Recently I got into an interesting discussion with a reader on my blog about visualizing characters and how “real†we want them to be.
I love physical descriptions of the hero and heroine because it helps me form an image in my head that I can really hold on to. Subconsciously, I think I attach the description to someone I’ve seen before (usually an actor/actress). Without a description, it’s harder for me to connect with the character. I think it has to do with the way I read (and write for that matter)—I’m a “visualizer†and the story kind of unfolds like a movie in my head. Apparently I’m not alone, because the reader said she sees things the same way.
As a writer, I will often use a picture of a model/actor to help me visualize a particular character. For example, in HIGHLANDER UNCHAINED, Lachlan MacLean was Gerard Butler and Flora MacLeod was (a young) Elizabeth Taylor. I had a couple pictures of them by my computer to give me a little inspiration as I wrote. For me, the image has nothing to do with personality, it’s only about the physical description.
But is that too much information? Sometimes I hesitate to tell people who I had in mind because I don’t want to take the chance that (a) they don’t like that person and the image ruins the character for them or (b) they attribute more than the person’s physical description to the character.
Maybe there is someone out there who doesn’t think Gerard Butler is hot (unlikely, but always a possibility I suppose *g*) or who doesn’t like the way ET behaves off screen and attributes that to my character. I’ve been disappointed myself to find out that a character I loved (and had a strong mental image for) was completely different from who the author had in mind, and further, was someone who didn’t really appeal to me.
I have some writer friends who don’t like (and don’t do) detailed physical descriptions. As a reader (or writer) do you prefer a good physical description to help you visualize a character? As a reader do you want to know who the author was thinking of when she wrote the book? If you are a writer, do you use pictures to help you visualize your characters?
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I like just enough description to create my own picture in my head and I try to do the same as a writer. I don’t mind authors posting pictures of what the characters look for. It’s fun!
I used to give detailed physical descriptions, but then I felt as if, as an author, I was being shallow. As if a detailed description of how the character looks will completely describe the sort of person they are. I don’t do it in RL, why would I do it in my fiction?
But then, I feel some description is imperative to understanding a character. So, superficially, I’ll say the heroine has dark hair, the hero has dark eyes, I’ll describe any deformities, and then use a description of their clothing (severe, immaculate, etc), or how they walk (over-confident pacing, etc) to give the character tangible details for the reader to latch onto.
Many of the books I read tend to use this style of physical description as well, so maybe that’s why I do it myself. I like the idea of not having a specific description, because then (for instance) if it ever becomes a movie, I’m not disappointed by the actor they chose. As an example, Daniel Radcliffe didn’t look like Harry Potter to me until the third movie, and by the fifth, he’d lost it again. I think it’s the hair.
I like to give just enough description to help the reader get a picture in their own mind. I don’t care if their picture is like mine, as long as they have one. What I hate is when I have a clear picture of another author’s characters in my head, and then I see the movie of that book. I’d read The Stand several times before the mini-series came out, and when I saw Molly Ringwald as Fran, it completely threw me. Now, I can’t read the book without seeing her and Gary Sinise in my head (not that Sinise is a bad image to have… he just wasn’t my original picture.)
As a reader, I say it all depends on the skill of the writer. There has to be some description supplied, hair, eyes, height, build, etc., otherwise I feel lost.
As a writer, I need to have the above details as well as something more. A physical trait or two, for example. A habitual move or phrase. Those details contribute to the general picture I want the reader to have.
I like them in small doses. Just enough to give me an idea but let me fill in the details.
And please don’t tell me that they’re a (fill in the blank) lookalike or soundalike or actalike. Or whatever.
I like spare physical descriptions.
B.E., Molly Ringwald and Gary Sinise weren’t my idea of Stu and Fran either!!! I’m with you all the way.
I only sketch the character unless there’s a physical feature that’s important to the story. (In Wolf Hunters, for example, a major character was a beautiful woman, but she had been maimed — and one side of her face disfigured — by a shotgun blast some years before the story. I gave enough detail for the reader to understand her appearance. The important part was how it revealed the personalities of the other characters in the story — whether they saw her beautiful side or her maimed side when they looked at her.) As a reader I like having room to imagine characters my way — so as a writer I usually just provide enough for the reader to know what sort of canvas they’re working with.
