Help with description of characters

[Ph03n1x028]

Hi everyone!

I've started writing a story and need help with describing my main characters. I've tried to look at different pictures of women and men to use as reference but it's rather difficult. It might be because I'm not a writer by trade or that I'm not able to paint the picture correctly.

What would be the best way to describe characters? Do I need to describe the characters from head to toe or only the main parts?

Your help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[jaF0]

No need to be detailed. Create a general image and let the reader fill in the details in their own mind.

 

[Ph03n1x028]

No need to be detailed. Create a general image and let the reader fill in the details in their own mind.

What would suffice for a general image?

 

[Handley_Page]

What would suffice for a general image?

Try and think of what your character is and does.
For example, what comes to mind if I mentioned a schoolmaster / mistress ?
or a real pirate ?

 

[SisterJezabel]

What would be the best way to describe characters? Do I need to describe the characters from head to toe or only the main parts?

Why does the other character like this person (or not like them as the case may be!) What draws you to a woman? I prefer authors who describe certain features and allow the reader to flesh things out.

Things like: Standing at 5'3", she looked like a model, with 32DD tits and an hourglass figure of 32, 26, 32. Really irritate- I mean models are usually over 5'9" and such large breasts on a smaller woman would be bloody uncomfortable!

Something like: She was shorter than many women, but her attitude made her appear taller. Her raven hair shone in the sunlight as it cascaded down her slender shoulders. She reminded me of a painting by one of the Italian masters who always depicted women with curves, unlike the models on the covers of magazines these days. Her hips were wide and I longed to hold onto them as I thrust deep inside her...

Comparisons can be good if you get them right!

 

[jaF0]

I usually use things like 'tall, slim, fit, model type', maybe make reference to some activities, but try to stay short of 'athletic build'. Problem is, that can turn away the BBW lover crowd. Too much detail on hair and eye color can turn away people who prefer different ehtniticities (sp?).

And then you have people who prefer short and petitte, so ....

 

[Enchantment_of_Nyx]

I think the best thing you could do would be to go back and read some of your favorite stories and pay attention to how characters are described in them. Is each character described all at once, or do you get little bits here and there (ex. learning her hair is long and brown when the wind blows a strand across the face, or learning that her nails are manicured when she taps them on the table, etc)? Which way do you find that you enjoy seeing the descriptions?

It's the same with the level of detail. You know what you like in stories. Follow that example in your own. There's not one right answer. The way you can go wrong is not being mindful of the choices you are making, such as if you gave an extraordinarily detailed description of a character just because all of that information was in your head, instead of focusing on how much detail you intended to give.

No matter which way you do it, some people will think it is too much detail, some people will think it is not enough, and some people will think it is just right. Write it the way it feels best to you, the way you would like to read it. After the first story, you can reevaluate the effect you're getting.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Things like: Standing at 5'3", she looked like a model, with 32DD tits and an hourglass figure of 32, 26, 32. Really irritate...

Something like: She was shorter than many women, but her attitude made her appear taller. Her raven hair shone in the sunlight as it cascaded down her slender shoulders. She reminded me of a painting by one of the Italian masters who always depicted women with curves, unlike the models on the covers of magazines these days. Her hips were wide and I longed to hold onto them as I thrust deep inside her...

Well said, SJ.

As to how to come up with the description, I sometimes flip through the net until I find a photo of an individual who matches my mental image of what a character should look like. Copy-and-paste to my story screen and I now have a real image to work off of, as opposed to just a mental idea.

 

[jaF0]

As to how to come up with the description, I sometimes flip through the net until I find a photo of an individual who matches my mental image of what a character should look like. Copy-and-paste to my story screen and I now have a real image to work off of, as opposed to just a mental idea.

Mine is always pretty much along the lines of an Angie Harmon/Terry Farrel/Veronica Hamel (when in their prime) type image.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I usually leave it up to the reader to put a 'face' to the character.

Susan had dark brown, almost black, hair. Her waist was slim, her hips, she had them. The most striking feature was her beautiful face. Helen of Troy would come in a far second. Her ass and breast fit her body and my hands.

Most of my female characters are someone I knew way back when... I of course, never user their real names.

 

[NotWise]

Well said, SJ.

As to how to come up with the description, I sometimes flip through the net until I find a photo of an individual who matches my mental image of what a character should look like. Copy-and-paste to my story screen and I now have a real image to work off of, as opposed to just a mental idea.

I've done that, with odd results. I found an image of Penny from "Watch Me!" and used it for wall paper. She was supposed to be a secondary character, and because of the photo, the story changed and she became a primary character.

Sara from "Working for Mom" confounded me. I built the story around my mental image of her then -- despite trying for quite a while -- I never found a photo. One or two are close, and I keep them, but nothing I've seen has Sara's look.

