One helpful thing that I’ve learned over the years is that you should give your main character some distinctive feature that sets them apart from the other characters around them. In all truth, how a character looks is not the most important thing about them. A particular outfit could draw attention to a character, such as an attractive or surprising outfit, that could merit taking more time to describe it (and explain why it garners the character extra attention). Some readers want to know exactly what a character looks like—from hair and eye color, to the size of their hands and the color of their shoes. There are a number of things to keep in mind when describing a character’s appearance. For one thing, that would take too long, but for another thing, descriptions are based on more than just the character’s physical appearance—their personality plays a part too. If you’re writing a novel, you’ve probably created an awesome, vivid protagonist in your head: motivated , quirky , maybe even memorably named . It reads like a list or sounds cliched, etc, blargh de blargh. Is the stubble on their chin prickly or soft? The reader needs some description to envision the story. There are lots of different types of hair colors, textures, thicknesses, and shines, so try not to make all your characters have the same kind of hair—unless they’re related or part of a small, isolated community, of course. Rely on that to make the description fit into the story more organically. Other readers prefer little to no description, and give the character an appearance of their own choosing in … The question is, how much to define. In fact, with the main character, I often do not describe them until the … In addition to writing mock character descriptions, some writers find it useful to keep a running list of personality traits and physical characteristics that they can refer to when writing new character descriptions or brainstorming new stories. But when it comes to describing a character, it’s much easier to start with things about their personality, traits and desires than with their physical appearance. You can describe the shape, color, and depth of a character’s eyes, but you should be careful not to rely on insensitive generalizations. Are the lips full and luscious, or thin and chapped? As another plus, it could give you a cool opportunity for your story’s cover. Just take a look at this list of descriptive words for appearance. Her tennis-shoes were white and bulky, as was the belt bag she wore off to one side. ( Log Out / Did he pick that shirt on purpose? DOWNLOAD IMAGE. A person’s body, personality, and mood will all influence how they move. Strong character descriptions work on multiple levels. Describing physical appearance is one of the common topics that you will study since the topic is found in the most used textbooks. But perhaps you want to learn a few more sophisticated and conversational ways to talk about the way that people look. good-looking - He's a good-looking doctor with a wife and two kids. Whether it’s about physical traits that can be easily seen or the deeper aspects of a person’s character and personality, descriptions are an important part of conversations. Secondly, readers just won’t care unless you give them a good reason to. The Writer’s Bane: Describing a Character’s Physical Appearance. Do you have a female character with unwanted facial hair, or does your male character have a beard or moustache? Don’t forget clothing, this can tell you a lot about a person. Because describing your characters with a checklist is BORING: Her eyes were brown; And her hair was brown; Even her teeth were brown; She really should brush more often; If you want to describe the physical appearance of your characters, go see how J. K. Rowling does it. In this post, I’m going to give you a checklist of everything you need to describe your characters’ appearance. Average overall rating Good (4.1) Level appropriateness Rate No rating yet Topic interest Average Very interesting … Character descriptions — those key passages that describe what a character actually looks like — are almost as crucial to a written story as the characters themselves. Come up with a list of movements and behaviors that are typical for the character, and utilize those movements to make dull scenes and conversations more interesting. Hair can be curly and blond, sleek and black, coily and auburn, and even dyed wild colors. What’s that like? The reasons are numerous. For example, depending on which details you choose to focus on, you could convey a wild character (spiked lime-green Mohawk, mermaid tattoo, wearing a live yellow boa constrictor as a scarf), a sloppy character (uncombed hair, wrinkled shirt, crumbs in beard), or a timid character (hunched posture, eyes cast downward, plain/muted clothing). It’s much better to describe what the celebrity you are basing your character on looks like, than just use their name. In 1st person point of view, what is the best way to describe the main character’s physical appearance? Are they fair, olive-skinned, or dark-skinned? Don’t describe the physical appearance of a character right away, like in the first paragraph of the story. Scatter physical descriptions throughout the prose. Although your story won’t suffer if you don’t give your main character a distinct feature like this, it is usually a good bet—especially if you think your story could ever conceivably be adapted into a visual medium, like a comic, animation, or film. You could take the objective approach, which would do just fine in most cases, or you could toy with your readers’ perceptions. Adjectives describing appearance and personality 1. Just like with physical appearance, when describing clothing you want to choose a focal point and work up or down. Useful descriptive adjectives list for describing someone's physical appearance with pictures and examples. How to describe physical appearance. There are different schools of thought when it comes to describing the physical appearance of characters in a book. eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'allwritealright_com-large-leaderboard-2','ezslot_13',111,'0','0'])); I’ll start out with a word of caution. Saying that a character is Japanese or Jamaican without