he looks like...

[Aisu]

Why is this place so dead? Arceus. Anywho, how do you go about describing your characters' appearances? Most people write out an entire paragraph, which can sometimes be boring, but also there are authors that give near nothing, then again there're also authors that sprinkle details in as the story goes. Sometimes, I'll forget and write a story on appearance only (bad habit, asdfghjkl) but I usually prefer small details; it gives the reader a better chance of envisioning the character as they want.

 

[NidoKingdra]

I like to describe a character on introduction, but I tend to be fairly brief and let the reader's imagination do some of the work. A few sentences average I guess.

 

[Psychic]

It depends on the situation. The thing is that usually there's no need to dump a paragraph of description about a character. If the story is from a character's point of view, unless they are taking a long pause to really examine a person and consider all of the physical details about them, a paragraph of pure description will feel out of place. It also isn't a great way to deliver information: it's awkward, it's too much information at once, the reader likely won't remember a lot of it, and it slows down the pace of the story. Plus it raises questions: if that's your method of describing characters, then do you give that much description for characters who only appear once, briefly? If you only do that for important characters, then readers will automatically know how important/unimportant a character is to a story based on how long you take to describe them, which gives away the game.

For me, it depends on the scene and the character. I'll usually give a couple of key details about a character when I introduce them, and then sprinkle other relevant information as the story progresses. Of course, figuring out what information is actually interesting/memorable/important can also be tricky, haha. Often, I think it just comes down to what makes that character unique or memorable in terms of looks, but making a character memorable isn't just about appearance, either!

~Psychic

 

[Bay]

I used to give full paragraphs of a person's appearance, but I grew out of that habit and pretty much only give some details here and there when necessary. Many times I leave it to a reader's imagination, though I might give some visual cues if a character is much older than some of the cast and such, for instance.

 

[Auticorn]

It depends. Sometimes, I use actors. Other times, I'll look up random pictures of people that resemble them best. Usually, when I create them, I tend to base some off my friends/boyfriend. I also suck at actual descriptions without having a physical image handy. That's usually why I really a lot on what I said above.

Like Bay said though, I usually try to leave up to the reader's imagination. However, I still like to give them a general idea of my characters. I feel that physical imagery is better than trying to explain it. Mostly because I feel as if some readers might be in the same boat as I am. They may not be able to focus on what the character looks like without having a picture to go by.

 

[Nolafus]

I normally have almost nothing. Heck, I've had two stories where I didn't even give names to anyone, haha.

 

[whtwlf]

For me, it depends on the scene and the character. I'll usually give a couple of key details about a character when I introduce them, and then sprinkle other relevant information as the story progresses.

I think Psychic's nailed the best way to go about it. If you throw paragraph after paragraph of descriptions at the reader, they'll get bored with it pretty quickly.

 

[Bounsweet]

Some of the most classic novels of all time have absolutely no distinctive physical traits described in the story, Persuasion by Jane Austen comes to mind which is interesting considering there are a couple of main characters who obsess over the physical attraction of people and even comment on it, but the appearance of the characters aren't even known.

When I was younger and more inexperienced in writing and literature, I thought giving descriptions of a character was absolutely mandatory, but as I've become more familiar with different forms of literature, I've found that it's actually extremely insignificant, lol. It really only matters, imo if it's a key point in a story (Harry Potter's lightning-shaped scar, for instance) or adds to the emotional development in some way (bringing up Harry Potter again, as an orphan receiving comments about physical similarities to his parents is pretty emotionally deep). Physical description that is somehow extraordinary, however, such as someone appearing extremely disheveled in the middle of a Nordstrom or something, can be relevant and appropriate however.

I only really find a lot of physical descriptive prose in young adult novels, it's not that common in more mature works.

 

[Nolafus]

I was going to make a new thread, but it's really just a smaller branch of this, so I'll bump this one instead.

How would one go about describing a non-human character? I'm not really talking about how to go about the description itself, but how to set it up so you're not just throwing these body parts at the reader. I normally don't have any character description, so I'm having a lot of trouble with this considering the reader would probably like to know something.

 

[HollyYoshi]

When it comes to characters, I just sprinkle information throughout the story.

 

[Astinus]

How would one go about describing a non-human character? I'm not really talking about how to go about the description itself, but how to set it up so you're not just throwing these body parts at the reader. I normally don't have any character description, so I'm having a lot of trouble with this considering the reader would probably like to know something.

When I'm describing my monster characters, I sprinkle in some description into the narration. For instance, I have a character who's a bug, and I wrote a scene where he was heading somewhere in a hurry. The narration had a brief bit where this character cursed his tiny little bug claws that weren't suited for running. It described the character's legs without just being put into the narration just for description's sake.

Really, I think describing a non-human character is the same as describing a human character. Through the story, the reader will know that they're not dealing with something human-like, so when you mention something non-human about this character, the reader can expect it.

 

[Junier]

Depends on the material, for me. Lately I realize detailed appearances in short stories are (usually) unnecessary. The readers should be given opportunities to visualize the story for themselves so I could settle for giving a few defining features...

I like to describe a character on introduction, but I tend to be fairly brief and let the reader's imagination do some of the work. A few sentences average I guess.

When I was younger and more inexperienced in writing and literature, I thought giving descriptions of a character was absolutely mandatory, but as I've become more familiar with different forms of literature, I've found that it's actually extremely insignificant, lol. It really only matters, imo if it's a key point in a story (Harry Potter's lightning-shaped scar, for instance) or adds to the emotional development in some way (bringing up Harry Potter again, as an orphan receiving comments about physical similarities to his parents is pretty emotionally deep). Physical description that is somehow extraordinary, however, such as someone appearing extremely disheveled in the middle of a Nordstrom or something, can be relevant and appropriate however.

