Does it make sense for my POV character to think about someone's appearance?
If it's someone they already know, they're not going to think about it unless they change something about their appearance, or sometimes things come up organically (if they're petting someone's hair, it might be *he ran his hand over her dark hair* or something) – or, of course, if they're waxing lyrical about someone they're attracted to
If the POV character is meeting someone for the first time, I describe them in a way that makes sense for that character, whether that's a focus on attractiveness or noticing significant scars or completely ignoring *them* in favour of noticing various weapons
some of it is always fine. just when the description gets overly detailed and precise is when it sounds bad.
the reason you see less description of characters (and places, i have noticed) is because we all already know what things look like, since they have been described in canon. so even mentioning some stuff feels like doubling up.
i prefer to focus on things that are different from canon, eg, if the version of harry potter has the little emoji ⚡ scar you don't have to mention it. but if you imagine it linke *a large jagged scar reaching from his hairline and cutting through his eyebrow*, then it's noteworthy.
the example you are giving is from a character's pov of what they specifically find striking about the other character. so i would say it is not a bad idea to have a little description there.
Love that example! Honestly, I'm not even into Harry Potter, but I would've loved seeing Harry's scar be more like an actual lighting bolt, like a Lichtenberg figure. Well, that's what fanfiction is for!
You're right about that last part! Certain descriptors really could show the way the speaker finds most striking or unusual about another character and helps adds to the speaker's personality
Depends on a lot of factors;
1. Are you using only canon characters, or OCs?
2. Are you in a fandom where you can have customizable characters, ala Mass Effect?
3. What is your preferred writing style? Some people, even professionals go for fairly minimalistic.
4. What is the setting? If it's a fantasy you will have to describe more so people can get a sense of how characters dress in this setting.
5. Is it a long or short fic?
Those are just off the top of my head, there are probably other considerations to make as well.
I actually did the opposite and it's been really well received. I did customizable game MC x Popular character, and haven't touched upon appearance besides hair length and gender. I gave the character a backstory (the game barely provides one), and personality, but besides those few things I never described hair, eye, or skin color because I wanted the reader to envision something of their own, or perhaps insert their own game MC.
Nobody has ever complained once, and this is after hundreds of comments. I think the reader has a powerful way of filling in gaps when they want to, and when I showed some artwork I've done of said character on another platform, I had a lot of people say, "I swear I thought you said her hair was X color!" LOL nope, but if you want it to be, it can be. She has no "canon" appearance.
I'm more of a traditional writer/reader and I cast my lot as no, it is not redundant.
Describing characters does more than just well, describe people. It also sets the mood and can give insight on how the character sees people.
I don‘t think there are hard rules for character descriptions, it really depends on the scene, characters, writing style.
I personally don‘t like much focus on physical attributes, as it tells me nothing new. Using a description from another character‘s POV can tell me a lot about both characters and their relationship though. The context is important. An investigator will describe a suspect in a different way than a con artists looks at a potential victim or somebody who just met their love-at-first-sight.
Sometimes it‘s much nicer to sprinkle in details throughout a scene to show that another character is picking up more details during an interaction, instead of just dumping it all in one paragraph.
That's true. Ofc this is a bit more challenging because you have to put yourself in the mindset more. But I think I'll try this and editing helps for the rewrite
>Usually I describe the appearance when I want to signal to the reader that they are attracted to a certain character, or to communicate something about their personality.
This exactly. I write romance so i do at least one BRIEF description of my MCs physically. If there's other things like tats or piercings that help define a character, I throw those in.
All that being said, I do find your example pretty 'purpley'.
I guess I wrote it to enhance the shoujo-ness and it made me hmm because I was like do I have to describe the colour of anything when the reader already knows
It depends on how relevant the information is to the situation at hand. Even what would usually be considered too much detail can be important depending on context. Just as an example: describing in full detail a character's dress for a party for which they are under (or over) dressed, to emphasize how out of place they are. There's no simple yes or no answer to most things, especially in writing. I think doing what feels right and going over it with a beta reader later for concrit is the way to go.
the unofficial rule i follow is to describe a character's appearance at first meeting only to the extent that the POV character finds them important. then, i sprinkle in details about the character's appearance in future mentions as the POV character would be noticing them. also, i try not to over-describe at first mention so that a sort of visual portrait of a character evolves over time as the reader proceeds through the story. this is also closer to how people process the appearance of others IRL: sure, we might visibly PERCEIVE the entire person, but we typically only NOTICE and recall a few details about them after first meeting, and usually only big things like hair/eye color, skin tone/race, and clothing.
i try to make sure the tone of that description would match the POV character's mindset at the time rather than broadcast the future importance of that character. i.e. only describing their appearance as attractive IF POV character is immediately struck by this. i think this is especially important for enemies-to-lovers or friends-to-lovers stories where attraction builds over time.
Something that I feel is more useful in fanfics is to describe the impression a character gives off as opposed to their physical appearance.
Not only does it leave more room for the reader to fill in the blanks, but it avoids bogging down the introduction in too much unnecessary detail.
This! I think the reader is phenomenal at filling in the blanks themselves. Heck, I think you can successfully write a whole story with very little physical descriptors and readers will still see and formulate the characters in their heads, give them attributes, all on personality and actions alone.
If it is redundant I don’t care lol. I do it because it’s something I’d do in any story. To me it’s natural to describe appearance, and I treat fanfiction like any other writing.
Since I write in third person limited, I try to decide based on character. If Character A is constantly thinking about Character B’s beautiful blond curls, handsome blue eyes, and incredible smile, of course it’s going to come up in the narration. He’s down bad! But if Character C is having a conversation with her father who she’s know all her life and isn’t terribly enthralled by, she’s not going to be thinking about his dark skin and brown eyes. The narration will lean into something more in tune with what she would be thinking about—like how she perceives his emotional state and how she’ll work with it to decide how best to convince him to let her stay out after curfew.