I like enough description to form a picture in my head. But that doesn’t mean it has to be explicit–to say she’s petite, stout, or statuesque is plenty to form a body image.
In many romances, the physical description is used to build an understanding of the character, which seems to me to be more unique to romance than most other areas of fiction: He’s scarred both physically and emotionally (is there ever a scarred hero who isn’t messed up?). She’s a plain spinster-wallflower but he uncovers her beauty.
FWIW, descriptions that don’t match cover art really bother me.
Sorry for the late check-in, I had a breakfast meeting this morning and am just getting back to the computer. Seems like the consensus so far is some kind of basic description, but not TMI. I had to laugh, PatriciaW, when I read your response because that is pretty much what sparked this blog–I think a lot of people feel the same (i.e. please don’t tell me the hero looks like Tom Cruise!). Carolyn (waving!!) I think I’m pretty much with you–I like some kind of physical desription because otherwise I feel lost. Because I picture the characters in my head it’s harder for me to connect if I’m half way through the book and still don’t know what color hair they have. But it’s funny, going to what Susan said, this doesn’t happen to me as much outside of romance. Maybe I’m more conditioned to look for that physical description than in other books? BTW, Belinda, Jill and BE, I’m with you on movie casting sometimes getting it so wrong that it completely messes with my mental picture.
I am visual and imagine what characters look like whenever I read. I like description, at least hair/eye coloring and body type, but I don’t mind at all if it is sprinkled through the story instead of in a big lump. Reminders are good, too.
I thought all your heroes were Gerard Butler, LOL! Just like all of mine are Hugh Jackman. *grin* Or maybe it’s just that I know about the GB-love so in my head all of your heroes are GB? Though right now one of my favorite Scots is the guy playing the American Capt. Jack on TORCHWOOD. He’s so fricken wicked.
As a reader I like to get the basics down (hair and eye colour, basic description: solid, lean, rangy; energetic, languid, contained, nervous; roughly handsome, beautiful, chiseled, scarred, etc.). As an author, I try to provide same.
As a non-movie goer and rare television watcher, I really don’t like cop out descriptions that tell me the hero/heroine looks like so and so, because odds are, I either don’t know what that person looks like or have already used whatever description the author has given to form a picture in my head.
In one of my first writing exercises, I likened a scene to the “barn raising in Witness” and was chastised for using someone else’s description instead of my own. I guess it stuck.
I don’t mind a ‘fuzzy’ picture, either. It lets me superimpose MY ideals on the characters.
When Diana Gabaldon was asked who would play Jamie & Claire if they made a movie, she said she’d never tell, because she wanted readers to be allowed to see the characters as they saw them.
Not to say an author shouldn’t give description — but it doesn’t need to be in meticulous detail, and for me, doesn’t need to be compared with a known commodity.
Then again, I wouldn’t recognize a pair of Jimmy Choos if I tripped over them (and I probably would). I live in Florida — we don’t wear shoes.
I just had to chime in on this because I recently (and I mean recently – final version arrived Tuesday) plunked down a pretty penny to have a graphic novel artist do a portrait of my characters.
And. I. Love. It.
Being able to see them – and I mean THEM – is awesome. For the hero I did have a pretty close actor match (Martin Henderson) but like the post says, I didn’t want to say it often because not ALL of his expressions/actions matched my character. My heroine was more nebulous and I didn’t have a match IRL so there wasn’t even the occasional pic to help inspire me until now.
I did describe them in the MS, but in pretty basic terms…length/style/color of hair, eye color, general height and build, my hero has dimples, etc. So readers will still be able to form their own picture.
Now, will having an actual picture of how *I* see the characters impact readers? I’m not sure. So far those who have seen it say it matches pretty closely with what they thought, but I dunno how much of that is suggestion-after-the-fact. At least no one has said “Ugh! That’s not how I see them at all!” Yet…
(Shameless plug for my blog: the picture is there, if you’re dying of curiosity.)