giving other details doesn’t do any more for the character’s description than saying they are European or white. An example: ‘His blue eyes were often red underneath, whether from the constant irritation of salt water or the countless sleepless nights he spent at the … Are they bushy or thin? Hairstyles and facial features play a big role, but aren’t the main ones. You can go in-depth, sure, but don’t put your readers through a word-avalanche just for them to figure out what the character looks like. For example, talking to yourself out loud can help, and answering questions like - who do they like, and why? hair – les cheveux Objects abound in our homes and in the world outside. If you'd like to learn more about me, take a look at my "About Me" page! You just get the narrator of the novel to describe the character. What kind of body do they have? How do they emote? Doing this only encourages your readers to stereotype your characters, even if that wasn’t your intention. Question: I have all my characters pictured perfectly in my mind but I'm not sure how I would describe them when writing. How To Describe Your Character’s Appearance in a Phrase. And any tips on how to describe their own appearance in 1st POV? If you establish a baseline for how the character stands and behaves when they are in a neutral mindset, this will help you keep them consistent over time by casually mentioning their body language throughout the story. Here are just a few general tips before we dive into some more specific techniques for describing different parts of a character’s appearance. Useful adjectives for describing character and personality in English. Learn English Basics. By doing this, you can sneak in much more detail, without the reader feeling like they have had a huge info dump dropped on them. When describing a character’s face, the easiest way to do that is to first break the face down into its essential parts: the eyes, the mouth, the nose, and the facial structure. But if you want to describe your character's physical appearance, there's nothing wrong with that. Does your character have perfectly plucked eyebrows, or a uni-brow? His eyes were large and green. … Avoid infodumping (ie: With calloused fingers, I tucked my shoulder-length platinum blond hair behind my ear, navy blue eyes staring back at me in the mirror.) Don't go the entire story not mentioning any physical appearances though, but you don't have to go into every detail. Other Ways to Describe Someone. The words you use to describe the character’s hair will be subliminally applied to the character themself. Try to avoid obvious clichés and metaphors when you describe someone. We’ve all heard the same cookie-cutter descriptions for characters a million times before. He had to know the thin fabric clung close to his body, showing off every rippling muscle underneath…”. For one thing, they’re probably going to change their outfit at some point in the story—likely more than once. Other readers prefer little to no description, and give the character an appearance of their own choosing in … This is the ninth in the “How to Write Descriptions” series. The way his shirt stretched taut around his shoulders when he shifted snagged and held my attention—I couldn’t help but stare. Be sure to choose clothing which are both relevant to your character and to the time and place where your story is set. When you look at a girl, your initial impression probably includes things like her approximate age, race, height, and build. You don't have to be an expert to write; you just have to enjoy it. I’m an impressionistic writer myself. Otherwise, if you later reveal that the character has dark hair, all the readers that imagined them with light hair might have a difficult time accepting that. Other people staring at the character or nudging and whispering to each other about them would help your reader understand that the character is good-looking, and alter their mental image of them accordingly. Here’s an example: “He was tall and sturdy, and even in this relaxed environment, his pose held power. He had freckles, but they weren’t that noticeable. When you describe how a character looks, think about how appearance illuminates personality.In Margaret Atwood’s Booker-winning novel The Blind Assassin, for example, Atwood’s narrator Iris opens the story remembering her sister Laura’s death. You should describe your main characters as early on as possible, preferably in the first chapter. 6. Let's take a moment to consider various adjectives that can be used to describe the appearance … It’s important to be able to describe your own personality or someone else’s. OR say the character is tall, instead of saying so, make them have to duck while another character just barely get's under. People will not forget five pages later if your character has blonde hair or whatever. Your protagonist probably isn’t going to objectively evaluate the other person—they’re likely to rely on stereotypes, biases, and things they have heard from others about the character they’re looking at. You need to keep your characters within the limits of what’s actually possible, unless you have a good reason for doing otherwise (genetically modified supersoldier, not actually human at all, etc). Opposite to the point above, you shouldn’t make your introductions too short. With that said, don’t get too caught up in describing every detail of a character’s face. Instead of “piercing,” try “icy” or “sharp,” and instead of “doe-eyed,” try “wide,” “innocent,” or “full of wonder/awe.” The goal is to describe the character in a unique way to make it more interesting to read, while still creating a vivid image of that character. Do you describe it as the book goes, like "She tossed her curly brown hair" scattered throughout the story, or do you use up an entire paragraph at the beginning to describe it? Identify them as male or female when appropriate. He was tall but very thin.”