I think we can all agree that characters are the heart of a novel. We build worlds around our story’s cast, spend dozens of hours plundering their psyche to understand needs, motivations, and beliefs, and even envision complete backstories. Then, of course, we go on to produce tens of thousands of words about their vulnerabilities and strengths as they rise, fall, and rise again on the path to their goal. We also revise, dedicating yet more hours to ensure readers understand and care about our characters as much as do.
Yes, it’s fair to say we work hard to make sure our characters live and breathe on the page. But here’s the irony…in all that effort, many of us overlook or underutilize another important area of character description: their physical appearance.
It’s true, a character’s features and physicality can be hard to convey. We may not have a strong mental picture of them ourselves, or if we do, how to sum it all up economically. After all, at the start of the story when we need to provide details on a character’s appearance, we’re also juggling everything else we must show like the action, setting, circumstances, plus the character’s motivation, underlying problem, emotion, and so on.
So we find ourselves asking, does the character’s looks really matter? Isn’t it what’s inside that counts?
Yes…and no.
Obviously, we want to start a story with action, pulling readers in by showing what a character is doing and why. But including some physical description is also necessary, too. Without it, readers may fail to create a mental image and struggle to connect with the character.
Avoiding physical description and leaving it up to the reader will also create a minefield for the writer because if they mention a physical detail (like a character’s pink hair) later on in the story and it clashes with the image the reader has created on their own, well, it breaks the storytelling spell. Worse, the reader loses confidence in the author’s skills and may be unable to fully suspend disbelief from that point on.
The Goldilocks Approach
We all remember that break-and-enter deviant, Goldilocks, right? Well, to take a page from her book, just like avoiding porridge too hot or too cold, we want to avoid both descriptive sparseness and information overload. Dumps of description of any kind hurt the pace and cause readers to skim, so we should make it our goal to offer enough to point readers in the right direction and then drip in more as needed. The rest they can fill in themselves.
Even more important than quantity is the quality, however. If we choose the right details, we open a gateway to great characterization and hook readers at the same time.
Choose Details that Do More
To avoid disrupting the pace it can be tempting to just give a quick overview of a character’s general features and move on, but unless the character is unimportant to the story, this wastes a valuable opportunity to show-not-tell. Whenever description is needed, we want to think about how to ‘spend’ our word currency in the best way possible. Even with physical description, we want to choose details that will push the story forward, reveal characterization, and show readers what’s hidden.
Try using your character’s appearance to allude to…
Personality
Is your heroine the type to wear bright yellow to a funeral? Does your groom show up to his wedding in a tux t-shirt and flip-flops? Is it a toss-up between which is tighter – the pearls strangling Aunt Edna’s wattle or her disapproving glare as a neighbor’s children run amok? Written with purpose, details about your character’s clothes can say much about their personality and attitude, priming readers to see them in the exact light you want them to.
Occupations and Interests
Does your protagonist have the perma-stained grease hands of a mechanic or the meticulously clean ones of a model or physician? Is there a smudge of paint above one eyebrow or a clod of potter’s clay in his hair? Small details can hint at what a character does for a living and the passions they may have.
Perceptions and Self-perceptions
Does the hero fixate on his beard so much he carries a comb and smoothing gel with him everywhere he goes? Does his socially oblivious sidekick have a habit of scratching his leg with too-long toenails at the beach, grossing everyone out? Does your heroine ask friends what they plan to wear before choosing herself or does she throw on whatever is clean? The time and attention a character gives to their appearance can show how comfortable they are in their own skin and whether they care about the opinions of others.
Health
Is your character disconcertingly underweight, does she have a bluish tinge to her lips, or is she always hiding her hands so others don’t see the tremors? Does she carry an inhaler or epi pen? A well-placed detail about her appearance can hint at an underlying condition, hereditary health issue, or lay the ground for an unfortunate diagnosis that will upend the character’s life.
Hidden Lineage
Does your character have a unique eye color, rare skin condition, or sun sensitivity? A physical peculiarity can help you set the stage to reveal your character is the long-lost descendant of a royal family, lead them to finding their birth parent, or shock them with the discovery that they belong to a race of magic users believed to have died out long ago.
Pedigree, Station, Education, and Wealth
Rather than a hidden lineage, your character’s appearance can show-not-tell their importance within society. Wearing colors only a sect of assassins is sanctioned to use, the quality of their garments or adornments, observing the latest fashion, or showing a character’s bearing, posture, and manners can allude to their upbringing, economic status, or caste.
