Describing Your Characters

Looks alone are not nearly enough for a good character, though we'll ignore that for now. This article is only about good ways to tell your readers what your character looks like.

Wait, did I say tell? What about "show, don't tell"? Yes, I am fully aware of that rule, but just think about it for a second. How on earth would you show that a character has black hair or blue eyes? You could say "She looked up, her eyes mirroring the color of the sky.", but that still wouldn't quite be showing. Not to mention it sounds absolutely ridiculous. Eyes don't mirror the color of the sky like water. You could show certain aspects of a character's appearance, such as height (like having a short character struggle to reach items on high shelves), but even then, it might require an explanation.

Now, onto describing. Quick, is this method of description Bad, Okay, or Good?

"Arnold had blond hair and brown eyes. His face was round and boyish. He bent to retie his shoelaces, and then looked up at his friend."

If you said Bad, you are right! This is a horrible way to describe a character. It stops the flow of the story so we can learn whatever hair and eye colors you've given your characters, which really doesn't add much to the story (unless, say, someone's bright blond hair gives them away when they're trying to hide). Now, look at this example.

"Arnold's blond hair fell over his round, boyish face, obscuring his eyes as he bent to retie his shoelaces. He looked up at his friend, his brown eyes meeting her blue ones."

Good or Okay are both acceptable answers for this. It is certainly better than the first example, but it still leaves a lot to be desired. Before we go on, let's look closer at this example.

"boyish face, obscuring his eyes as he"

Note that when the eyes are obscured, the color shouldn't be mentioned, unless this story was written from the POV of this friend, and she knew that his eyes were brown.

Now, here is the best way to describe a character.

Simple answer. Don't. At least not all at once. Slip in details whenever their entrance wouldn't hurt the flow of the story. Mention the hair color in Chapter 1, the height in early Chapter 2, and the eyes in Chapter 5 (or whatever other arrangement fits). Here are ways you could slip in details about the characters' appearances.

- Jake flashed his overly shiny teeth in a quick, fleeting smile.

- Mary's blue eyes twinkled in amusement.

- Rachel's thin red lips curled downward. "Don't."

- Samuel brushed aside his long red bangs.

Slip them in like that, wherever they feel appropriate, just not too many at once.

Character Description Tips:

1. Whenever you are describing a person's eyes from the POV of another, make sure that the POV character would actually be close enough to see the eye color. Ten to fifteen feet is a good rule of thumb, if the described character is standing still and has his eyes open. A man on a date is at liberty to describe his date's eye color. A man in a tennis match is not.

2. Don't describe characters if they only appear once and don't do anything special, unless it's just a minor detail to distinguish them in actions or dialogue. If you do this, then by noting a detail of a seemingly minor character's appearance, you can subtly foreshadow that they may come into play later.

3. It's fine to remind readers of a certain physical trait every once in a while, as long as you take care to stay consistent. You don't want to say that a character has blue eyes on Page 47 and then say she has green eyes on Page 92 (unless of course, her eye color actually changed). Readers will always notice things like that.

4. Do not describe characters during action scenes.

5. Do not describe a character by having him or her look at his reflection, like in a mirror, puddle, window, or weapon. This is a huge cliché which a lot of readers (as well as agents and editors) dislike.

6. Hair color isn't all you can mention. Mentioning how the character wears their hair can also give insight into their personality. Two characters might both have black hair, but if one wears his hair close-cropped and neat and the other's hasn't been cut or combed for two months, your readers can certainly discern a difference.

Some people say that hair and eye color are useless details that shouldn't even be mentioned in main characters. I disagree. There are many instances where they can, the simplest being that they can help the reader properly imagine characters. Hair color could also come into play in the story, if, for example, a characters bright blonde hair gives them away when they're trying to hide. A main character taking note of another's hair or eye color could also use that detail to recognize them later. Description of hair and eyes (especially eyes) can also used to foreshadow some of the character's personality. Saying that a character has gray eyes doesn't say much. Saying that a character has gray eyes "like the winter clouds that spawn blizzards and down planes" certainly says something.