The photos really only get you the static, physical description. It probably won't help with the way they express themselves with speech or movement, and that was important in Sara's case.

 

[HeyYoureThatGuy]

Is it written in 1st person or 3rd person perspective?

If it's 1st person, is the POV character describing somebody else or themselves?

[All examples here are still in rough drafts and need improvement, but I thought they might be illustrative of things that have worked for me.]

The one I'm working on right now is 3rd person, and I use a very pale woman putting on sunscreen as a convenient excuse to discuss face and body type.

***
As much as she liked the sun, the sun didn’t like her back. Her skin was very pale, so unless she was coating herself in at least SPF 30 sunscreen, she turned lobster red. She started by pulling her long, wavy black hair into a ponytail to keep it out of the way. Melonie applied SPF chapstick to her full lips. Then she picked up a bottle of sunblock and smeared some over her button nose and high cheekbones. Then she made sure her entire heart-shaped face was protected, careful not to get any in her large brown eyes. She continued down her long neck, then her slender arms and legs, before moving to her round ass. She worked up to her taut stomach where just the hint of muscle definition. She moved up to her bell-shaped breasts. They weren’t huge, large enough she could fill out a sexy top nicely, but not so large that going braless was painful.
***

I've got another story currently shelved where it's 1st person and a woman caught her boyfriend cheating on her and I have her describe how different they both are.

***
She and I were so very different. She was lithe, with small tits and narrow hips. I had larger, rounder breasts, wider hips, and a bigger ass. At 5’ 10” I was also taller than her by several inches. Her light amber skin was covered in tattoos, more than I had time to stop and admire. My skin was unadorned ivory.
Her hair was shaved on one side, revealing a tattoo of a thorny rose, wreathed in flames. The other side was shag cut black hair with hot pink tips that brushed her jawline. Mine was long, strawberry blond, and as usual, worn in a messy bun.
Her body was perfectly built for professional ballet; the body genetics had denied me, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted her or if I wanted to be her more.
***

Hope that helps some.

 

[Ph03n1x028]

Thanks

I think the best thing you could do would be to go back and read some of your favorite stories and pay attention to how characters are described in them. Is each character described all at once, or do you get little bits here and there (ex. learning her hair is long and brown when the wind blows a strand across the face, or learning that her nails are manicured when she taps them on the table, etc)? Which way do you find that you enjoy seeing the descriptions?

Thanks so much for the advice. I think that I'll try it that way and see how it pans out.

 

[Paul_Chance]

Nyx's response is spot on and I'll echo parts of it.

There are three very broad approaches to describing characters and it's really just a question of your own preferred writing style and, to a lesser degree, the audience consuming what you write.

Minimalist Approach: This is my preferred style. Very minimal character descripts - tall, short, fit, heavy, skinny. It this approach pick a few things that are a.) important to the story and b.) distinct about the character. The reader will fill in the missing details with their imagination. I think this approach works best because you can start with "she was a slender woman with short red hair" - and then the reader, in their imagination, can insert what ever other details they want to round out the vision.

Goldilocks Approach: This is the middle state, where you provide more detail, but don't overwhelm the reader. "she was a slender redhead, almost lean, with striking green eyes above a cute nose and a quirky smile".

Maximalist Approach: I always jokingly refer to this as Tom Clancy erotica, from his tendency to describe people and things down to the smallest detail in vast unloads of descriptive text. "She was a slender redhead, just under 5'4" inches, she carried her 124 pounds with a savage grace, quick fast movements that made it look like she was always on the verge of breaking into a spring. Her clothing style screamed "tom boy", faded jeans, tight moss green shirt, broad leather belt and purely function Doc Martens. She defiantly went bra free most days, enjoying the impact her small erect nipples had on passersby. The way they would stare without trying to get caught staring always turned her on."


You'll find readers that appreciate every style - and you'll never be able to satisfy everyone. As you start out writing, write in the style that appeals to you and try and keep the style consistent within the story. The main thing I would caution you about is this - don't repeatedly describe the same thing unless there is a reason for it within the story.

 

[SimonDoom]

A few thoughts:

1. Totally agree with Nyx. To figure out how you want to do it, check out stories you like and see what appeals to you.

2. There's no one right way. I generally feel one shouldn't over do it -- a few choice descriptions are all you need, and leave the rest to the reader's imagination. But that's not always the right way.

3. Think about who the narrator is. If it's in first person and the narrator is a man with fetishistic or compulsive tendencies, or an acute visual sense, then he might describe a character in great detail. He might very well estimate breast size.

