Fleshing out characters

[Djmac1031]

How deeply do you flesh out your characters? How deep do you dive into the exact details of how they look, what they wear, their age, shape, size etc?

For me it depends. In my stories that have become series, I tend to add much more details to the characters as it progress.

For ones I know will be one shot, short stories, I tend to add less.

I also like leaving some things up to the reader; let them full in the blanks and create their own personal version of the characters in their heads.

I feel this let's a reader put themselves into the story, or visualize someone they fancy as one of the characters.

I don't leave the descriptions completely blank, of course, because how boring would that be?

Also, some characters I see far more clearly in my head than others. The ones I see better get described in more detail, obviously.

Lastly, it's hard coming up with unique looking, individual characters every time.

Since I don't want a character in one story to look too much like another I wrote, sometimes it's easier to take the "less is more" approach and just give a general description as opposed to a highly detailed one and again, let the reader fill in the blanks.

Been on a bit of a writing hiatus; good to be back.

 

[KeithD]

Not far. To the extent possible, I let the reader form an image. And I don't do an extensive character chart on them--just a name--before writing them up. That begs trying to include traits that don't serve the story in any way just because you established them.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

I try not to bother too much with physical description and focus on his character instead. Definitely build up the character slowly in a longer story. Making a big information dump at the start, when readers didn't form any attachment to the character yet, is quite bad in my opinion. Give some initial info, and let readers deduce his character from his actions and only later you can flesh out the character some more, when readers form an attachment and have interest for learning more.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I'll flesh out characters as I go along, so the depth of their characterisation is usually proportional to the length of the story.

One of my favourites, though, is a 750 Word story, where I think I managed to paint a vivid picture in not many words. I then expanded the story, short chapters initially, to see how many readers I could bring along.

A Girl on the Bus

 

[NotWise]

How deeply do you flesh out your characters? How deep do you dive into the exact details of how they look, what they wear, their age, shape, size etc?

That's not even what I think of as characterization. I usually give hints at their appearance, but I've gone into detail when I felt like it. I'll describe what they wear if it plays a part in a scene, and shape and size if it's necessary for some reason. I usually make their age known without giving a number.

For simple characterization I describe how they move, how they speak, how they react in common situations, and I add details of their appearance if it seems to help. For more, I go to what they think and feel, what they want, how they approach life, and so on.

 

[Euphony]

How deeply do you flesh out your characters? How deep do you dive into the exact details of how they look, what they wear, their age, shape, size etc?

Character arcs set the parameters, not any expectation. If the way the person looks is critical to their story arc, then those aspects are detailed (short man w/self esteem issues b/c of, woman with body dysmorphia, etc.) Occasionally Ill do a build a fetish character piece but I know it's to spec and I (usually) accept they'll be less interesting or I test myself to write the stereotype (for the audience) and write a full individual (for myself)

I also like leaving some things up to the reader; let them full in the blanks and create their own personal version of the characters in their heads.

Totally understand this but I will mention there will almost always be some way you run afoul of someone intent on seeing their own wants in your story if you write even a mostly two dimensional cutout.
Totally acceptable but personally my interest in writing a character's story is that they have an interesting story. And those people are complicated and not easily imagined by the general reader (as they haven't devoted hours into the thinking about them as I have)

As with everything, there's a spectrum. The details dump and cliché genre standard are on one end. The blank robot ready for reader bolt ons the other. Where between those you are most enriched is where you should write to.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Along the lines of ‘tall, slender, brown eyes, short dark hair’ is as far as I normally go and sometimes that takes a while. If there’s a reason, then sure.

 

[SamScribble]

I try to tell the reader everything they need to know when they need to know it. And if I don't think they need to know it, I don't tell them. Of course, what they imagine for themselves is up to them.

 

[AWhoopsieDaisy]

I'm more interested in what their hobbies are, their occupation, sense of humor and taste in music are.

 

[lovecraft68]

Depends on the story. A lot of my milf stuff is admittedly playing to the male gaze, so I give more description to the woman's body than I normally would but because the story is from the POV of a 20 year old guy and they aren't thinking about personality at that age.

In other stories I don't go into a 'menu' because the story isn't as 'porno'.

One trick I like to use is describing my MC from the POV of another character-in my first horror novel the MC is described by a gang banger who dies at the end of the scene so her appearance is defined early for the reader without needing to address it from her own eye or narrative.

 

[SimonDoom]

Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. It depends on the story.

