# Issues with describing characters.



## Dameleth (Oct 9, 2013)

Tried looking some, didn't see anything so sorry if I missed something obvious, now to the question.
I'm having trouble with figuring out when, how, how much of, etc. Of describing my characters. So far it just seems difficult to keep a flow with tossing in how the characters look, and how important it is. Obviously a bit new with a few stories out, still working out what kind of format and style on top of all that, though this currently is my biggest, or so I think. Hard to get anyone to comment on any other aspect aside from spelling errors. =/ Thanks for help and advice in advance.


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## Tailmon1 (Oct 9, 2013)

I find it's always best to describe them as you would actually view them. Or in some cases have a third party look and give their view. You can take a few liberties with the characters if your person has several easy to identify atributes. Things like Size. Race. Coloring can be assumed till further brought into focus.

Yuri began to stir. Her eyes fluttered and she moaned and she moved. Kiki was certain it was not another body shift as she slept. He stood up and watched her face. He was still holding her hand what the chain wrapped around it. The doctor stood up and he checked Yuriâ€™s pulse and then put her hand down. Kiki cocked his head watching her. This was the moment he had been waiting on for almost a full day. Yuri woke up. The last thing she remembered was being on her knees with the bonds stretched tight against her wrists and ankles. She was looking out the doorway and the ship lurched and then noting. Opening her eyes the world was fuzzy and there was a white blob in the center of her vision. As it slowly came into focus she saw a fox like herself but it was nearly all white with the black markings like herself on the ears. What surprised her were the deep blue eyes. They were like pools of water that she could drown her self in. She must be having another dream. There were no other Foxes on this world She was the only one. She let out a sigh and said in a tiny voice. â€œSo beautiful.â€ The White Fox smiled For her. â€œThank the stars you had us so worried.â€ It said. â€œThis must be one great dream.â€ She said. The white Fox reached over and rubbed her head lightly. â€œIâ€™m afraid that this is no dream Little Red Fox.â€ Kiki said. â€œItâ€™s not? Then how come you are here?â€ she asked and tried to sit up. Kiki gently placed his paws on Yuri and kept her down on the bed. â€œLets take things a bit slower for a bit shall we?â€ he said. â€œTell me how do you feel?â€ The doctor said as his face came into view. â€œDoctor where am I?â€ Yuri said. â€œAnswer the doctor, then we will talk about things ok?â€ Kiki said. â€œOk, My head hurts, and my wrists and ankles also hurt. My face hurts and my mouth feels like it is stuffed with cotton. This has to be a dream.â€ She said. â€œWatch her Kiki Iâ€™ll get some water and medicine.â€ The doctor said and walked to the bathroom. â€œKiki? Now I know this is a dream.â€ She said. Kiki stood looking into her Jade green eyes. He had never seen such beauty and his longing for her was nothing like he had ever felt. His chest hurt seeing her in pain. The doctor came back with the water and he opened his bag and selected a vile and opening it he put three drops in the water and swished it around. â€œHelp her sit up Kiki she needs this to go down and not choke on it. She will feel better in a few minutes after she drinks it all.â€ He said. Kiki reached behind Yuriâ€™s back and gently helped her sit up. The doctor picked up her right hand and put the cup into it and helped her raise it to her muzzle. She put her other hand on the cup and she drank it all down and she then sighed.


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## SkyeLansing (Oct 10, 2013)

A bit of a counter point to the above:

Be very careful about over-describing a character (or anything for that matter). A person's mind can only hold a few details at a time when it is given a description and will tend to latch on the details it finds most interesting or surprising anyway. This isn't to say that long descriptions shouldn't be used, but rather it should be carefully considered. In general a shorter description that just focus on the most notable points - or the ones you want to be sure your reader focuses on - will suit your needs.

The problem with excessive detail is that it not only overloads your reader's ability to handle what is ultimately minutia but also easily slips into purple prose as as you struggle to make each new description stand out while meeting some self defined length requirement for the description.

So my suggestion is when describing focus on things that lay outside the norm: Excessively large or small, fat or skinny, any odd marks or blemishes, odd styles (clothes or otherwise), or even behavior. Ideally any character worthy of having a name should have some distinguishing characteristic or two to set them apart from the others so that when you give a name they immediately know who you are talking about because it is anchored to a unique physical trait. For the most part other details they will be filling in on their own anyway.


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## Nikolinni (Oct 10, 2013)

SkyeLansing said:


> A bit of a counter point to the above:
> 
> Be very careful about over-describing a character (or anything for that matter). A person's mind can only hold a few details at a time when it is given a description and will tend to latch on the details it finds most interesting or surprising anyway. This isn't to say that long descriptions shouldn't be used, but rather it should be carefully considered. In general a shorter description that just focus on the most notable points - or the ones you want to be sure your reader focuses on - will suit your needs.
> 
> ...



This I pretty much agree with. Leave it to the artwork or the reader's imagination to fill in every nook and cranny, I say. 

Take Niko for example; He's a blue bunny with white inner ears, a white lower muzzle, throat, and most of his chest is white. His hands are white, as is his feet, and lower half of his tail. And his eyes are blue. 