4. Think about the qualities that are important to the story. Focus on those. Leave the rest out.

5. Rather than describing someone physically, describe the way they act, or the impression they give on the narrator. If you describe someone as standing up straight and having a firm handshake, you are saying more that is meaningful about a character than if you say he has brown hair and is six foot one.

 

[Abbafan]

Hi everyone!

I've started writing a story and need help with describing my main characters. I've tried to look at different pictures of women and men to use as reference but it's rather difficult. It might be because I'm not a writer by trade or that I'm not able to paint the picture correctly.

What would be the best way to describe characters? Do I need to describe the characters from head to toe or only the main parts?

Your help would be greatly appreciated.

My preference is to avoid a lot of description. A big mistake a lot of writers make IMO is kind of grinding the story to a halt to give you a few paragraphs of description and background for the main characters. We get a long list of attributes - measurements, hair color and style, education, and on and on. I'm not saying it's better to avoid that completely, but maybe weave that in as it becomes important.

 

[jaF0]

'She reminded me of a famous singer named Anni-Frid ...... '

 

[Ph03n1x028]

Thanks so much!

Thanks everyone!

You've helped a lot. I'm so excited to get this all done and to share the story with you all.

 

[Ian_Snow]

Try to work a few details into the action of the story. "Her full dark hair bounced as she walked." I tend to agree with previous posters who said give a few generalities, as info dumps about characters grind everything to a halt.

 

[Paul_Chance]

Thanks everyone!

You've helped a lot. I'm so excited to get this all done and to share the story with you all.

Best wishes in your writing. Looking forward to reading your stories.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Best wishes in your writing. Looking forward to reading your stories.

Just so.

OP - naw, I'm not going to try to write that - please let us know when it gets published. Good luck.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Hi everyone!

I've started writing a story and need help with describing my main characters. I've tried to look at different pictures of women and men to use as reference but it's rather difficult. It might be because I'm not a writer by trade or that I'm not able to paint the picture correctly.

What would be the best way to describe characters? Do I need to describe the characters from head to toe or only the main parts?

Your help would be greatly appreciated.

This is one of those things that you probably need to try out and see what feels natural to you. There's no one way to do it, and no one universal preference among readers.

I generally go for minimalist descriptions, focussing on the aspects of appearance that tell us something about character/personality. That mostly means voluntary choices: tattoos, dyed hair, unusual clothing, etc. etc. and only where they're relevant to the story. As far as things like height and weight are concerned, generally I let readers fill in the blanks for themselves.

My readers mostly seem to be happy with that approach. Some authors give a lot more description, and there's a readership for that too. So, like with a lot of other creative choices, you might as well pick the way that you enjoy writing and reading.

 

[HeyAll]

I'm a firm believe that sometimes it's best to just show the personality through actions, thoughts, and dialogue. Let the reader imagine the character how they want.

Sometimes it's little things that you need. For instance, in the opening paragraph, if you mention the character is a lawyer and sharply dressed, that says a lot. Readers can fill in the blanks from there.

I don't have the skill to make great details so I stick with what I can do.

 

[BrokenSpokes]

This is good advice

No need to be detailed. Create a general image and let the reader fill in the details in their own mind.

This is really good advice. I tend to pick a couple of defining characteristics and let the reader fill in the rest with their own imagination. I feel that they take more "ownership" of the character and the story more meets what they want out of it.

For example in my 'Twas The Night Before series, there are two main characters characters, Kat and Megan. Kat is described as having "shoulder length brown hair" (also described later as "chestnut".). Megan gets a little more, shaggy black hair and a punk rock look, with black lipstick and a leather choker.

And.... that's pretty much it. I never really describe their body type, cup size (this is a hard out for me, anytime I see someone use cup size to describe a woman's breasts I closed the story immediately), their height, weight, or really anything else about them. I leave it all up to the reader to fill in the rest.

I DO describe TONS about their personalities which I feel, narratively, is far more important. Your story is (or should be) exploring their motivations, desires, wants, fears, etc. The characters inner traits are what drive the plot, the action, their motivations. As an author, that is what you are responsible for providing to the reader. Leaving the rest ambiguous will more help the reader insert their own preferences into their imagination and help them buy into your story more.

At least, that's how I view it.

 

[Emirus]

Think of you

Write him or her as you would like them to be described to you. If you think you want more information about some aspect then it’s something you’ve missed. It’s the same when describing anything. If someone is describing to you their new car or the house they’ve moved into what information would you want to get the correct picture in your mind? If you don’t like the description how can you expect your reader to like it.

Referring back to what Sister Jezebel said, the “6 foot tall in her 6” stilettos with her 46 DD’s walking down the street ahead of her,” is a crap way of describing a woman or for a man “7 foot tall with 36” biceps and a 30” cock banging against his knobbly knees,” is another winner. Don’t forget the “thick as a Coke can.”