Secrets
Whether it’s a dried blood drop on the face of their watch, a strange tattoo behind their ear, or the fact they are carrying a concealed weapon at a bridal shower, details that are mysterious or out of place show readers there’s more to a character than meets the eye.
Backstory Wounds
Does your character have an odd bite mark on one shoulder, a chemical burn scar, a missing finger, or they walk with a limp? You can be sure that if it’s important enough to describe, readers will be intrigued about what happened that led to that peculiarity and want to read on to find out.
Talents and Skills
Does your villainess have throwing knives strapped to her sleeves, chest, and back? Or does your hacker protagonist always carry a backpack full of electronic gadgets and a laptop? If a character’s skills require certain supplies, tech, weapons, or tools, it’s likely they will keep them on hand, a neon sign to readers that they have a special talent.
Emotional Mindset and Comfort Zone
Body language, mannerisms, posture, and the buffer of space the character keeps around them (or not) will all help readers understand what a character may be feeling and how comfortable they are in a location. A character who feels utterly uncomfortable may be pulling at their clothes, sweating, and choosing dark corners over conversation. A character standing tense and watchful, ready to grab the knife at his hip is clearly expecting danger. Someone who loves to be the center of attention will be doing exactly that, confidently working the crowd, smiling and telling jokes, making people feel welcome and basking in the attention.
Motivation
A character who tests the release button on his poison ring before heading out to shake hands with his enemy makes it clear what his goal is, just as a grieving widow will by practicing tearing up in the mirror so she’s ready for her police interview to go over where she was when her husband was mugged and killed. Mission-oriented people dress, behave, and act in alignment with their goal, so describing them in the moment will focus the reader’s attention right where you want it to go.
This is by no means a complete list, but it hopefully gets the idea ball rolling. So, the next time you need to describe a character’s physical features, use it to reveal something extra that activates a reader’s need-to-know mindset, hooking them to read on.
Do you find it easy to write physical description, or is it a bit of a struggle? Let me know in the comments!
Angela is a writing coach, international speaker, and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also is a founder of One Stop For Writers, a portal to powerful, innovative tools to help writers elevate their storytelling.
Ronald Mackay says
Your brief article has given me the incen tive I need to start thinking more closely about the imoression my characters make on the reader. It’s a matter I’ve rather neglected till now. Thank you!
Kristine Cheney says
I will always love you girls and your work!
ANGELA ACKERMAN says
Aw, thank you so much! <3
Don Simkovich says
Good points … finding middle ground. Raymond Chandler wrote incredible character descriptions in his Philip Marlowe type stories of the ’40s and ’50s. How characters move could be another way to look at things, “walking boldly” perching on the sofa
s edge like a bird on a wire.
ANGELA ACKERMAN says
Yes, I agree. I think another author who did this wall was Robert Jordan (The Wheel of Time).
V.M. Sang says
That’s a brilliant post, Angela. I’m definitely filing this one for future use. I love your examples. So helpful.
ANGELA ACKERMAN says
I’m so glad! I think it’s easy to get in a rut with descriptions, but honestly there’s so much we can do with them. It’s worth it to dig a bit for the right details. 🙂
Carol says
I thought I was pretty good at describing characters. Just enough of a flavor to know the person and their quirks. However after reading your article, I could use some of the ideas you presented to fine-tune them. Thanks.
ANGELA ACKERMAN says
Love that the ideas here will help you, Carol! The best thing about writing is that we can always adapt and try new things, and learn at each step. 🙂 And our stories are always better for it!
MINDY ALYSE WEISS says
Thank you for this post full of helpful ways to make our character descriptions gleam, Angela.
I’m always wondering how much physical description is too much. I usually sprinkle in details where they feel organic, but it can be tricky since my novels are all in first person, so my main characters need a reason to notice things they see every day.
In a future post, I’d love to see which novels you believe handle character description the best–including examples in first and third person.
ANGELA ACKERMAN says
The ‘how much’ is a great question. It will depend on many things – the genre, for one. The reader of a historical will expect more detail about how the character is dressed, how they move, speak, all of that. Likewise, less will be spent on physical description if the story is more action-centric. Another factor will be what’s happening in the scene. The last thing we need is too much description when the focus should be on the action, if there’s a lot of tension in the moment, or the pacing is fast.
I think overall this is where asking the question, “what purpose does this description serve?” is a great one to ask, and then this is another way that critique partners can weigh in to see if we achieved what we needed the description to achieve, and if it slowed the pace.