Young Writers Society

((I'm assuming this belongs here as it's "Discussion". If not, mods, please move it to a more suitable place))

This is something I've been thinking about a lot recently.

Do you describe your characters? As in hair color, eye color, etc., out of character profiles?

These days I associate that kind of thing with Mary-Sueism (because they're always attractive), and I leave a lot of it up to the reader's imagination, only dropping subtle hints. Like in Geezer's Property- I've mentioned that Leah has brown hair, but that's all. And in passing. I'm actually trying to figure out what Sherman looks like, lol.

Any opinions?

Honestly, I like to know what a character looks like - which, I suppose, makes the question for me 'how' not 'whether or no'. ^_^

When I write, it depends very much on the character and the style of the piece I'm writing. Describing features with actions or aspect is rather fun. Comparing a character's appearance to surroundings, in colouring or some such thing - also rathe fun. ^_^ It can be a game - what you one can make painfully obvious without being obvious.

Er...an example maybe, as the above looks bloody vague:

Vetren'iy draft/sketch wrote:The slight youth at his elbow brushed a dusty sleeve across his face, smudging pale cheeks the shade of his hair. But the motion covered the flicker in his eyes: keen interest and a sardonic eddy of humour.

...not brilliant, but to the point, yes? ^_^

Description is lovely when not written with maudlin thoughtlessness or garish worship of the subject character's good looks. ^_^


IMP

Yes, yes I do. I've always been a descriptive writer, hell, I started out as one. I find that you don't need to Mary-Sue-it, that there are other ways of describing your character physically, as well as their personality.

For example, from my newest Fool's Duel entry:

1. The boy scrunched his dark, chubby fingers around one yellow arm-sleeve of Yvette’s dress, like the circular, dark smudges dotting the centers of the yellow daises in Mistress Higgins’s solarium.

2. Yvette grinned, widely, and the gesture split her freckled face, dimples appearing. Sebastian felt a surge of pleasure within him, smiles were a rare thing these days, if Yvette was smiling, then, maybe, just maybe, things would not be so terrible. Her eyes, the same shade as sea-kelp sparkled bright, in accordance with her smile.

This is from Guttersnipe.

1. She was a thin young woman, waiflike, as if malnourishment had stunted her growth. Her hair, an intense shade of burnished copper, was cut to frame her face; her eyes were a deep coffee brown, the same shade as her coat.


Ta,
Cal.

It really depends on the character. I often give the reader a vague sense of my character's appearance (unless something about the character's appearance is significant in which case I emphasize it), but I don't like pounding it into the reader's head with long paragraphs of description. Often times I think of my characters in colors, so knowing what they look like is important to me.

When I write, I think in freeze frames meaning I visualize an exact frozen scene and pick and choose what to describe. Thus character's appearances come naturally to me, and, if they don't, I just create some appearance that seems to fit the character. I sometimes like leaving the reader in the dark with appearances, but with most of the things I write, I have some kind of appearance description.

My favorite character description (from Flames):

The third Svarë stood with contrived confidence, staring at the stake where he was to burn. He looked so calm, yet so frightened, so accepting and yet so shaken, as if every moment was a hard-won fight to keep the terror from his gaze. Black hair hung in tangled tufts around his face, arms bound tightly behind his straight back. His dark eyes glowed with an unheeded emotion and a resolve about his fate, and he winced sharply as the man behind him elbowed him hard in the back.

As for describing personality, no. If a narrator has to come out and say 'Sally is shy and has a funny personality', the writer probably has some problems with characterization. Sometimes other characters will talk about one character's personality, but I don't think the narrator should come out and say things like that normally.

I always descirbe my characters, but sometimes its apparently annoyingly specific. Is that bad? I mean when I'm first introducing my characters in a situation I descirbe EVERYTHING about them, what they're wearing, how they have their hair, how they're positioned, and what the pov thinks of them. Is that too specific?

Ah...I do for some characters, but it's spread out all over the place- you might learn one thing one place, or something another, but it all depends on the POV. If the invisible narrator dude is following Upton about, they're going to pay a lot more attention to detail than someone like Luke, who just doesn't care.

I find that character description isn't the greatest thing- it's sort of like how horror books are often scarier than the movies. Your mind fills in the missing details with the things that are the most repulsive to it...

For example, I don't describe David (who is an absolute god) a whole lot, because my idea of hopelessly gorgeous may be totally different for you. Rather than saying "wavy dark hair, dark eyes, refined features" or something possibly more cheesy, it's better if you think of him as hot in your own way. ^_~

author13: I wouldn't recommend doing that, since it's sort of an infodump. Infodumps, even if they're full of yummy character stuff, generally aren't a good idea.

I only really describe my characters if it's essential to the plot somehow. I'll give a vague idea of what they look like, but I like my readers to have their own idea of how they look. I, of course, know exactly how my characters look, but more often than not, I won't tell the reader exactly WHAT that is. The ironic part is that I am a VERY descriptive writer, in all other things, at least. I guess it just goes to show that I AM capable of restraining myself.

Hahaha... of course. Sometimes you can bring personality to the character through description.

So...

He was standing at the top of the staircase, wearing a fine suit, both of his elbows hanging lazily off the railing. He twirled a gold wristwatch around his fingers, more out of habit than out of concern. The freak stared at a freshly cut carnation in his pocket. It was red.

That describes Claude.

Now, it's not about his hair color or anything, but it shows what kind of man he is, just by a simple description.

I do it but I take my time. Usually my main character is desribed by the end of the 1st chapter. Sometimes I like to string it out.

Helps me stop from telling and info dumping.

I tend to describe them, but I take my own sweet time with it so it doesn't end up a really boring 3-paragraph thing, but instead a sentence here and there.

I usually scatter bits and bobs of descriptions all over the place, there they need to be mentioned, rather than for the sake of it. That's if I remember, when I was younger I used to load on the description with a spade, but then I was told it was too much, and swung the other way, so now I'm not sure if I'm telling enough about what they look like XD

When I do describe, it can be tricky as I don't always have a fixed image of what my characters look like, they can change quite frequently, so I don't like to go into too much detail because of it.

I think description is essential. A reader needs the visual image.

Of the characters or the surroundings, kitty?

In agreement with much of the above- writing about characters' looks is fun. I find it fun, but I keep it from my work in spite of this.

It's like Sam. I've mentioned that Sherman is out of shape...heh heh....but everybody's idea of "out of shape" is different. So is everybody's idea of the color brown or auburn. And going into details about the exact shade of brown and his weight- psssssssssssh. That would be sentimental nonsense, in my opinion.

Pretty neutral, but it lets the story continue naturally. ^^

Sam makes rather a good point on the sucbjective side of things. ^_^ If one is judging a character to be one thing, one type, rather than simply tossing in a hint or sentence about his visible appearance, one might, ah, have disagreements with the reader. Good idea to keep it somewhat vague then.

But the scattering things is always a good way as well. To let an appearance grow with a story is often best for the narrative and pace; character development aside.







IMP

Yes, I do, but I don't use a block paragraph to do it. I get the basic shell of their appearance, and just mention details in passing, so that their appearance sort of builds up and becomes more solid and real as you get to know the character better, the further you move through the story.