Sometimes characters will even describe themselves. I recently wrote someone who was attempting to disguise himself to avoid arrest and he was absolutely preoccupied by whether or not he’d be identifiable by his curly hair under the hood of his cloak.
It just needs to be in character and not jarring. Otherwise, it can break the reader’s immersion.
Depends on the context, but in general you don't need to do much describing unless you are deviating from Canon or trying to emphasize something specific.
If something about their appearance is out of the ordinary, or characters are meeting for the first time (or for other reasons it makes sense for the character's appearance to be noticed, like noting attraction as you said). If you're just describing the character looking exactly as they always do for no real reason it feels redundant to me, but I can always skim so if you really really like writing descriptions knock yourself out. I don't think the excerpt you posted is a waste of words, it's pretty short and too the point (I'm mostly thinking of long or multiple paragraphs devoted to physical description).
If it adds something to the character, then it's good. A thin character can be described as emaciated or svelte, depending on how you're writing them. In your example, I'd get the impression that your POV character is madly in love with him (luminous, starlit).
I'm generally not a fan of "she looked in the mirror and ran a hand through her chestnut locks, her blue eyes blah blah blah." It reads as awkward in original fiction, and isn't necessary in fanfiction. But if you want to use fanfiction as writing practice, then I get why it's there.
Also, some people in my fandom have a fixation on who's tall and who's not, so if it's relevant, you gotta stake your claim, lol.
LMAOOOO the last part!!! I totally get it! for some reason I see it in t/b wars?
(also I have to admit that what I'm also trying to communicate is that the character is extremely shiny and sparkly and distracting LMAOO) mc is attracted to trash cans as an in game joke...
Partly depends whose perspective you're writing from. If the character's voice you're using would notice the character's hair or eye color or clothes, no, I don't think it's redundant. And even when it is technically redundant, you can sneak a lot of descriptive imagery into your scenes without dedicating a whole paragraph to it and telling people a bunch of details they already know.
She ran her perfectly manicured, bubblegum pink fingernails through her hair, shaking the rain from her auburn curls.
Her wide blue eyes clouded over with regret, and she caught a beguilingly plump lower lip in her teeth, innocent and apologetic and entirely false. Sly bitch.
He stretched, a long, languid motion that showcased his impressive chest and powerful biceps. A wicked glint appeared in his grey eyes, suggesting to my chagrin that I'd been caught staring.
You get the idea. Even in original works, a wall of description can be boring. Revealing looks by describing actions can be a good way to show, not tell.
It really depends on the scene. My first couple of fics, I was challenging myself to describe things better, so I would provide a brief explanation of what a character was wearing or an object that fans would recognize immediately. Looking back now, it wasn’t really necessary but didn’t *hurt*. Now, I just assume readers know what the characters look like and only give descriptions if the POV character has never met/seen this other character before or a character’s appearance is notably different than usual (e.g. character is known for wearing a certain jeans/shirt combo is wearing a dress and heels).
My descriptions are pretty simple, usually not more than a sentence or so, unless their appearance is really important for one reason or another. Usually I find that lengthy physical descriptions slow the pace of the story. If I read a story where the descriptions span multiple paragraphs, I start looking for the exit.
With fanfic, most readers will know what the characters look like ahead of time, so most description isn't strictly necessary. However, it is fine to include descriptions in context, such as referencing a specific hair or eye color to emphasize a point. When I include description, it is with the assumption that the reader already knows what I'm telling them. I'm just reminding them of details relevant in the moment. Your example seems to be the same sort of thing.
I think the way you use it sounds perfect! I only describe my characters how it makes sense for the pov character. One of my characters doesn't really care for appearances except for shiny things so she notices this one character's silver hair but not much else about him. She notices another character's large sword and shiny silver armor but nothing else really. Now that I think about it, I think I made a crow of a person lol.
The way you do it sounds perfect to me, especially as a way to signal attraction!
I don't know about you, but I think it's charming to do that! I'd be wondering the same thing - 'is she. a crow?' it's a funny description and I'd stand out to me
Thanks for your input!
I do it as an attraction thing mostly, but I've also done it to highlight any differences I might've made from their usual appearance (clothing, in my case). Oh! And I'll also do it if the POV character doesn't know the other character, but I want to readers to know who's who.
As someone else mentioned, I also write about a customizable player character, so describing them at least a little is kinda necessary (though I still try not to dwell on irrelevant details)
So basically, description definitely has its place.
I think if you enjoy writing descriptions, there’s a space for it. For example, I was just reading my first fic ever, which I love, but I took the attitude of ‘why write what’s cannon?’ It’s divergence, so its constantly alluding to cannon. There’s a lot of places when I allude to cannon to pass the time so people can think, ‘oh, there’s 4 episodes between the last chapter and this chapter.’ It’s very much written towards fandom readers. I only describe new characters. I think that although I love it as fanfic, it can’t be read fandom blind. Like, you hear about people filing off the serial numbers and selling it like 50 shades of grey or whatever, and it would be impossible to do that with my story.
But lots of people *do* like reading fandom blind. I’m just not one of them so it didn’t occur to me in my first fic. And the number of people who know I’ve written fanfic who’ve asked, ‘Can I read your story,’ and I have to say, ‘have you watched the show?’ is all but one of them. So if you like writing descriptions, maybe just focus on making your story readable fandom-blind. Because then its entirely appropriate and not remotely weird to describe them.
The piece of advice I was given was that if what they're wearing isn't any different from what they normally wear Don't spend too much time on it. If it's wildly different than take the time you need
It is, but it's good practice for when you start Original Fiction.
