How to Describe your Characters

Character description can be a challenge. How much information is too much? Which parts are your readers even interested in? How do you describe your character without falling into age-old clichè territory? Let’s have a look! In this article we will cover:-

• How to describe a character in an engaging way
• What is needed when you introduce a new character (and what isn’t!)
• How to describe your protagonist in a first-person narrative (without clichè!)
• Pacing, pacing, pacing
• How to make your reader care about your characters using description

Describing your characters:

What does your reader need to know?

When we think of describing our characters, we often think about hair colour, eye colour, or maybe the clothes they’re wearing. However that information might not be needed straight away, or at all. 

Trying to visualise a character from a list of static descriptions is boring and hard work for the reader. In fact, if you don’t give them a reason to invest in a character — by making sure the descriptions are vivid, or tie into the story — then they might skim-read over, or give up entirely.

Adding in descriptions with movement (or action) can help, and slowly trickling information into your story, rather than all in one chunk, is also a good idea.

What we should consider when writing about characters — or about anything, really — is this: What does the reader need to know right now?

Important Questions

Other questions to consider: What is the essence of this character? What does the reader need to know about them to progress the story? And finally, how can we convey the important information in an interesting way, without slowing down the pace of the story?

For instance, which of these following paragraphs tells you, the reader, more about the character? Which one is more engaging to read?

Example 1

Lizzi burst through the door. She had brown frizzy hair and blue eyes. Her thin lips and high cheekbones made her look angry sometimes, but she wasn’t an angry person at all. Lizzi loved the outdoors, had done ever since she was little. She was always out there somewhere, ankle-deep in mud. She wore hiking boots and a thick coat. “Let’s get out of here,” she said, grinning. 

Example 2

Lizzi burst through the door, wild wind still in her curly hair, her well-worn boots muddy as usual. “Let’s get out of here,” she said, grinning, her eyes bright with adventure. Her cheeks were pink from the outdoors, her limbs wound tight, desperate to head out into the wilderness again. 

Let’s take a look at these examples more closely…

Both paragraphs describe Lizzi and tell you that she loves the outdoors. This is the key bit of information the reader needs to know. However, the first example tells you, and the second example shows you. The first example is slow paced, and the second example is faster paced.

The second example achieves its goal with fewer words.

Can you feel the difference in perspective too, as a reader? The first example keeps you at arm’s length. Aside from the first and last sentence, it’s all in the past. Information is being told to you, and you’re not being allowed to figure it out for yourself. Most of the first example isn’t in the present, where the story is actually taking place.

The second example is nose-to-nose with the action. As a reader, you feel like you’re in the scene, in the middle of the action. You’re experiencing the scene, being giving interesting bits of information about Lizzi that answer some of your questions, but leave more dangling. You’re not just being told everything right up front.