How do you describe your character?

Just wondering how everyone creating the mental image of their character in the mind of the readers. Do you give the whole description of the characters in 1-2 page then leave that mental image for the rest of the story and adding more detail later if needed? Or reaveling bit by bit of the characters' appearance through many pages? Or repeating telling them how they look like through out the whole story because you afraid that the readers will forgot how your characters look?

Actually, I very rarely describe my characters at all, but that's just my writing style. What I pretty much do is give a line or two when you first see them with a general idea-sparking description, then sort of leave it alone unless something screams for an insert.

For example, my initial description might look something like this:

"Cassie rounded the corner and stopped short. Mark stood at the end of the hallway, thin and haunted-looking, even from so far away. Carrie tried to back up, hoping he hadn't seen her, but it was too late. He looked up, pegging her with eyes the color of ice."

And that would be all you'd hear about them physically for a while. Then later...

"'Wait!'

Carrie grabbed at Mark's arm. Her hand encircled his wrist, her fingers wrapping back over her hand. She had known he was thin, but this was frightening."

See, just little touches as they come, no big block of description or anything. But then, I write with a really minimal amount of description, so that's just me...

I see, that is a good way to let reader's mind works on their own.

*Moved to Writing Tips*

Anyways, I tend to give a brief description of them, and then may reference a part of their appearance (eg. their hair colour) every now and then, just to jog the reader's memory. If there are any minor details that I didn't feel the need to describe the first time around, I may reference them later, too.

Example:

He had high cheekbones and hollow cheeks that - instead of making him look handsome - combined with his pale skin, thin lips, and dark, deep-set eyes to give him an almost skeletal appearance. He looked like some incarnation of Death, come to fetch Lucy and take her to the afterlife.

And then later, through the eyes of another character:

Waiting to meet them was a lone solider. He stood tall in the sunny weather, but seemed altogether out of place in it. His stern, almost skeletal appearance had no right to exist so painlessly in the sun.

description is tricky, especially if you're writing from a certain character's eyes. What maria might think is "dark and mysterious" juanita might find "some scraggly, skinny creeper"
But I love the idea of playing with perspective; having one character go on and on about the character's good looks and charm...
and then have anther describe the person as a misshapen monkey.
But I always get scolded for purple prose and "telling, not showing."

I've often tried to descibe my character. I know what she looks like, but every time I try to describe her, I tend to go on. Then little critics stand up in my brain and say, "You're getting dangerously close to mary sue. Watch it." So, I try again some time later with the same result. It's funny, but I realized that the less I described her, the better it sounded. Maybe just a "light strand" to describe a piece of her hair, or something. I suppose the reader will find an image of her forming in their mind anyway. So, I guess I try to stay away from describing her features. I have no problem, however, with discribing her over all appearence.

-Kelcia

I generally don't like to give a brief summary of my character's appearance all in one block, but it's not necessarily a bad thing. I tend to integrate the physical aspects of my characters into the story over time. I might mention that my main character has blond hair somewhere and then a few pages later, bring in the eye color when someone notices it. I think the trick with giving a brief summary of appearance though is making sure the reader cares first. There should be some kind of characterization leading the reader to care about the character before a description of character appearance, in my opinion.

For instance, instead of describing an old man and then saying that he has an old pocketwatch strung around his neck, I would mention the old pocket watch and a bit of mannerisms to draw the reader's attention and then describe the character.

It varies person by person, I suppose, but that is how I tend to look at it. Hope that helps! Good luck!

I usually never directly describe my "main" character in a large block but drop little hints here and there of their appearance or have another character describe them. But it usually happens sometime in the beginning of the story so as not halfway through the story you suddenly describe the MC and she/he is completely different then what your reader had imagined.

If my MC meets a particular character who will have a role to play in the novel, I make a show of describing the "important" points of said person. Manners, if there is something off about their eyes, scarred face, eratic clothing, etc. Whatever makes that person stand out to my character, I have to describe.

I know I have a bad habit of going over board on the description part when it comes to horses in the story. Bad habit

But like Writersdomain said above, it all varies from person to person.

I usually just slip in details as I go.