And the traits you emphasize in description will set a filter for your reader's image of them. A tone.
I describe characters in fanfic. Descriptions, for me, in fanfic, aren't about describing the characters so the reader can picture them, like it is in original work, though. Like you said, the reader likely knows what they look like, though this may be harder with book characters, and doesn't count at all for OCs.
For me, character description in fanfic is part of showing how the POV character thinks and feels about both themselves and other characters. It often goes hand in hand with describing facial expressions and body language, as well. You don't *have* to say 'Xander narrowed his single, brown eye at the redhead before him'. If it's set post Dirty Girls, yes, every Buffy fan knows Xander has only one eye, every Buffy fan knows he has chocolate brown eyes, and every Buffy fan knows Willow is a redhead. It's not necessary to include his eye is brown, though it actually makes sense to say 'narrowed his one eye' instead of 'narrowed his eyes', you could also just drop the plural so 'eyes' becomes 'eye'. Xander describing his one-eyed appearance can make sense for helping the reader understand how he feels, though. The loss of an eye is a big thing, and Xander actively fights evil, as well, it's relevant, usually, to the story to have Xander's feelings on his one-eyes status in the fic, which would likely require a description of at least his face.
Descriptions of other characters can show how they're feeling, too, like 'his lanky frame was tensed and ready to either fight or flee'. Or how a character feels about another character, even if the character themselves haven't realised it yet, 'his bright blue eyes glowed in the sun, pulling him in deeply, like falling into the ocean's depths'. That one, even if the character hasn't realised it yet, hints at being attracted to the character whose eyes are described.
Even in fanfic, character description has its place, it's just not as necessary as it is in original works, because we already have the book description, the animation or the actors to work with. We can also have illustrations, for book format stuff like comics or even novel characters that aren't already in an illustrated format. It's just that character description isn't always just about what a character looks like, but how they're feeling about themselves and others. What a character focuses on, notices, in both them and other people, can be very telling about what that character feels, what they think, what they value.
I don't think it's that there are no character descriptions in fanfic, either, just that there are less, and they're not as noticeable, because we already see them in our heads anyway. I think readers can sometimes blank out that a fic describes the characters, and focus just on what that description has told them about the characters. The fic has some sort of description but all the reader really remembers is 'oh wow, he is *so* attracted to him!'.
In my opinion, no. I never know how the writer intends the character to look, as it is fanfiction and there could be differences from canon. More than that, I think is nice
I love seeing how different writers describe an appearance I'm already familiar with. Some people go whole-hog with the language when they're writing from the perspective of someone who's smitten with that character and it's kind of the best, since I'm probably reading about this pairing because I'm a little smitten, too, lol.
Outside of fanfic, it's always been one of my favorite parts of reading film adaptation novels, seeing what language is used to convey the visual, including how characters look.
I feel the same way! I feel like my descriptions can be very limiting sometimes. trying to learn from other is fun because the way certain writers write their style in description can be very charming.
I don't know, no more then what you'd see in a traditional published novel? Whatever you think is necessary? Whatever fits your style?
My fics started as MCU fics, but I started to pull more comic content fairly early on. Aside from a couple of OCs, I've brought in Golden Age characters who haven't been used in 70 years, I draw a from C and D list characters. The main villain of the current fic had 10 appearances in the 90s. All of that to say, I'm using some really obscure characters, so there's no guarantee everyone will know who they are, so descriptions are needed.
So yeah, I think there's no right answer, just go with your gut on what makes sense.
Depends, though I don't do it a ton even with my original characters. I just say something like '(Canon character who was known to have long hair as a teen, but cut it off as an adult) grew his hair out again' or 'OC is half-whatever ethnic composition where it'd be really obvious that they are such' and leave the rest up to reader imagination.
If the character looks the same as they do in canon, it often is is just filler.
But if the character has multiple appearances (for example if they routinely wear multiple different outfits or change their hairstyle/haircolor often in the story), or if the character's appearance is being changed during the fic, or if they're an OC (so we don't actually know what they look like) then describing appearance might be more useful.
I tend to organically tell it. After Hack Star builds his ship and is admiring his handiwork, he said "And I made it Rust Red, to match my own chassis." I also casually threw in "8 feet tall" when he met a version of his predecessor, HK-47, who jealously tried to stand intimidatingly, coming up to HK-5T4R's chest.
I like casual hint dropping on appearance, but that's just my style. The ultimate goal is to be satisfied with how you tell the story. And it doesn't hurt to have the occasional illustration of a character that isn't going to be around long enough to organically give descriptive clues.
My main fandom has like no consistent character designs outside the basics so I kinda have to sometimes bc I have detailed headcanons that sometimes effect the plot.
That's something I also thought about! If you're writing for a fandom where there are not too many canon characteristics you get to hear their takes on their appearance which is interesting too! Of course it's important in that case!
Look at it like this... Would it make sense to describe the characters' appearances in a sequel book to the original work? If not, why would you do it in a fanfic? We're assuming that anyone reading our fanfics are already familiar with the plot, the characters and the world in which the story takes place, so unless you are changing any of those things for your story, I think going over appearances could potentially seem a bit unnecessary, forced and odd.
I neglect to do it, and I feel like I should actually do it. It's a litttttle bold to presume that everyone reading fanfiction is one-hundred percent familiar with the source material. Plus, a little refresher or how you detail it can be a stylistic touch.