I think visually, and I put stories together visually, so visually imagining and to some degree describing a character often works for me. I try not to overdo it but I often describe in at least general terms things like hair color, eye color, body shape. I write what turns me on.

 

[TheRedChamber]

I'd argue that when writing (at least in my process) that there is character that is fixed by plot and then another layer of character that is more free.

That is, if I'm writing a story about a thirty-year old virgin, then she's going to need to have a bundle of traits that mean she's reached thirty without having sex. There's a certain amount of choice about what you go for here (for example I rejected 'religious' just because) but they're probably going to be fixed in early in the plotting. These characteristics need to be pretty clear to readers for them to understand the character.

Then there are characteristics that aren't in danger of detailing the plot but add colour and can tell us a little about the character. I have one socially awkward character work in a bookstore and note that she's always foasting her literary opinions on the customers and so have an excuse to write a couple of paragraphs about how she reacts when customers buy various books.

Similarly, I have an extract (that I may not use) of my mid-sexually-awakening character wandering around the National Gallery looking at nudes she's seen before and evaluating them based not on how attractive they are, but how good they are in bed.

I recently had my four main characters visit the cinema and it's amazing how much character milage you can get from just writing a conversation about who wants to see what based on the actual movies on show in a given historical week. These can be fun asides although it's possible to get over indulgent with them. (As I found out when my beta reader strenuously objected to me doing exactly the same thing with pop music two chapters later)

 

[sophism]

I've always been really turned off when writers describe characters' looks in detail. I get that a lot of the more porn-y stories tend to lean into that but whenever I read it, it takes me out of the story.

When I started writing, I deliberately left any descriptions of what they look like vague. Later, I was talking with my partner about the story and we had a debate about what my main characters look like, they seemed to forget that I'm the one that wrote them into existence.

I feel like I'm still learning about how to write in character development, but I usually start writing without planning. That means that my characters tend to start with a very one-dimensional character trait (eg. very closed off and has walls built up) and over the course of the story readers get to see that change.

 

[BiscuitHammer]

As a series writer, I've come to accept that this is essential for my characters. With everything that goes on in my writing, a lot of what happens won't make sense unless I give them motivations. I've painted myself into too many corners by not thinking this sort of thing through. I know people will say I'm not leaving my readers enough agency to work things out for themselves, but I very much write for me, so the readers' sense of agency concerning my characters is, well, secondary.

If I do leave something up to the reader's imagination, I tend to get kinda Lovecraftian about it.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

All my characters have flesh, some more exposed than others.

Other than generalizations about their appearance (beautiful, handsome, etc.) the perceptions of others is what I typically rely upon for my characters. Then it's up to the perception and imagination of the readers.

 

[Rob_Royale]

How deeply do you flesh out your characters? How deep do you dive into the exact details of how they look, what they wear, their age, shape, size etc?

General descriptions, hair and eye color, height and build (slim, full figured, rubenesque, busty etc.) and a ballpark on age unless I include it in dialog. No more than that.
Faces, I don't get too detailed on, because if I talk about a gorgeous brunette with high cheek bones, full soft lips, and smoking dark makeup, I don't have to go further. The reader has already copy/pasted their favorite hot brunette into the role. I like using the word perfect or beautiful for breasts and cocks for the same reason, as we all have our own idea of what that is and it's more immersive for the reader to put their idea into the story than mine.
I'm more inclined to describe in more detail what they are wearing and the effect the clothes have on their body than anything, as that's setting the mood, sexual tension and attraction. That's the important part for me.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Character arcs set the parameters, not any expectation. If the way the person looks is critical to their story arc, then those aspects are detailed (short man w/self esteem issues b/c of, woman with body dysmorphia, etc.) Occasionally Ill do a build a fetish character piece but I know it's to spec and I (usually) accept they'll be less interesting or I test myself to write the stereotype (for the audience) and write a full individual (for myself)

This is pretty much where I am. I'll write the aspects of physical appearance that are relevant to how the character interacts with the world, which usually means "stuff other people react to" (race, gender) and "stuff that the character chose which gives information about them" (e.g. a woman with a buzz-cut who wears jeans, a merchant banker who has pink-and-purple coloured hair). Beyond that, I leave things very sparse.

AFAICT some readers want a lot of physical description, some prefer that bare minimum, and outside some specific niches there doesn't seem to be a strong argument against authors picking whatever level of description they prefer to write.

 

[AWhoopsieDaisy]

Wait you guys make your characters look good?

Most of my physical descriptions of characters highlight what makes them distinct rather than paint a clear picture of a face.