The thing is, when I describe him in-story, I say he's a blue and white bunny with blue eyes, and leave it at that, and give a quick description of clothing. If you'd like to go into detail about coloring, then you can when it's appropriate; for example, when Niko showers with say his mate, and she glance at his chest and runs a hand on it, perhaps then I can mention how his chest fur's configured. 

Something I like from the first responder is to describe them as they're viewed. In one draft for my Dream Parallax story, a hedgehog was observing a small party of about five furs. Well, all he did was take note of what he could see, and nothing more. This is evident with my character Snowy, whom was part of the group. Snowy's a Nekikian, a sort of feline type creature, and Snowy had unique stripe like markings of ice blue accross his light blue fur. However, only mentioning of the markings on his arm was made, due to his body being covered by clothing. 

Another example is a story I was working on with Niko. The story starts off focusing on him, merely mentioning he was a blue bunny on his way to a bar. But when he gets close to it, the perspective switches to that of the bouncer, who takes note of Niko and again, enter description. Though he only noted that he was blue and white, again skimping over the details about what was blue and what was white, and taking note of what clothes he can wear. 

So yeah, there's kinda my two cents on the whole thing x.x


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## M. LeRenard (Oct 10, 2013)

Yeah, along with what Skye and Niko are saying, I suspect a lot of the time with newer writers the problem has to do with how they envision their characters.  Like, when I was a little kid and wrote dumb stories, I always drew pictures alongside them, right?  So when I wrote the story I would look at the picture I drew and then just list every detail, because I wanted to 'draw a picture for the reader with words'.  But this is just horrible and clunky, and like Skye was saying, no one's going to bother to memorize that list.  So it's much better to just give the memorable details, or sometimes even just one.  Like, at one point in my novel I briefly introduce two rat characters, one of whom is missing half his tail.  Since he's a minor character, from that point on I refer to him as Half-tail, because, you know, that's all you need to know to remember who I'm talking about.  Main characters you can feel free to be more explicit, of course, but the general strategy shouldn't stray too far, I think.


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## Tailmon1 (Oct 10, 2013)

With most great storys. The discription of the character needs only to be basic and the rest should be up to the reader.
Believe me that a persons mind does a fantastic job of filing in the gaps. If I tell you that my Chracter is an Arthro fox that
has a very womanly body and hips and her breasts are a C-cup. You have a rather good picture already. You can add the 
unique things like her coloring and special features along the way or at that point.


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## NerdyMunk (Oct 11, 2013)

Put yourself in their shoes and say "I" a lot. You can change it back later if you'd like, but this technique supposedly allows you to easier step into your character and use your imagination. An acting technique as well.


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## Sasya (Oct 11, 2013)

As the reader reads, they have very little issue backfilling "unknowns", as long as they're not too huge of a reversal. 

If you have a zombie coyote with one eye, a rooster tail and a robotic tentacle for a leg, you can't so easily get away with describing the character as "a coyote" and filling the details in later... however, given minimal deviation, you can absolutely start with a template and slowly populate some details in context.  The reverse is also true. 

Assume that the reader is intelligentâ€”allow them to assemble the character in their mind, and don't be afraid of being subtle.

_Fela brushed her sandy bangs from her eyes with the back of her paw, then tucked her hair behind a pointed ear. She uncurled from her crouch, sinking back into her chair with a gusty sigh.
_*â€”followed a pargraph later byâ€”  
*_Flexing her paws, she unsheathed her claws and dug the tips slightly into the wooden desk.  It felt good, appealing to the hardwired instincts running just below the surface and soothing the crippling frustration mounting within her. 
_*Then a bit laterâ€”
*_Growling under her breath, she brushed the sawdust from her striped brown fur, slitted green eyes narrow as she stared into the brightened room.  Her tail flicked behind her, and she drew her jacket tighter around her white-furred midriff.  
"Listen, I don't know where you went, but you can come out," she said, trying to keep any threat out of her tone.  "I'm not angry. Actually, I just wanted to talk."
_ 
... you're starting to develop a picture of Fela, and I bet a majority of readers would have a decent idea of what species she was, generally.  It can easily be refined later through dialog or exposition.

Just my thoughts, anyway.

-Fox


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## Dameleth (Oct 12, 2013)

Thank you everyone for your help, I'll keep it in mind as I edit the current stories I'm working on, whenever I find the time that is. >.<


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## Scath-mac-tire (Oct 16, 2013)

A lot of this was actually kind of helpful to me to, although I've been writing for a while now figuring out how to appropriately describe a character has always been a problem(I have Face Blindness, so I can't pick out facial features other than the obvious). Thanks for the help


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## Fibriel Solaer (Oct 17, 2013)

If you designed the character, you should have a description already. The description to create it in the reader's mind should be the same one you used to create it in your mind.

Except for spoilers of course, if you intend to work a future story. You can just snip that stuff off.

Face blindness is definitely a serious hurdle to character description because, after silhouettes, faces are the most important part of a character.


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