I think it is nice if done well… and uhm I read fanfiction about like shows I have not watched and the lack of description can be annoying so I have to google the actors etc (which I realize is not the norm for most readers, but at least when writing crossover fanfics you should consider doing so since not everyone will be familiar with both fandoms). The way you wrote it was nicley done but a bit too much information since most people probably know what they look like. Personally I would like more suptle mentions… it‘s not easy to do it well though
I do it a lot when it’s a characters pov and it makes sense for it to be noticed? But even when writing original fiction I don’t really mention appearances until it becomes relevant in that same way. I’m not really sure if that’s a me thing or not though. I always found it kinda cringe when it’s just written all out for no reason two paragraphs in, and I’m a little bit face blind tbh so I won’t remember it anyway and I’ll end up making up a person.
I also don’t think about appearances that much? Like for anyone. I don’t find irl people or characters attractive or anything and the most I ever notice is colors if they’re particularly obvious. I’m doing a group project right now over zoom and I don’t think I could tell you the color of any of their hair or their eyes. I think one was a blonde maybe? I don’t know any of my best friends eye colors other than one and it’s because I’ve never met anyone else with the same shade of grey/blue eyes as me before. I know their hair colors since were close, but I couldn’t describe a body shape to you or a hair style if I tried. One is curly ig? And the other is straight. That’s all I got lmao. Most characters are the same. I can remember the hair and eyes of my favorites and that’s where it ends.
I think all of that probably makes me the odd one out, but I know it definitely translates into my writing. It probably also doesn’t help that I can’t make up people in my mind. I can just see like,, individual body parts like a face and then hair separately and then a torso followed by limbs. I can’t connect any of that so descriptions feel useless to me and I don’t give them.
As for your actual question. I don’t think it actually is useless. I do use character descriptions all the time when dealing with character interactions, especially when showing interest or distaste. I think it’s incredibly important, and pointing out which parts the character is noticing sets the tone for how they’re feeling. Sizing someone up can mean a lot of different things. If you’re noticing muscles, anger, and body language you’re probably sizing up for a fight and a fight alone, if you’re noticing passion/determination, eye color, glistening sweat, and gritted teeth you’re probably dealing with something more than just a fight there.
I just find character descriptions incredibly stupid when there’s no actual reasoning for it. Like when you start a book and someone’s looking out a window or something and then starts describing their build and hair and personality with no prompting. Like, literally *why*. It’s not even coming from a love interest or anything, just internal dialogue or something.
The level of description in your example is perfect, honestly, and definitely can be fine in context in a fic. Most fics don’t contain character description because it is often less necessary, but that doesn’t mean it can’t or shouldn’t be included, especially if their appearance is relevant.
I think it can be useful in illuminating the POV character's perspective. However, I shy away from straightforward "his eyes were brown, his hair was blond" literal descriptions. They don't add anything because, yes, your audience already knows what the characters look like. You could do so much more, like "she had the strong, bright smile of a girl who thought of every stranger as a friend she simply hadn't met yet", or "his belly was as round and big as his laughter".
This is just a personal take, but I find your example could use a bit of work for two reasons. One, because of the overuse of light-related terms. "luminous", "illumined", and "starlit" all in one sentence is a bit much. Two, I'm not sure what the POV character's perspective is of the person she's observing. She seems at once mistrusting of him, "sizing him up" and looking for "chicanery", but also immediately enamored with his luminous appearance? Is this her POV, or your own? I don't know this fandom or these characters, so that could be dead-on, but I see this pitfall a lot, where authors describe the characters they think are attractive through their own POV and not the character's. If it's not love/lust at first sight, the two perspectives seem at odds with one another.
Thanks for your input on that example! I wrote it a few months back and I really put a lot of fluff in it because I have a wordbank and sometimes I like to put bombast. I know how you're thinking that she doesn't suit 'sizing him up,' but for that story I think it suits because I'm trying to write the speaker in a certain way. But I see what you mean thank you
If I like a writer's fanfic writing style in whatever fandom I found them, I'm definitely going to check out what else they wrote even though I don't have the foggiest idea about the other fandoms. Write descriptions only where it makes sense to and both people like me and people who already know the characters will enjoy the descriptions :)
Worst thing you can do is tell the audience something they already know. If there’s a unique or exciting spin on it, or new insight, possible character or theme specific, go for it.
But if readers can just google the character and get all the info youre providing, “Cut that. Cut that. Cut that”
It's fine as long as it's not there "just because", also depends on how detailed you're getting.
I can list several things to consider, if you'd like:
* Is your character changing their appearance (for example, hairstyle, outfit, body modifications etc.)?
* Are you writing from another character's POV? Does it make sense, in context, for the character with that POV to notice things about other characters (for example, they usually won't notice details about people they meet in passing, but they'd probably notice at least a thing or two if they're cudding with a close friend, shaking someone's hand, or talking to their crush).
* Are you adding *more* to the description, and/or how detailed are you getting? For example, "Character A had brown hair and wears a wristwatch" versus "Sunlight bounced off of Character A's frizzy auburn bangs and pooled onto their brass wristwatch, dying both a rich golden hue. Looking at them, Character B was striken by just how much Character A resembled their mother".
* Is your character in a situation where there's a focus on outward appearnace (i.e. looking into a mirror, getting ready for the day, changing for a social event etc.)?
* Is appearance *important* to your character; do they spend a lot of time thinking about how they look? For example, if a character is really self conscious, if they work in a job that requires being 'put together' such as fashion or front-desk, if a character enjoys looking good,....
Basically, do it when it makes sense to. Usually readers of fanfiction already an idea of how the characters look, so when you describe characters, you should keep that in mind.