Examples from a WIP:

Standing alone at home plate is a man with dyed blonde hair. It's more of an orange color, clearly the product of going from black to blonde without toner. Like he's trying so hard to be an American or a popstar.

The guy smiles at his antics, holding back a chuckle. His hair is long and his teeth are crooked as ever. Yuma's eyes light up. He'd know that fucked up row of teeth anywhere. "Shiro?"

 

[jaykaythree]

I don't know how well it qualifies, but I have dates of birth for almost all of my characters. Some of those dates even show through in the stories.

 

[Rustyoznail]

I try and make my characters human (or Anocots for my Leinyere story). My first stories had a fair bit of description, but I've backed off on the numbers and focused on what makes them distinct. Nobody's complained.

 

[Voboy]

I'm more interested in what their hobbies are, their occupation, sense of humor and taste in music are.

This. These are the things that make a character into a real person. What kind of coffee would they order? What time do they wake up, and do they hit the snooze? Those things I definitely flesh out.

This is my biggest change since I've been writing here. My earlier stories often give much more detail about appearance, though I've never been into measurements unless my narrator is a jerk who speculates about those measurements. But then, that says as much about my narrator as it does about the woman or man they're describing.

Often, my own notes to myself contain fairly complete descriptions, especially of characters I've used several times. And bits and pieces of those descriptions make it into my various stories. But I generally like to leave it to the reader's imagination.

 

[unholyintentions]

I've always been really turned off when writers describe characters' looks in detail. I get that a lot of the more porn-y stories tend to lean into that but whenever I read it, it takes me out of the story.

When I started writing, I deliberately left any descriptions of what they look like vague. Later, I was talking with my partner about the story and we had a debate about what my main characters look like, they seemed to forget that I'm the one that wrote them into existence.

This all resonates so much! One of the most frequent pieces of feedback I get (mostly on another platform where I started my smut journey, but I've gotten a comment about it also on here) is my near-lack of physical descriptions. I would love to have a conversation like the one you described. Someone picturing a wildly different set of characters from the ones I had in my mind when writing.

Detailed character looks descriptions also turn me off when reading, and I've found myself leaving stories when I feel the characterization is in general excessive (for my own sensitive and subjective standard, of course). When it feels like a lot of the cognitive load is going to remembering names and traits and looks.

 

[yowser]

focused on what makes them distinct.

I think this is spot on. I think Whoopsie and Bramble are also on to a good approach, it is not detail per se, but what that detail tells you about the character, and advances the story.

I am struck by how many here talk about leaving descriptions vague and letting readers 'fill in the blanks.' That only works if you have several dots to connect, not just a couple. So many stories are lacking in the 'right' detail (not necessarily physical descriptions) but the parts that snap a reader's mind into a clear view of the character. Readers have excellent imaginations but you have to give them something to work with, bland or generic words won't do.

Dickens and Nabokov, in very different ways, gave descriptions that allow the reader insight into their characters (and their characters' role in the story.) It's not the amount of detail, large or small, but the right detail that matters.

 

[unholyintentions]

I am struck by how many here talk about leaving descriptions vague and letting readers 'fill in the blanks.' That only works if you have several dots to connect, not just a couple. So many stories are lacking in the 'right' detail (not necessarily physical descriptions) but the parts that snap a reader's mind into a clear view of the character. Readers have excellent imaginations but you have to give them something to work with, bland or generic words won't do.

I don't know that I would say it works or it doesn't. I view it differently. A matter of tastes, a mileage problem, especially when you are committed to shorter formats. I respect folks who spend a considerable amount of their character count on the physical aspects of characterization, or other aspects of it in which I don't personally invest. I prefer to spend it on other devices and elements well outside of characterization, both in reading and writing.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I am struck by how many here talk about leaving descriptions vague and letting readers 'fill in the blanks.' That only works if you have several dots to connect, not just a couple. So many stories are lacking in the 'right' detail (not necessarily physical descriptions) but the parts that snap a reader's mind into a clear view of the character. Readers have excellent imaginations but you have to give them something to work with, bland or generic words won't do.

Agree this. I generally collect a series of pics for my characters as I write, to get a good visual in my mind as I write them. I rarely have an overt descriptive paragraph, but physical characteristics, hair colour, eyes, body shape and so on will emerge over the course of a story. I was pleased when someone commented that my character reminded them of Monica Bellushi, because, although I'd never mentioned her name in the story, her's was one of the inspirational pics.