever description I'm given, whenever it's given.

Annoying descriptions? I don't like big, long 'telling, not showing' style physical descriptions at the beginning of something when there's no narrative reason why we should be scrutinizing a character. However, what bothers me the most is when descriptions are inconsistent. For example, books where in one scene, Our Heroine's hips have "roller coaster curves", they shouldn't be "boyish and slender" in another unless there's a obvious reason why her physique has changed so drastically. I notice inconsistent descriptions (that are from the omniscient narrator's POV, not character perception) surprisingly often.

[jenwrites]

It really depends on how necessary it is to describe the character, and when that description is necessary. I have resorted to the mirror trick, but only when appropriate (like in the Elephant Man story, where Merrick has no idea what his new body looks like until he sees it in a mirror). Other times, I don't bother describing my protagonist at all. And still others, I let it come out in dribs and drabs.

Wow, that's a useless answer, isn't it?