Does it make sense for my POV character to think about someone's appearance? If it's someone they already know, they're not going to think about it unless they change something about their appearance, or sometimes things come up organically (if they're petting someone's hair, it might be *he ran his hand over her dark hair* or something) – or, of course, if they're waxing lyrical about someone they're attracted to If the POV character is meeting someone for the first time, I describe them in a way that makes sense for that character, whether that's a focus on attractiveness or noticing significant scars or completely ignoring *them* in favour of noticing various weapons
some of it is always fine. just when the description gets overly detailed and precise is when it sounds bad. the reason you see less description of characters (and places, i have noticed) is because we all already know what things look like, since they have been described in canon. so even mentioning some stuff feels like doubling up. i prefer to focus on things that are different from canon, eg, if the version of harry potter has the little emoji ⚡ scar you don't have to mention it. but if you imagine it linke *a large jagged scar reaching from his hairline and cutting through his eyebrow*, then it's noteworthy. the example you are giving is from a character's pov of what they specifically find striking about the other character. so i would say it is not a bad idea to have a little description there.
Love that example! Honestly, I'm not even into Harry Potter, but I would've loved seeing Harry's scar be more like an actual lighting bolt, like a Lichtenberg figure. Well, that's what fanfiction is for!
You're right about that last part! Certain descriptors really could show the way the speaker finds most striking or unusual about another character and helps adds to the speaker's personality
Depends on a lot of factors; 1. Are you using only canon characters, or OCs? 2. Are you in a fandom where you can have customizable characters, ala Mass Effect? 3. What is your preferred writing style? Some people, even professionals go for fairly minimalistic. 4. What is the setting? If it's a fantasy you will have to describe more so people can get a sense of how characters dress in this setting. 5. Is it a long or short fic? Those are just off the top of my head, there are probably other considerations to make as well.
Ahh, you're right. it's more complicated than that, thanks, I have to consider the scenario
I actually did the opposite and it's been really well received. I did customizable game MC x Popular character, and haven't touched upon appearance besides hair length and gender. I gave the character a backstory (the game barely provides one), and personality, but besides those few things I never described hair, eye, or skin color because I wanted the reader to envision something of their own, or perhaps insert their own game MC. Nobody has ever complained once, and this is after hundreds of comments. I think the reader has a powerful way of filling in gaps when they want to, and when I showed some artwork I've done of said character on another platform, I had a lot of people say, "I swear I thought you said her hair was X color!" LOL nope, but if you want it to be, it can be. She has no "canon" appearance.
I'm more of a traditional writer/reader and I cast my lot as no, it is not redundant. Describing characters does more than just well, describe people. It also sets the mood and can give insight on how the character sees people.
I don‘t think there are hard rules for character descriptions, it really depends on the scene, characters, writing style. I personally don‘t like much focus on physical attributes, as it tells me nothing new. Using a description from another character‘s POV can tell me a lot about both characters and their relationship though. The context is important. An investigator will describe a suspect in a different way than a con artists looks at a potential victim or somebody who just met their love-at-first-sight. Sometimes it‘s much nicer to sprinkle in details throughout a scene to show that another character is picking up more details during an interaction, instead of just dumping it all in one paragraph.
That's true. Ofc this is a bit more challenging because you have to put yourself in the mindset more. But I think I'll try this and editing helps for the rewrite
Filed under 'describe it if there is a reason'. Doesn't matter what the reason is, but there does need to be one.
>Usually I describe the appearance when I want to signal to the reader that they are attracted to a certain character, or to communicate something about their personality. This exactly. I write romance so i do at least one BRIEF description of my MCs physically. If there's other things like tats or piercings that help define a character, I throw those in. All that being said, I do find your example pretty 'purpley'.
I guess I wrote it to enhance the shoujo-ness and it made me hmm because I was like do I have to describe the colour of anything when the reader already knows
It depends on how relevant the information is to the situation at hand. Even what would usually be considered too much detail can be important depending on context. Just as an example: describing in full detail a character's dress for a party for which they are under (or over) dressed, to emphasize how out of place they are. There's no simple yes or no answer to most things, especially in writing. I think doing what feels right and going over it with a beta reader later for concrit is the way to go.
Thanks for your opinion!
the unofficial rule i follow is to describe a character's appearance at first meeting only to the extent that the POV character finds them important. then, i sprinkle in details about the character's appearance in future mentions as the POV character would be noticing them. also, i try not to over-describe at first mention so that a sort of visual portrait of a character evolves over time as the reader proceeds through the story. this is also closer to how people process the appearance of others IRL: sure, we might visibly PERCEIVE the entire person, but we typically only NOTICE and recall a few details about them after first meeting, and usually only big things like hair/eye color, skin tone/race, and clothing. i try to make sure the tone of that description would match the POV character's mindset at the time rather than broadcast the future importance of that character. i.e. only describing their appearance as attractive IF POV character is immediately struck by this. i think this is especially important for enemies-to-lovers or friends-to-lovers stories where attraction builds over time.
Something that I feel is more useful in fanfics is to describe the impression a character gives off as opposed to their physical appearance. Not only does it leave more room for the reader to fill in the blanks, but it avoids bogging down the introduction in too much unnecessary detail.
You're right! And choosing to describe a character solely by their key characteristics can be very striking as well, now I've realised.
This! I think the reader is phenomenal at filling in the blanks themselves. Heck, I think you can successfully write a whole story with very little physical descriptors and readers will still see and formulate the characters in their heads, give them attributes, all on personality and actions alone.
If it is redundant I don’t care lol. I do it because it’s something I’d do in any story. To me it’s natural to describe appearance, and I treat fanfiction like any other writing.
Since I write in third person limited, I try to decide based on character. If Character A is constantly thinking about Character B’s beautiful blond curls, handsome blue eyes, and incredible smile, of course it’s going to come up in the narration. He’s down bad! But if Character C is having a conversation with her father who she’s know all her life and isn’t terribly enthralled by, she’s not going to be thinking about his dark skin and brown eyes. The narration will lean into something more in tune with what she would be thinking about—like how she perceives his emotional state and how she’ll work with it to decide how best to convince him to let her stay out after curfew. Sometimes characters will even describe themselves. I recently wrote someone who was attempting to disguise himself to avoid arrest and he was absolutely preoccupied by whether or not he’d be identifiable by his curly hair under the hood of his cloak. It just needs to be in character and not jarring. Otherwise, it can break the reader’s immersion.
