z

Young Writers Society


Any tips on writing descriptions of people?



User avatar
37 Reviews



Gender: Female
Points: 1900
Reviews: 37
Thu Dec 24, 2015 6:09 am
View Likes
mmbmio says...



I'm writing my story and was wondering if any of you great writers have any tips on forming a picture in someones mind :D
Fantasy worlds are the best
  





User avatar
119 Reviews



Gender: Female
Points: 4497
Reviews: 119
Thu Dec 24, 2015 6:24 am
View Likes
InfiniteRectangles says...



One thing you should keep in mind when creating a character is to not simply create a character. As the brilliant Hemingway once said "Characters are caricatures". Make your person as human as possible. It's little things that help readers identify with your character. Make them have to take a potty break, or have a craving for pizza, or make them have an awkward encounter. If you try to make your character "perfect" it makes it hard for the reader to identify with them.

Another thing you should keep in mind is try to paint as vivid an image of your person as possible without being monotonous. Don't just list physical characteristics (He had green eyes, dark hair, wide shoulders, blah blah blah.) It gets boring. You don't have to reveal everything about your character at once. You can do it periodically throughout the story whenever the plot allows for it.

Hope I was of some help to you! :D
"We are, as a species, addicted to story. Even when the body goes to sleep, the mind stays up all night, telling itself stories" ~Jonathan Gottschall
  





User avatar
31 Reviews



Gender: None specified
Points: 885
Reviews: 31
Thu Dec 24, 2015 6:27 am
View Likes
FallenAngel97 says...



http://www.writinggooder.com/2015/05/we ... character/ This might help! ^-^
My heart grows cold
My spirit grows weak
I'm losing my faith
I'm losing my grip...
  





User avatar
396 Reviews



Gender: Female
Points: 27
Reviews: 396
Thu Dec 24, 2015 8:43 am
View Likes
Pompadour says...



One tip on describing character appearances (because you've specifically mentioned creating a picture in people's minds): Your reader does not need to know every single detail of their appearance and apparel. That said, it's perfectly fine to skip over things like eye colour and exact height in feet and inches; choose, instead, to mention details that your reader will remember, like prominent or interesting facial features. It's also cool if you mention that a character has fair hair and is lanky, with pale skin, because instead of bluntly putting forward information like: 'She had blonde hair that curled at the nape of her neck and was very tall, almost six feet in height; she wore clothes such&such, etc.', you are giving your reader the freedom to imagine your character as they will. Basically, don't info-dump. Be picky with your straightforward, hard description. Pay a bit more attention to expressions, actions, and characters' interacting with their surroundings/themselves.

Also, spread your description out. You can paint a clear picture in your reader's mind by subtly weaving action and detail together, in ways that the description does not require its own paragraph and contributes to moving the story forward. Description is like sugar in tea: you can't let it settle at the bottom of the cup--you have to stir it in to be able to taste it. So if a character is angry, have it show, in the twitch of a lip, in the furrowing of eyebrows, in a raisin-y face wrinkling up even more to express distaste. There are really subtle ways of dropping description into writing, things that are interspersed as flecks in-between dollops of action and characterisation.

Like all tools of writing, description cannot stand on its own. It has to work together with all the other elements to produce something of worth.
How to format poetry on YWS

this sky where we live is no place to lose your wings
  





User avatar
1220 Reviews



Gender: None specified
Points: 72525
Reviews: 1220
Sat Dec 26, 2015 2:47 pm
View Likes
Kale says...



Ultimately what it comes down to is that characters in writing are more memorable for the things they do rather than their supposed physical appearances. Even people who claim to prefer detailed physical descriptions of characters because it helps them visualize better have a hard time remembering those specific details, and having physical descriptions is no guarantee that the readers will remember them.

I remember back when The Hunger Games came out as a movie, there was a furor about Rue being cast as black even though the book explicitly described her as being such.

And so I second Pomp in recommending you focus more on describing actions and reactions, tying the descriptions to the actions and spreading it out.
Secretly a Kyllorac, sometimes a Murtle.
There are no chickens in Hyrule.
Princessence: A LMS Project
WRFF | KotGR
  





User avatar
58 Reviews



Gender: Female
Points: 12
Reviews: 58
Mon Jul 18, 2016 1:03 pm
View Likes
JuliasSneezer says...



Good day, Marlowbaines!

I think that what would help is if you PM me your own written description how you would describe them in your story (poem, whatever you may be writing), and I could perhaps give you a couple pointers to help out! :mrgreen:

-Cupcakes
"When in doubt, improvise!"
-Winny the woodpecker
  





User avatar
560 Reviews



Gender: None specified
Points: 30438
Reviews: 560
Tue Jul 19, 2016 11:17 am
View Likes
Tenyo says...



The great thing about humans is they all have imaginations (even if they think they don't.) So, you only have to give them the slightest details and they'll formulate a picture of their own in their minds. These details can be to do with their appearance, or personality or habits, anything of the likes. Personally I love this. I really like the idea that a hundred different people can have a hundred different ideas of what a character looks like in their heads. It also means that when you describe a character as 'beautiful' or 'sinister-looking', your reader can fit that description to the ideas of beauty or sinistery they have in their own heads, rather than struggling to understand or compromise to yours.

If you want to help them along you can mention some unique traits, such as a distinctive scar or particularly long hair. These are things that can give hints to a characters background, habits or culture and create depth of character in a very simple and superficial way.

That's the easy part. The hard part is remembering to include the necessary details. One of the worst things about descriptions is when your reader has to readjust the appearance of their favorite character half way through the book. This is where early descriptions become a important.

For example, if at some point your character needs to fit through a small gap, you should probably mention early on that they're short or slight of build, otherwise your reader might suddenly find that their perception of this tall, ogre-like character that they've grown fond of and they must now question and rewrite everything they ever believed in (okay I'm exaggerating, but you get it.) At the same time, you probably don't need to mention eye-color, hair, or skin color, if it never really becomes of significance.
We were born to be amazing.
  





User avatar



Gender: Female
Points: 173
Reviews: 4
Sat Sep 03, 2016 4:39 am
View Likes
gracevan says...



Something that I try to do is notice the little things that my family and friends do, whether they play with the ends of their hair or lick their lips when they lie, etc. Attributing little ticks and habits like this to your characters makes them more believable.

"Amber counted down from three, and she smiled as she pressed the button, as if she was in the photo and not taking it"

It's even better when you can explain why they do this. for example:

"At restaurants, my mother always asked the server for her order, remembering her days as a waitress and the many snobby customers who demanded their meals"

Hopefully this helps!
  








'Tis the season to shovel enormous amounts of watermelon into your mouth while hunched over the cutting board like a dehydrated vampire that hasn't fed on blood in four hundred years and the only viable substitute is this questionable Christmas-colored fruit.
— Ari11