I’m writing this Tuesday morning at the coffeehouse. There’s a lady sitting at the table in front of me who keeps looking at me and smiling like she knows me.
I hope she doesn’t know me because I definitely don’t know her.
She’s blonde. She has her hair back in a ponytail and a Nike baseball cap on top of that. She’s medium build. She has a nice jogging suit and expensive running shoes on.
She looks like about twenty-five other suburban mommies I know. I’m sure I’ve got to look to her like a million other moms she knows…so maybe she doesn’t know me and she just thinks she does.
This is a danger when creating characters, too. Sometimes characters can run together a little bit.
What I don’t usually include:
There are only so many different hair colors. Well, unless you dye your hair….that really opens up the color spectrum. So when describing a character, I might not mention the hair unless they’re losing it or have their roots showing or have something else noteworthy about it. Because, as a reader? I’m just not going to remember later who the blondes, brunettes, or redheads in a book are.
Describing height is also something I don’t spend a lot of time on unless the character is unusually tall or short. It just sounds sorta police line-uppy to me.
I’m also not crazy about paragraphs that are intended to paint a descriptive picture of a character. It just pulls me right out of a book—I feel like I’m seeing the puppet’s strings.
What I do usually include:
I like a couple of interesting details about a character. I don’t need a total rundown on their appearance, but little bits are great—I loved that Harry Potter’s glasses were taped together and that he had a lightening bolt scar. Unusual physical characteristics help tell characters apart.
Learning about characters’ personalities through their actions is fun. Are they calm and collected during emergencies? Do they party too much at parties? Do they keep the secrets our protagonist tells them? Do they over-tip or under-tip a waitress? Are they sloppy in appearance or in their housekeeping? Some characters are reticent and fearful during the mystery. Others are always happily in the middle of the action.
Mannerisms and dialogue are helpful in establishing character identities. Each expresses their own attitudes, insecurities, or confidence when they speak. Sometimes characters can even casually talk to other characters and drop clues as to appearance. “I wish I could eat a plate of onion rings and not gain a pound, Lou.”
As a reader, if I read one character’s perceptions of another character, it does help me remember the character. It’s almost like that character is gossiping to me. Myrtle wished Erma would just back UP. This close-talking was fine and dandy unless you had halitosis. Which Erma definitely suffered from.
The woman here at the coffeehouse is packing her things up and leaving. Maybe she wasn’t sure she knew me either. Good thing neither of us are characters in a book.
Sounds like Staci, the assassin from my book. Blonde hair, pony tail and Nike hat, expensive athletic wear. Age 24. Close enough. Hope it wasn’t her.
Hey, I’m the first commenter. Usually I’m number 30. Great post.
Stephen Tremp
Great post! I’m deep into revisions on my YA novel, and I’m thinking a lot about my characters and how “different” they are. As all ex-teenage girls know, teen friends can be quite similar. It’s a challenge to make them each unique.
I loved writing my mystery! The characters were funny and quirky and, who doesn’t love a murder mystery?
I’ll keep this post in mind as I continue on. Your posts, btw, are some of my favorites. ;-)
PS: Looks like “anon” might be a spam bot. I got a few recently and went back to word ver because of it. SO ANNOYING!!!
Happens to me pretty often – people who look like a million other people give me those looks that say, ‘I think I know you, but I wonder how’.
Though in your case, she could as well have been someone who’s read your books, or follows your blog.
And I totally second you on the writing bit – books that spend too much time describing people tend to sound a little condescending to me.
All right, woman – get out of my head. There’s a VERY interesting character who frequents our Sunday morning Panera outings, and I keep wondering if there was any way to incorporate that into a book. Maybe we should just become blogging buddies!
But I’m with you on ‘sketchy’ physical descriptions, although I’ve been panned by judges who want to “see” the character first and foremost. I refuse (ok, prefer not to) to let the POV character provide his/her own description. Do we think of our own hairstyle, height, etc.? I prefer to wait until another character shows up.
Great post, Elizabeth. One of my WIPs is a survival story w/one character for most of the book. You’ve given me different angles on how I might convey his character. Thanks!
I don’t get definite images of my characters. I mean, I know what they look like, but I don’t find pictures of charactors/actors who look like them because it’s more of an impression than an exact rendering. So I try to give that while writing… something that stands out but not the overhaul. You’re right. It’s too much. And it takes away from what the reader sees.
Elizabeth – I agree with you that physical descriptions of characters can only go so far in letting us really meet them and in making them unique. Each of us, though, has at least something that sets us apart, and those are the things that I think it’s more important to focus on. As you say, it may be a mannerism, an unuusual physical feature or something else, but otherwise, I agree: physical descriptions make characters run together. That’s one thing I love about your Myrtle Clover. You describe her in such a way that I would know her if I met her. But you don’t take a lot of time writing about her physical description.