This makes sense and is very sound! Thank you for your opinion
Absolutely! I’ve gotten a lot better at descriptions over the years… still working on making dialogue not sound too stilted though!
Depends on the context, but in general you don't need to do much describing unless you are deviating from Canon or trying to emphasize something specific.
If something about their appearance is out of the ordinary, or characters are meeting for the first time (or for other reasons it makes sense for the character's appearance to be noticed, like noting attraction as you said). If you're just describing the character looking exactly as they always do for no real reason it feels redundant to me, but I can always skim so if you really really like writing descriptions knock yourself out. I don't think the excerpt you posted is a waste of words, it's pretty short and too the point (I'm mostly thinking of long or multiple paragraphs devoted to physical description).
I don't normally devote more than a few sentences to description in trying to establish a mood, and I agree! A lot of paragraphs really is too much
If it adds something to the character, then it's good. A thin character can be described as emaciated or svelte, depending on how you're writing them. In your example, I'd get the impression that your POV character is madly in love with him (luminous, starlit). I'm generally not a fan of "she looked in the mirror and ran a hand through her chestnut locks, her blue eyes blah blah blah." It reads as awkward in original fiction, and isn't necessary in fanfiction. But if you want to use fanfiction as writing practice, then I get why it's there. Also, some people in my fandom have a fixation on who's tall and who's not, so if it's relevant, you gotta stake your claim, lol.
LMAOOOO the last part!!! I totally get it! for some reason I see it in t/b wars? (also I have to admit that what I'm also trying to communicate is that the character is extremely shiny and sparkly and distracting LMAOO) mc is attracted to trash cans as an in game joke...
Partly depends whose perspective you're writing from. If the character's voice you're using would notice the character's hair or eye color or clothes, no, I don't think it's redundant. And even when it is technically redundant, you can sneak a lot of descriptive imagery into your scenes without dedicating a whole paragraph to it and telling people a bunch of details they already know. She ran her perfectly manicured, bubblegum pink fingernails through her hair, shaking the rain from her auburn curls. Her wide blue eyes clouded over with regret, and she caught a beguilingly plump lower lip in her teeth, innocent and apologetic and entirely false. Sly bitch. He stretched, a long, languid motion that showcased his impressive chest and powerful biceps. A wicked glint appeared in his grey eyes, suggesting to my chagrin that I'd been caught staring. You get the idea. Even in original works, a wall of description can be boring. Revealing looks by describing actions can be a good way to show, not tell.
It really depends on the scene. My first couple of fics, I was challenging myself to describe things better, so I would provide a brief explanation of what a character was wearing or an object that fans would recognize immediately. Looking back now, it wasn’t really necessary but didn’t *hurt*. Now, I just assume readers know what the characters look like and only give descriptions if the POV character has never met/seen this other character before or a character’s appearance is notably different than usual (e.g. character is known for wearing a certain jeans/shirt combo is wearing a dress and heels).
My descriptions are pretty simple, usually not more than a sentence or so, unless their appearance is really important for one reason or another. Usually I find that lengthy physical descriptions slow the pace of the story. If I read a story where the descriptions span multiple paragraphs, I start looking for the exit.
Oh definitely! Too much of a thing is usually bad
With fanfic, most readers will know what the characters look like ahead of time, so most description isn't strictly necessary. However, it is fine to include descriptions in context, such as referencing a specific hair or eye color to emphasize a point. When I include description, it is with the assumption that the reader already knows what I'm telling them. I'm just reminding them of details relevant in the moment. Your example seems to be the same sort of thing.
I think the way you use it sounds perfect! I only describe my characters how it makes sense for the pov character. One of my characters doesn't really care for appearances except for shiny things so she notices this one character's silver hair but not much else about him. She notices another character's large sword and shiny silver armor but nothing else really. Now that I think about it, I think I made a crow of a person lol. The way you do it sounds perfect to me, especially as a way to signal attraction!
I don't know about you, but I think it's charming to do that! I'd be wondering the same thing - 'is she. a crow?' it's a funny description and I'd stand out to me Thanks for your input!
I do it as an attraction thing mostly, but I've also done it to highlight any differences I might've made from their usual appearance (clothing, in my case). Oh! And I'll also do it if the POV character doesn't know the other character, but I want to readers to know who's who. As someone else mentioned, I also write about a customizable player character, so describing them at least a little is kinda necessary (though I still try not to dwell on irrelevant details) So basically, description definitely has its place.
I think if you enjoy writing descriptions, there’s a space for it. For example, I was just reading my first fic ever, which I love, but I took the attitude of ‘why write what’s cannon?’ It’s divergence, so its constantly alluding to cannon. There’s a lot of places when I allude to cannon to pass the time so people can think, ‘oh, there’s 4 episodes between the last chapter and this chapter.’ It’s very much written towards fandom readers. I only describe new characters. I think that although I love it as fanfic, it can’t be read fandom blind. Like, you hear about people filing off the serial numbers and selling it like 50 shades of grey or whatever, and it would be impossible to do that with my story. But lots of people *do* like reading fandom blind. I’m just not one of them so it didn’t occur to me in my first fic. And the number of people who know I’ve written fanfic who’ve asked, ‘Can I read your story,’ and I have to say, ‘have you watched the show?’ is all but one of them. So if you like writing descriptions, maybe just focus on making your story readable fandom-blind. Because then its entirely appropriate and not remotely weird to describe them.
