AUTHORS GOTTA WRITE - DESCRIBING YOUR CHARACTER

AUTHORS GOTTA WRITE – DESCRIBING YOUR CHARACTER

I'm always saying that your characters are the life and blood of your story – and as the life and blood of your story, you want to be able to give your readers a good description of your character – a description that will enable your readers to create a perfect picture in their head of your character.

In this post, I'm going to give you guys some helpful (hopefully) tips on how to describe your characters! This post was requested by Lydia C. So, thank you, Lydia C.! I hope this post helps you out! :)

Something you should always remember when describing your characters is this: You already have an idea of what your characters will look like. You already know your character's background, their hair color, their eye color, whether they're skinny or plump, and so on. But your readers have never seen this character before. As far as your readers are concerned, your character is a total stranger. Remember this as you launch into your story.

"Harry Potter was snoring loudly. He had been sitting in a chair beside his bedroom window for the best part of four hours, staring out at the darkening street, and had finally fallen asleep with one side of his face pressed against the cold windowpane, his glasses askew and his mouth wide open. The misty fug his breath had left on the window sparkled in the orange glare of the streetlamp outside, and the artificial light drained his face of all color, so that he looked ghostly beneath his shock of untidy black hair." (J.K. ROWLING, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince")

Your goal as an author is to give your readers an image of your character as soon as possible – within the chapter in which the character is introduced. You don't have to throw all the information at your readers at once: you don't have to say, The girl had short, wavy black hair and blue eyes and a very curvy build all at once. You can say, She had black hair in one paragraph, and she had blue eyes in an entirely different one. Doing this helps build your character without throwing all the information at your readers at the same time.

There's nothing wrong with "throwing all the information at your readers at once", of course; but as far as the flow of your story goes, giving little details spaced out between paragraphs helps move the story along faster.

One of the most common ways I've seen authors describe their character is through reflection: the character wakes up in the morning and looks in the mirror, brushes their short blonde hair, blue eyes blink back at them, etc., etc., and while this is an effective way of describing your character, it is cliche, which is something authors always want to do their best to avoid.

But you can practice describing your character with them standing in front of a mirror. Practicing describing a character helps you yourself as an author, and when you describe your character for real, you'll already be used to the concept of description.

If you use mirrors to describe your character in your book, don't worry about a thing! Use the mirror if you want; whatever works best for you. In the end, as long as your readers have a mental image of what your character looks like, the method in which you used to describe the characters won't really matter.

"The man had the average build of a thirty year old, brown hair, and blue eyes."

Okay, what? Can you guys imagine the character I just (horribly) described? I didn't think so. An average build? How can you get that image in your head? What does the "average build of a thirty year old" look like?

I just gave you an example of what NOT to do when describing your characters. When you describe your character, you want to give your readers a mental image of what the character looks like...and the use of "brown hair" in the example above is very vague. Is it dark brown or light brown? Straight or wavy?

Let's try describing the "man with the average build" again, and this time, I'm going to be a bit more descriptive:

"The man was burly, with tanned skin and toned muscles. His dark almost black brown hair was kept back in a ponytail, and his sapphire blue eyes were challenging, as if looking for trouble."

Does that create a better image?

NOTE 1: It's the little things that count. Sometimes, the smallest details can help your readers imagine these characters all the better. Does the character have freckles? A long nose? Big ears? A pointed chin? A round face? These things can also help you describe your character, if your character has any of those. Maybe your character has a scar; maybe their skin is tanned; maybe their skin is abnormally pale. These little things can do numbers in describing your characters, and they'll help your readers imagine them clearly.

NOTE 2: She had hair the color of... Sometimes, a good thing to do is compare the color of the character's hair/eyes/skin to another object in nature or otherwise. For example: He had short uneven hair the color of wheat and eyes like melted chocolate. This helps your readers imagine characters, because they can get a clear image in their head: "Oh, I know what chocolate looks like!" or "Oh, so their hair is a brownish blond, like wheat." The same goes for the character's skin: Pale as a sheet, brown like burnt toast, tanned like caramel, etc., etc.

NOTE 3: His eyes were like... Eyes are very, very expressive, and mentioning something about your character's eyes – even something small – can give your readers a clearer picture of what your character is like.

You can say, His eyes were like that of a cat waiting to pounce, or Judging by her eyes, she was psychotic. A cat is very focused when they're ready to pounce, eyes wide and catching any small details; a psychotic person has wild, crazy, unpredictable eyes.

NEVER OVERDO THE EYES. Her eyes were mysterious... Honestly, what do "mysterious" eyes look like? Remember: If you can't imagine it, your readers won't be able to imagine it, either.

NOTE 4: Descriptive words. Sometimes, it's hard to find the right word to use to describe your character. Here are some of the most helpful descriptive words I've found to describe your character's body.

Skinny

Curvy

Lanky

Thin

Lean

Burly

Bulky

Intimidating

Short

Tall

Towering

Plump

Round

Athletic

These are some of the best descriptive words you can use when describing your character. There are others, of course, but I've picked out these because these give me myself a good mental image.

If you guys think of anymore descriptive words to describe your character's body build, let me know. :D

IN CONCLUSION: Your characters really are the "life and blood of your story". They are the ones your readers will be following as the adventure that is your story plays out. The characters, to your readers, are the guidelines of a brilliant plot, and your readers are going to want to know as much about the character as they can.

In closing, I'm going to write a description of a character, and in the comments, let me know if I gave you a good mental image of the character. I need the practice, too. XD

"Amelia Jane was considered the vainest girl in the high school. Every morning, she woke up hours earlier than the average person and spent those extra hours in front of her bathroom mirror, straightening her long, wavy black hair and using lots of eyeliner beneath her eyes. Even without the eyeliner, Amelia's eyes were beautiful; the color of the ocean, students at the school were always telling her, and to show off these eyes, she wore a blue t-shirt and a black skirt, which were simple but stunning.

"Amelia spent bonus hours trying to rid her face of the many cocoa-colored freckles that dotted her cheeks, but the freckles were stubborn and refused to be hidden, no matter how much extra blush Amelia used in attempts to blot them out. Her nose was short and curved; she wore her hair down, cascading over her shoulders. The high heels she wore boosted her height, though it didn't need boosting: she was already taller than most of the girls in the school.

"Little did Amelia Jane know, though, that she was beautiful without the makeup, without the stunning outfit, without straightening her hair, without using excessive amounts of eyeliner beneath her eyes and blush on her cheeks. She was beautiful without it all.

"And someday soon, she would come to realize that." #authorsgottawrite

Let me know what you guys think, and I'll see you next post! :D

-Beyond

(Big thanks to Lydia C. for requesting this post! I hope it will help you in describing your characters! :D And if anyone ever has any suggestions, let me know, and I'll do my best to help you guys out! :D You guys are amazing! :D)