...so I agree with these sentiments.

And as for describing something non-human, same mostly applies, but I'd feel you'd have to be more in-depth, at least early on. Usually readers will find it difficult visualizing foreign species unless they're already established (i.e. werewolves, vampires, etc.), and then again people are always putting their own twists on those classic monsters of myth.

 

[Negrek]

How would one go about describing a non-human character? I'm not really talking about how to go about the description itself, but how to set it up so you're not just throwing these body parts at the reader. I normally don't have any character description, so I'm having a lot of trouble with this considering the reader would probably like to know something.

(I'm going to use "alien" instead of "non-human character" in this post because it's shorter and I figure that's what you're looking to write about, FYI.)

Like Astinus said, it's really the same thing as describing a human character. You're never going to be able to recreate a perfectly-accurate picture of whatever species in your readers' heads, so instead you have to figure out what's really important for them to know/understand and make sure that in particular gets across. The best way to do this is to think seriously about how your aliens' differences affect how they interact with the world and make sure those differences are apparent in the actual narrative. For example, say your aliens have six arms. If you want your readers to remember that, then it should be consistently relevant to the story, i.e. your six-armed aliens should be doing things with their extra arms all the time, things that it wouldn't make sense for a two-armed human to be able to do. Otherwise, you can mention the six arms for another reason (see below), but you shouldn't count too much on it being informative to the readers--they're liable to forget.

Something else to consider is what you want the readers' impression of the aliens to be. Do you want them to seem intimidating or friendly? Wise or warlike? Something else altogether? Part of what you want your description to do is evoke particular associations for your readers, so they get a sense of what to expect from your aliens even after a brief introduction (you can go on to subvert that first impression later, of course). For example, if you want your aliens to come across as fierce and imposing, the details you'd want to mention would be along the lines of their great height, nasty claws/fangs/spikes/whatever, or elements that attest to their strangeness/alienness that makes them seem unknowable and unfriendly. On the other hand, for an alien you wanted to make seem friendly or welcoming, you'd want to focus on attributes that we generally associate with agreeability or cuteness, like fluffy fur or colorful feathers or features someone would find ridiculous in a non-threatening way. In these cases you're writing to convey the impression of the creature to the readers, more than the literal details of its appearance. If a creature's flouncy fur ruff is only mentioned this once, the readers probably won't remember it, but they will pick up an image that captures some of that ridiculousness and carry it through the rest of the story unless something comes up later to contradict it.

The description you choose for a creature can also indicate something about the narrator if you're using some sort of limited perspective. The details a person notice say at least as much about them as they do about whatever the POV character's looking at. Someone who's had poor experiences with aliens in the past, for example, might be looking for signs of danger in a new species they're encountering or considering how they might defend themselves from it if it attacks. On the other hand, someone with a scientific bent might be trying to make sense of all its weird adaptations and guess what it says about the creature's environment and/or culture. This sort of thing is especially important when the character's attitude towards or opinion of a new species doesn't match up with the actual facts; you want to make sure that you've got both the color of the character's misunderstanding or biases in there and some hints as to what's really up, too.

Finally, it's very important to be aware of what makes your aliens different and interesting. These are the aspects you'll want to focus on the most. If you mention that an alien is "insectoid," for example, people will already conjure up a general image of what you mean: something with a carapace, probably, likely with antennae or mandibles of some sort, and it's usually assumed to be bipedal if it's sapient. Therefore, you don't want to focus your description on what the reader already knows about (the fact that it has a carapace, say), but rather on what's novel about those familiar aspects--say antennae that are rubbed together to make the musical noises that represent the creature's speech--or on elements that are outside readers' usual expectations, such as hypnotic eye patterns on the undersides of the creature's wing cases. Basically, don't spend time on aspects that the reader is going to take for granted; even just mentioning that something is "insect-like" buys you a whole lot of assumptions on the readers' part.

Generally, getting across the literal physical appearance of a creature is probably the least important function of the description you use; writing isn't a visual medium and simply doesn't do that very well. It's more a question of what role you want that species to play in your story and what details you choose to get that across.

 

[Warspirit]

I'm the type that sprinkles in details every now and then. I don't focus much on appearances, it's more about the story plot to me than anything. I put most of my effort into making fun, wonky but believable scenes.

In my most recent story I let readers pick how they want the female lead to look. She's only described as having brown hair, after that it's left up to the reader what skin color/size/shape/weight she is. I want my readers, if they want, to put themselves into the story as the female lead. As far as the male leads go, I'm pretty damn descriptive but this is fanfic so everyone knows who the selected male lead of the story looks like ha. If I throw in other OCs I am more descriptive with their appearances from eye color to height and everything between. I still never describe their looks in one go or one paragraph though.

 

[Garison]

Like most people here, I do not believe in giving a full paragraph about a character's appearence. I would add a few details as the story goes on at seperate parts of the story (but not spread to far apart.) For example, if I was introducing someone who was very tall (like my story's protagnist) I would not tell the reader that right away. But when he enters/exists a doorway, I can say "he bends under the door as he passes through it" which hints that he is not average height.

 

[SeleneHime]

Like a lot of the other writers here, I don't like clustering the character descriptions. It disrupts the flow of the story. So, usually I sprinkle it in throughout the chapter and stick to the key features, what makes them distinctive from the other characters, but there is also the point to consider that your POV might describe other characters in their own fashion, too. It could end up humorous or not so much, depending on who you're writing from.

 

[Delirious Absol]

I used to write paragraphs of descriptions, but after reading writing books and tips I've stopped doing that now. It keeps the flow of the story going, and depending on the point of view it's more realistic, especially if the characters already know each other. I prefer to detail things as they're noticed and wind them into the story.