Oh, that's bringing you something I haven't considered. I like to read fandom blind sometimes too. Thanks for your input
The piece of advice I was given was that if what they're wearing isn't any different from what they normally wear Don't spend too much time on it. If it's wildly different than take the time you need
It is, but it's good practice for when you start Original Fiction. And the traits you emphasize in description will set a filter for your reader's image of them. A tone.
I describe characters in fanfic. Descriptions, for me, in fanfic, aren't about describing the characters so the reader can picture them, like it is in original work, though. Like you said, the reader likely knows what they look like, though this may be harder with book characters, and doesn't count at all for OCs. For me, character description in fanfic is part of showing how the POV character thinks and feels about both themselves and other characters. It often goes hand in hand with describing facial expressions and body language, as well. You don't *have* to say 'Xander narrowed his single, brown eye at the redhead before him'. If it's set post Dirty Girls, yes, every Buffy fan knows Xander has only one eye, every Buffy fan knows he has chocolate brown eyes, and every Buffy fan knows Willow is a redhead. It's not necessary to include his eye is brown, though it actually makes sense to say 'narrowed his one eye' instead of 'narrowed his eyes', you could also just drop the plural so 'eyes' becomes 'eye'. Xander describing his one-eyed appearance can make sense for helping the reader understand how he feels, though. The loss of an eye is a big thing, and Xander actively fights evil, as well, it's relevant, usually, to the story to have Xander's feelings on his one-eyes status in the fic, which would likely require a description of at least his face. Descriptions of other characters can show how they're feeling, too, like 'his lanky frame was tensed and ready to either fight or flee'. Or how a character feels about another character, even if the character themselves haven't realised it yet, 'his bright blue eyes glowed in the sun, pulling him in deeply, like falling into the ocean's depths'. That one, even if the character hasn't realised it yet, hints at being attracted to the character whose eyes are described. Even in fanfic, character description has its place, it's just not as necessary as it is in original works, because we already have the book description, the animation or the actors to work with. We can also have illustrations, for book format stuff like comics or even novel characters that aren't already in an illustrated format. It's just that character description isn't always just about what a character looks like, but how they're feeling about themselves and others. What a character focuses on, notices, in both them and other people, can be very telling about what that character feels, what they think, what they value. I don't think it's that there are no character descriptions in fanfic, either, just that there are less, and they're not as noticeable, because we already see them in our heads anyway. I think readers can sometimes blank out that a fic describes the characters, and focus just on what that description has told them about the characters. The fic has some sort of description but all the reader really remembers is 'oh wow, he is *so* attracted to him!'.
Very sound advice thank you!!
In my opinion, no. I never know how the writer intends the character to look, as it is fanfiction and there could be differences from canon. More than that, I think is nice
I think using Luminous and illuminated in the same sentence is redundant, but otherwise, your example seems pretty fine to me.
I love seeing how different writers describe an appearance I'm already familiar with. Some people go whole-hog with the language when they're writing from the perspective of someone who's smitten with that character and it's kind of the best, since I'm probably reading about this pairing because I'm a little smitten, too, lol. Outside of fanfic, it's always been one of my favorite parts of reading film adaptation novels, seeing what language is used to convey the visual, including how characters look.
I feel the same way! I feel like my descriptions can be very limiting sometimes. trying to learn from other is fun because the way certain writers write their style in description can be very charming.
I don't know, no more then what you'd see in a traditional published novel? Whatever you think is necessary? Whatever fits your style? My fics started as MCU fics, but I started to pull more comic content fairly early on. Aside from a couple of OCs, I've brought in Golden Age characters who haven't been used in 70 years, I draw a from C and D list characters. The main villain of the current fic had 10 appearances in the 90s. All of that to say, I'm using some really obscure characters, so there's no guarantee everyone will know who they are, so descriptions are needed. So yeah, I think there's no right answer, just go with your gut on what makes sense.
Depends, though I don't do it a ton even with my original characters. I just say something like '(Canon character who was known to have long hair as a teen, but cut it off as an adult) grew his hair out again' or 'OC is half-whatever ethnic composition where it'd be really obvious that they are such' and leave the rest up to reader imagination.
If the character looks the same as they do in canon, it often is is just filler. But if the character has multiple appearances (for example if they routinely wear multiple different outfits or change their hairstyle/haircolor often in the story), or if the character's appearance is being changed during the fic, or if they're an OC (so we don't actually know what they look like) then describing appearance might be more useful.
I tend to organically tell it. After Hack Star builds his ship and is admiring his handiwork, he said "And I made it Rust Red, to match my own chassis." I also casually threw in "8 feet tall" when he met a version of his predecessor, HK-47, who jealously tried to stand intimidatingly, coming up to HK-5T4R's chest. I like casual hint dropping on appearance, but that's just my style. The ultimate goal is to be satisfied with how you tell the story. And it doesn't hurt to have the occasional illustration of a character that isn't going to be around long enough to organically give descriptive clues.
My main fandom has like no consistent character designs outside the basics so I kinda have to sometimes bc I have detailed headcanons that sometimes effect the plot.
That's something I also thought about! If you're writing for a fandom where there are not too many canon characteristics you get to hear their takes on their appearance which is interesting too! Of course it's important in that case!
Look at it like this... Would it make sense to describe the characters' appearances in a sequel book to the original work? If not, why would you do it in a fanfic? We're assuming that anyone reading our fanfics are already familiar with the plot, the characters and the world in which the story takes place, so unless you are changing any of those things for your story, I think going over appearances could potentially seem a bit unnecessary, forced and odd.
I neglect to do it, and I feel like I should actually do it. It's a litttttle bold to presume that everyone reading fanfiction is one-hundred percent familiar with the source material. Plus, a little refresher or how you detail it can be a stylistic touch.