Well, I was going to say that I don’t usually give my characters too many unusual physical characteristics when I remembered that the protagonist of my stand-up comic series has a very noticeable scar and is missing three fingers. So…
Very interesting! Now I’ve got to go back and read some of my stories to see how I use character description. I don’t think I’ve ever thought about this, mostly I just start writing. lol I do know that I use “differences”, such as he was a bald headed man, etc.
Sometimes you can get tired of a character quickly if too much information is given, especially all at once. A little clue here and there is neat and helpful.
You have me thinking on this one. Two of my characters are suppose to look alike. The rest of the cast probably need some distinctive features that set them apart.
Thanks Elizabeth!
It is difficult not to repeat oneself here: another really useful post!
Could I ask you a little favour: I have written a flash fiction piece for a competition this week, and I would be so happy if you´d read it and tell me what you think.
Hmmm…think I’m guilty of the police lineup but hope that is only in the first draft where I want to develop a look for the person so I can keep on remembering them. That sounds goofy but I have a hard time in the real world remembering different people or where I know them from and I sure do in my book world too. I think I mention height too much and I think I do it because I’m almost six feet tall so it is a reference point for me!
I describe characters in a very similar way; hair colour gets mentioned only when another character notices it. Height is mentioned if it’s odd; I have a character meeting my protagonist for the first time in a cave; he has to duck.
I try to give flashes of description, not the whole painting, since I know when I’m reading I get my own picture of each character, usually regardless of what the author has written!
I need to either slow down or proof before I hit post…sheesh! Anyway, what I wanted to say was….
I’ve become a fan of unusual characteristics: scars, limps, odd turning of a phrase, glasses (not *that* unusual in real life, but for a character it kinda is.) nose a bit too large or bent, that sort of thing. A character in my second book has an eye patch!
Best Wishes Galen.
Imagineering Fiction Blog
I am SOOOO with you on this. When I edit other people’s work and they before getting into the action they have to have a paragraph describing each person, it makes me cringe.
Instead of saying what color hair she has, leave it out or have her place her cloche hat neatly on top of head, easing the wisps of brown hair underneath. It says more.
ann
Ha! Been there! (Though I wish I, too, was writing in a coffeehouse.) Another nice thing about not painting every physical detail: leaving it to the reader’s imagination. You paint with other character’s emotions, and that is great. You place your characters in the context of your story, and therefore we see the important characteristics. And we decide for ourselves what hair color they have (or don’t, I suppose).
BTW, is Myrtle going to get together with that guy next door? hehe
Michele
SouthernCityMysteries
Love this post and also the picture. That man looks so interesting, and his eyes are dancing with mischief. I don’t like involved upfront descriptions either.
I like to sketch in physical details sparingly, then let the characters establish themselves through their actions. That’s my preference, at least. I have no idea what Jake Barnes (the narrator) looks like in The Sun Also Rises, and don’t miss the description at all. On the other hand, the appearance of Dilsey in the last section of The Sound and the Fury is so astonishingly precise that she’s taken on a hyper-reality in my mind. Either way works, but Faulkner’s method is MUCH harder to do, so I’m going with Hemingway, thanks. :)
Once again, a very helpful post, Elizabeth. Not that I’m getting back to my fiction piece any time soon, but one can hope…
Karen
This is so true. I tend to leave out the hair unless I’m using it as a defining characteristic — like someone is bald. Unless the height plays a role in my story, I don’t mention it too much. Love your list of other things! Great post!
Excellent advice, as usual!! Will store this one away for future use.
Stephen–Sounds like a lot of people, doesn’t it? But no, this lady was 40ish, like me. :)
Thanks for being the first commenter!
Rayna–It is sort of condescending, isn’t it? Like the author thinks we can’t come up with a picture of the character, ourselves.
Debra–Now THAT would be hard. Because teen girls WANT to be alike! And thanks for saying nice things about the blog.
And, yes, the anon spam bots are driving me a little crazy! Where did they all come from all of a sudden?
Jan–Oh, well, first drafts! Anything goes there. I put asterisks, notes to myself, character descriptions, etc. right there in the middle of the text to clean up later. :) Another tall girl! Good. I’m not alone. :)
Terry –Ha! I’m your evil twin. :)
I can’t imagine people who WANT long, drawn-out descriptions of characters. It just sounds like a wanted poster description to me, you know?
Paul–Great! Because that would be tough.
Kristen–It is a little much. I love it when authors just use big brush strokes and I get the general idea of what they look like.
Margot–Thanks! I felt the same about Joel Williams, your protagonist. It’s nice to feel like you’d recognize a character if you saw them on the street because you KNOW them…even if their physical appearance might not be listed as much in the book.
Galen–Great list of unusual features! I didn’t think about glasses, but you’re absolutely right. And everyone I know has contacts or had Lasik surgery, so maybe glasses are unusual in real life, too.
Ann–It’s just too obvious, isn’t it? I like your example…much better!
