I'm having trouble with my character descriptions.. a friend told me they could help me here. Just describe your perfect guy/girl.. you'd be a real help. Thank You! Bella
In what context do you want the character described. It really all depends on the view point character. If it's a girl crushing on a guy the description will probably be overly detailed. While a normal guy noticing another guy would probably notice only the bare facts. Eye color, hair and that's about it. Unless the character is attracted to the other character is attracted to the other there should be minimal detail.
So first you mu7st figure out who the view point character is, then decided that persons relationship to the person their describing.
If they are describing themselves, then it would be wise to be subtle. Some people see themselves as beautiful and perfect, so it is a possibility but this should be used seldom. Most people however don't see themselves as beautiful or ugly. They see their flaws and deal with them. For instance a slightly disproportionate nose or wide forehead. Have a imperfection like this. The number one rule is to never describe them as plain. No one is plain. It's been used too many times and it generally isn't used correctly.
If you pm me with the view point character and who their describing I can help you further.
This is one little planet in one tiny solar system in a galaxy that’s barely out of its diapers. I’m old, Dean. Very old. So I invite you to contemplate how insignificant I find you.
Characters are always the easiest thing for me. If your trying to make a love story I think its cutest when a really good girl who works hard at school, gets good grades, and never gets in trouble falls for a bad boy. A boy who everyone thinks is got problems but at the same time most want to be his friend. Rumors are always started about him such as past family problems like abusive father or alcoholic mother and then when him and the girl start to fall in love she gets the real story about him and also realizes just because people are thinking hes a bad, hes really noy.
Characters should have different characteristics...
Example, a writer is usually known as smart, boring, and simple. A musician would look like a cool guy, a bit of a bad boy. Or a best friend could be very fashionable, pretty etc. A bully could look pretty, but add some ugliness, such as freckles or stuff.
Don't be afraid to experiment with your characters. Just observe for the general characteristics of people, then add a little twist to it.
*I'm not really good at descriptions but try this: don't describe their characteristics at once. Let the readers discover their other characteristics.
Sometimes B sharp, Never B flat, Always B natural.
I love writing songs and listening to music and books and daydreaming and coffee at five in the morning.
The perfect character in a novel is the character who is not at all perfect. What I mean is that you shouldn't strive to have perfect characters in your story. Perfect characters are your typical Mary Lou or Jim Bob who always do the right thing and have blinding smiles. They are, in essence, cliche. Readers find it hard to root for these characters and some won't even bother to read about them. I personally believe that the best characters in a story are the characters that we can relate to and/or understand .Make sure your character has hardships but don't overdo it and flood them in misery. At the same time make sure your characters have a sense of hope. Or rather, if they feel hopeless, give us readers the feeling that there is hope so that we may root for them. Hope this helped!
Valteria wrote:The perfect character in a novel is the character who is not at all perfect.
Well said. Valteria is absolutely right. No one wants to read about a 'perfect' character. Give them flaws, hopes, dreams, temptations, quirks, habits. This way, the reader will be able to relate to them more.
-Moo
“Poetry is old, ancient, goes back far. It is among the oldest of living things. So old it is that no man knows how and why the first poems came.”
rofl. No one wants to read about a perfect character? True enough, I suppose, but don't go the absolute opposite just to please people. No one wants to read about a character that mopes around and doesn't think she's/he's good enough for anyone, either.
To be honest, I'd rather read about a blonde, slim, slightly-popular cheerleader vampire slayer like Buffy, than a pale, withdrawn, silent and mopey vampire dater like Bella. No insults or offence intended.
You don't want someone so perfect that their smile blinds people, but you don't want someone so damaged that they slit their wrists in the girls' bathroom. Saying that, Carrie, from the novel by Stephen King of the same name, was about a dysfunctional girl, widely unpopular who was later declared insane. And that story ranks as a novel you wish you hadn't read, at the same time as being glad you read it because it was so chilling.
Another fantastic example of a character that's lowly in the eyes of the public, but you end up feeling for the character, is another one of Stephen King's. He is a professional surgeon who is also a drug mule. He gets stranded on an island by himself with a whole heap of drugs. There is no food. So he begins to cut bits of himself off to eat. This is all documented by him in his diary. The story ends with a few delirious sentences.