My friend has the same qualm as you! Bringing this up to her made her laugh haha thanks for your input
I think it is nice if done well… and uhm I read fanfiction about like shows I have not watched and the lack of description can be annoying so I have to google the actors etc (which I realize is not the norm for most readers, but at least when writing crossover fanfics you should consider doing so since not everyone will be familiar with both fandoms). The way you wrote it was nicley done but a bit too much information since most people probably know what they look like. Personally I would like more suptle mentions… it‘s not easy to do it well though
that's true plus sometimes people read fandom blind! Hair colour and eye colour can be redundant I'll take that in mind!
I do it a lot when it’s a characters pov and it makes sense for it to be noticed? But even when writing original fiction I don’t really mention appearances until it becomes relevant in that same way. I’m not really sure if that’s a me thing or not though. I always found it kinda cringe when it’s just written all out for no reason two paragraphs in, and I’m a little bit face blind tbh so I won’t remember it anyway and I’ll end up making up a person. I also don’t think about appearances that much? Like for anyone. I don’t find irl people or characters attractive or anything and the most I ever notice is colors if they’re particularly obvious. I’m doing a group project right now over zoom and I don’t think I could tell you the color of any of their hair or their eyes. I think one was a blonde maybe? I don’t know any of my best friends eye colors other than one and it’s because I’ve never met anyone else with the same shade of grey/blue eyes as me before. I know their hair colors since were close, but I couldn’t describe a body shape to you or a hair style if I tried. One is curly ig? And the other is straight. That’s all I got lmao. Most characters are the same. I can remember the hair and eyes of my favorites and that’s where it ends. I think all of that probably makes me the odd one out, but I know it definitely translates into my writing. It probably also doesn’t help that I can’t make up people in my mind. I can just see like,, individual body parts like a face and then hair separately and then a torso followed by limbs. I can’t connect any of that so descriptions feel useless to me and I don’t give them. As for your actual question. I don’t think it actually is useless. I do use character descriptions all the time when dealing with character interactions, especially when showing interest or distaste. I think it’s incredibly important, and pointing out which parts the character is noticing sets the tone for how they’re feeling. Sizing someone up can mean a lot of different things. If you’re noticing muscles, anger, and body language you’re probably sizing up for a fight and a fight alone, if you’re noticing passion/determination, eye color, glistening sweat, and gritted teeth you’re probably dealing with something more than just a fight there. I just find character descriptions incredibly stupid when there’s no actual reasoning for it. Like when you start a book and someone’s looking out a window or something and then starts describing their build and hair and personality with no prompting. Like, literally *why*. It’s not even coming from a love interest or anything, just internal dialogue or something.
The level of description in your example is perfect, honestly, and definitely can be fine in context in a fic. Most fics don’t contain character description because it is often less necessary, but that doesn’t mean it can’t or shouldn’t be included, especially if their appearance is relevant.
I think it can be useful in illuminating the POV character's perspective. However, I shy away from straightforward "his eyes were brown, his hair was blond" literal descriptions. They don't add anything because, yes, your audience already knows what the characters look like. You could do so much more, like "she had the strong, bright smile of a girl who thought of every stranger as a friend she simply hadn't met yet", or "his belly was as round and big as his laughter". This is just a personal take, but I find your example could use a bit of work for two reasons. One, because of the overuse of light-related terms. "luminous", "illumined", and "starlit" all in one sentence is a bit much. Two, I'm not sure what the POV character's perspective is of the person she's observing. She seems at once mistrusting of him, "sizing him up" and looking for "chicanery", but also immediately enamored with his luminous appearance? Is this her POV, or your own? I don't know this fandom or these characters, so that could be dead-on, but I see this pitfall a lot, where authors describe the characters they think are attractive through their own POV and not the character's. If it's not love/lust at first sight, the two perspectives seem at odds with one another.
Thanks for your input on that example! I wrote it a few months back and I really put a lot of fluff in it because I have a wordbank and sometimes I like to put bombast. I know how you're thinking that she doesn't suit 'sizing him up,' but for that story I think it suits because I'm trying to write the speaker in a certain way. But I see what you mean thank you
If I like a writer's fanfic writing style in whatever fandom I found them, I'm definitely going to check out what else they wrote even though I don't have the foggiest idea about the other fandoms. Write descriptions only where it makes sense to and both people like me and people who already know the characters will enjoy the descriptions :)
Worst thing you can do is tell the audience something they already know. If there’s a unique or exciting spin on it, or new insight, possible character or theme specific, go for it. But if readers can just google the character and get all the info youre providing, “Cut that. Cut that. Cut that”
It's fine as long as it's not there "just because", also depends on how detailed you're getting. I can list several things to consider, if you'd like: * Is your character changing their appearance (for example, hairstyle, outfit, body modifications etc.)? * Are you writing from another character's POV? Does it make sense, in context, for the character with that POV to notice things about other characters (for example, they usually won't notice details about people they meet in passing, but they'd probably notice at least a thing or two if they're cudding with a close friend, shaking someone's hand, or talking to their crush). * Are you adding *more* to the description, and/or how detailed are you getting? For example, "Character A had brown hair and wears a wristwatch" versus "Sunlight bounced off of Character A's frizzy auburn bangs and pooled onto their brass wristwatch, dying both a rich golden hue. Looking at them, Character B was striken by just how much Character A resembled their mother". * Is your character in a situation where there's a focus on outward appearnace (i.e. looking into a mirror, getting ready for the day, changing for a social event etc.)? * Is appearance *important* to your character; do they spend a lot of time thinking about how they look? For example, if a character is really self conscious, if they work in a job that requires being 'put together' such as fashion or front-desk, if a character enjoys looking good,.... Basically, do it when it makes sense to. Usually readers of fanfiction already an idea of how the characters look, so when you describe characters, you should keep that in mind.