Alan–Around here I’d ask if he used to work at a mill! Did he? Wow…that’s a lot of fingers to lose.
Judy–Differences are always fun, aren’t’ they? Much more fun than the mommies who all merge together that I know. :)
Mason–I think you’re right. I always feel really clever as a reader when I think I’ve discovered something about a character or figured out some connection.
Tamika–It’s hard when you have a good-sized cast of characters. I have a good number of supporting characters in the Memphis books, so I’m really working to keep them distinctive.
Dorte–Thanks! I’ve read your short story…chilling! Great job with it–I commented on your blog.
Simon–I’m not crazy about forcing readers to see characters a particular, physical way. Besides, it’s frustrating to read–I feel like I’ve never really got the picture the author wants me to have.
You know I’ll be the Faulkner fan. :)
Elspeth–I think I’m like you–I’ll frequently have a different picture in my mind of what a character looks like than the actual description the author gives me. Maybe the character reminds me of someone I know and I just superimpose their looks on the character.
Elana–Thanks so much. And thanks for coming by.
I don’t spend a lot of time on descriptions as far as hair, looks, etc. either. Most of my readers will be guys, and trust me, we don’t really care what the men in the book look like!
I’ve gotten better about this, especially as I prefer to use my own imagination when reading a book.
And I see someone familiar that I don’t know several times a day, even in my travels. I sometimes wonder if I’ve met everyone in NC already and just don’t know it yet.
You did a great job in “Pretty Is”. I loved Myrtle, but my second favorite was the french exchange student. I died laughing every time he reacted to the gnomes or the wackiness of the other characters.
You might be on to something about men not being as interested in character description. Me, I want to know soon if character is young, old, hair colour, fat, thin, etc. Not all in one lump, of course, but it drives me crazy if I can’t see what the protagonist sees. You did a great job in your Myrtle Clover book. I could recite to you a brief sketch of all the characters in that book. Must mean they are memorable, as well.
Michele–Coffeehouse writing is great. :) Especially in the weather we’ve been having lately.
Yeah, I haven’t quite decided what to do about Myrtle and her friend. They don’t get along so well sometimes in the next book. :)
Alex–Which brings up an interesting point…wonder if men have an even lower tolerance level for character description?
Carol–Thanks! I like the fellow too. I love the humor in his face.
Karen–You’re right to give yourself a little time. Not the best time for writing right now for you! It’ll wait for you.
Diane–You probably HAVE met everyone in NC! But not me…give me a shout-out next time you’re in C’lotte.
Hmm. Am I the only person that LIKES to know things like hair color? I’m a very visual person, so I like to know how the author perceives their character. I always wish I could see exactly what they saw when they wrote something.
That being said, I’m going to assume I over-describe. Thanks for giving me something new to work on and ponder. :) I’m so glad I stumbled upon your blog from our dear Watery Tart’s.
Part of the fun of reading a good book is visualizing the characters. Sometimes, the less you know about how they look, the easier it is to image them.
Kassy with a K–I’m so glad you stumbled here, too! I love Hart’s blog…great place to hang out.
And, you know, you’re definitely not alone with the wanting to know more details. My editor frequently makes me put more in…so I know she’s looking out for the reader who wants more! :)
Jane–And then, if they make a movie or TV show out of the book, I’m always so disappointed how the characters look! They just never look the way I imagined them…
Carolina–Thanks! :) And hope you feel better soon. No blogging at 2 a.m., okay?
Too bad the lady didn’t lean closer and ask, Do I know you? You could have answered, I don’t know, do you?
Hmm. That was funnier in my head.
Helen
Straight From Hel
Helen–*I* thought it was funny! :)
No, I live in fear these women will come up to me and ask about my children by name and mention whatever PTA project we worked on together, and ask after my husband. They always do and I wonder who the heck they are! My memory has gotten worse and worse.
Lorel–Thanks so much! He was real, actually. :) At least, sort of real–when I was a teenager, my friend had an exchange student at her house each summer. He broke EVERYTHING at their house–their boat, tractor, truck…it was just so funny. I used some of my memories for that character.
Bobbi–Thanks! :) Myrtle is a little different-looking–Einstein hair, extremely tall. Pretty easy to give snippets of.
So far I have a hard time with description of setting and characters. Either it is so spare I get asked for more or I have large chunks of unnecessary descriptions. At some point I’ll get it to the happy medium.
Buying memory cards is such a chore… You have to Google prices, sort through which ones are genuine, around a bunch of stores,compare prices, finally buy your memory, and then constantly pray that the price doesn’t drop in the next two weeks or so.
I’ve been done in by crazy price changes in the past… especially this one time when I bought a Micro SD card for my DS flashcard at what apparently was a steal, only to later see that it had dropped by five bucks in a week’s time.
(Submitted on Nintendo DS running [url=http://quizilla.teennick.com/stories/16129580/does-the-r4-or-r4i-work-with-the-new-ds]R4i[/url] Post4i)