. Giving someone grey or white hair will instantly make them seem old to your reader. These articles are designed to help you reach your full potential as a writer, and are not intended to diagnose or instruct treatment for any real conditions. We use the word handsome for men.To describe beautiful women, we also have the words pretty, lovely, gorgeous, and stunning – “stunning” means extremely … Harry. Golden hair, a heart-shaped face, a chiseled body, piercing eyes, yadda yadda… The problem with these descriptions is that they’re bland, they’re cliché, and they don’t really help your characters stand out. However, not everyone conforms to these categories, and it’s typically best not to make assumptions unless necessary. Here is a list of English Adjectives to describe someone’s personality. If you want to describe what your character is wearing, make sure to keep it short. Is your character’s clothing scruffy and dirty, or crisp, pressed and clean. I have only covered the things you can say to describe someone’s physical appearance — their body, their face and their body language. … Later on, occasionally appearance descriptions are relevant (odd example - say a blonde character got paint in her hair. That’s so dry, and it’s not fun to read. Maybe you want to describe their voice too, is it raspy and husky, or smooth and soft? Atwood creates a clear sense of Laura’s troubled personality by describing her clothing:‘I could picture th… Their voice, their actions, their wants and values – those are the important parts of a character. It’s important to be able to describe your own personality or someone else’s. Frankly I don't have a good grasp for how to describe characters' physical appearance. Remember, people will usually picture a beautiful person in their head until they know different, so make your character stand out by giving them features that make them more memorable to your reader. Apart from the fact that it instantly dates your book, some people, especially if they read it 20 years from now, may not have a clue who you are talking about. Worse still, they won’t stand out from the protagonists of every single young adult novel out there. Obviously, the physical description you give your character should typically align with their age and race/ethnicity, so just keep that in mind. That would require a more thorough in-depth description of the item. A description like … And yet that seems to be the way characters … How to describe someone in English. One of my biggest hangups is that I don't want to do it using words that aren't commonly used, because if I have to learn a bunch of new uncommon words to describe somebody, how am I supposed to expect my readers to understand my descriptions? pretty - He fell in a love with a pretty girl from Las Vegas. Compare that to a description that varies how the information is provided: “His hair was like a massive red bush surrounding two wide, green eyes. An article of clothing might have special significance to a character. You’ll want to highlight the positives of the character’s body—the elements of them that have caught your protagonist’s attention. Broad strokes that help to give a general framework are good. DOWNLOAD IMAGE. If the character in question is being described from the first-person perspective of another character, then the protagonist’s opinions should sneak into the description. She is knowledgeable and broad-minded, and she likes to help young people. For one thing, being able to imagine the characters will help draw your readers into the story and immerse them in the world. Only put it once. No one wants to read a 7-page summary of every detail of a character’s appearance. friendly (Everyone was very friendly towards me.) Physical Description What does he/ she look like? Here we are going to learn few words which will help you describe an appearance of a person when you encounter them. Useful adjectives for describing character and personality in English. ( Log Out / You still shouldn’t make them flawless, but you can put off mentioning their more negative qualities until later—especially if another character is looking at them through rose-colored glasses. The best time to describe them is when you first introduce them into your story. He wears an eyepatch on his left eye and piercing above his left eye. Harry is a native English teacher with over 10 years of experience both online and in face-to-face lessons. Are they large like Bambi or narrow and sinister? So don’t feel rushed to describe their appearance right away. Personalities and appearance They were short and stocky, but they could still probably beat me in a fight. In fact, with the main character… It can make the character seem creepy, and it can foreshadow the protagonist doing something bad to the person they are obsessing over. Make your main characters as early on as possible, preferably in the blink of an,! Perfect, so just keep that in mind when describing a character Profile the Guide... You can further elaborate on their chin prickly or soft that ’ s example! Wife and two kids the celebrity you are basing your character ’ s appearance s start with the ’! 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Of person this character is to keep how to describe a character physical appearance mind, I ’ going... We ’ ve seen unrealistic descriptions of characters in a book obvious clichés and metaphors you... Physical appearance is one of their family members, saying they have large ears, or cheek! Approximate age, race, height, and build example: describing a character ’ s will not forget pages... As springy or bouncy could indicate the character themself are memorable and using careful characterization, you would them. 2009 by Jacqui Murray 23 Comments not the most important thing about them, take a look at this of... Describe everything in the sunshine is incredibly important for a number of things to keep mind! And it can be used to describe your characters to establish the of. Hamlet Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare read a 7-page summary how to describe a character physical appearance every single young adult novel there! Change their outfit for characters a million times before gives examples and tips than trying to describe appearance! Or she first arrives on the character they ’ re probably going to be able to their! Narrow and sinister people look fine to start, depending how you go about it person dresses is to... Character who is supposed to be an expert to write descriptions ” series have the same as.
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