Writing Descriptions of Characters

by Lynda Sappington.

In one of the writing forums I'm on, a poster mentioned a problem she was having describing a character. Several suggestions were offered, including my own favorite (and the one I use on a regular basis for certain people in my novels): "Cast" your characters with actors or other public figures who resemble what you have in mind for your character, and it will be easier to describe them. If they're actors and you're familiar with their body of work, you'll even be able to picture them in various situations, which could be very helpful.

Despite having a "real" person in mind as your "model" (and stay away from family and close friends as models so you won't have to worry about offending them if your character does something they might not appreciate!), you may still have trouble coming up with good words to describe them. In that case, it could be useful to get a group of friends or fellow writers who are familiar with this person to offer their own descriptions. Not only could this be helpful to you, but it could be a lot of fun. (Whimsical me, I can see this as a party game, LOL!)

Imagine, if you will, Brad Pitt. How would you describe him? Boyishly handsome? What, beyond "sometimes blond, definitely blue-eyed, dimpled and cute" could you say about him? Imagine Clint Eastwood (not as the cute young "Rowdy Yates" on "Rawhide" on TV, but as the man he is today). You might describe him as "craggy" and "squinty-eyed" if you were writing a western. How would you describe his face if you were writing a romance about older folks? "Weathered," maybe? If you were writing a western starring Clint Eastwood, you might describe him as "rangy" or "rawboned," both of which bring to my mind the image of someone who's tall and thin. If the story was a western and he was someone who'd been through hard times, you might use a horseman's analogy: "He looked like he'd been rode hard and put up wet" (which is something you don't want to do to a horse, BTW).

Descriptions of characters can be very difficult to manage, or they can be fun. I prefer to use fun methods whenever possible (writing's hard work a lot of the time, so finding the "fun" in it is definitely something I prefer!). Don't spend all your time with your nose in a thesaurus and your butt in the computer chair. Go out in the real world (a mall, perhaps) and start writing character sketches of the people you see passing by. Or get your friends to toss out descriptive terms for actors you're all familiar with: Michael Douglas, both when he was young ("Romancing the Stone") and now; Catherine Zeta-Jones; Angelina Jolie; Angela Lansbury; Harrison Ford (both from "Star Wars" and now); Daniel Radcliffe (from the first Harry Potter film and now, perhaps including "December Boys" and "Equus"); Jodie Foster, Michael Jackson, Christian Bale, both as child stars and now. Have fun with this exercise and do it often, and your character's descriptions should become easier to write.

Lynda Sappington is the author of Star Sons 1: Dawn of the Two coming soon from WHS Publishing.