As a reader, I like a basic description, but not too much detail. See… ALL of the heroes in the books I love become my husband. They have his eyes, his smile, his kisses… Yes, it helps that he’s tall, dark, and handsome, but it DOES make it harder for me to enjoy a book that’s supposed to have a blond-haired, blue-eyed hero. His coloring just keeps changing on me, and I get yanked out of the story every time his blond hair or blue eyes are mentioned! LOL! So more vague is better for me.
As a writer, the picture in my mind is more clear. Sure, my heroes bear a resemblance to my husband, but not quite as much. I do have to know exactly how tall my characters are, and things like that, though. Otherwise, I won’t know when he might have to duck, whether she lays her head on his chest or his shoulder, etc. These kinds of details are important to me. I once read a book where the hero was supposed to be about 8″ taller than the heroine… but then one particularly passionate scene portrayed them as being eyelevel. That yanked me right out of the story.
Oh, I definitely prefer detailed descriptions. Otherwise the characters never seem quite real to me. A really good book will play like a movie in my head. A really GREAT book will seem like I’m sitting right there in the room observing everything in 3 dimensions. However, the descriptions don’t have to be a page long info dump. They can be spread out through numerous scenes.
I seldom visualize the characters as famous people. However, I think that AFTER I’ve read the book, it would be fascinating to find out which real life person the author visualized while writing the character.
I think that’s one of my problems with covers that aren’t consistent with the author’s description. Once I get an image in my head, I can’t change that image even if the description in the book is different.
Bev, I’m so glad you brought up covers–it used to drive me nuts, too. I was fortunate that what was visible of my hero was consistent with what I’d written, but I know it doesn’t always happen. Authors get so frustrated by this, but usually we have very little say in the covers. Kathleen, what a lovely think to say about your husband–I hope you showed him your post!
Jenny, that is so cool about having a graphic artist do your characters. It’s funny, but the heroine is usually more nebulous to me, too.
Terry, you cracked me up with the Jimmy Choo’s. I think my husband wished I didn’t wear shoes. LOL.
Okay, Kalen, you found me out. All my heroes are Gerry. Do you think watching 300 counts as research? LOL. And actually, Hugh would be my #2. I almost want to see that new movie just because of him (even though it got horrible reviews).
Becca, I usually like some basic description early and then sprinkling to remind me.
I like vague descriptions especially of the heroine because in my mind, she is me. I know what I look like so no description necessary.
I assume that the hero is tall, dark, and handsome (with smiley eyes, looking… ummm… like my hubby, perhaps?) unless I’m told otherwise.
And yes, tell me about the “special” characteristics like scars, being short, plump, etc.
I love the idea of the graphic artist doing your characters! I bought a couple how to draw books but have No Time to explore those.
I think I would enjoy an illustrated novel, not all pictures and spare text, like a manga novel, but just a picture here and there. Maybe forty pictures in the novel with regulare text.
But then, I’m middle aged but still like comics.
I love the idea of the graphic artist doing your characters! I bought a couple how to draw books but have No Time to explore those.
I think I would enjoy an illustrated novel, not all pictures and spare text, like a manga novel, but just a picture here and there. Maybe forty pictures in the novel with regular text.
But then, I’m middle aged but still like comics.
I love the idea of the graphic artist doing your characters! I bought a couple how to draw books but have No Time to explore those.
I think I would enjoy an illustrated novel, not all pictures and spare text, like a manga novel, but just a picture here and there. Maybe forty pictures in the novel with regular text.
But then, I’m middle aged and still like comics.
oops
Writing-wise, since I’m so visual, I always choose an image or two to have as a reference. Then I’ll focus in on a particular standout feature or two to describe while keeping the rest very general. So if the character has a scar or dimples or remarkable eyes, I’ll detail those, but otherwise, I’ll only sketch out the descriptions.
I also like to allow the other senses to come into play with physical description—how someone feels or smells can be as vivid in providing a description as how someone looks. But I’ll never say that a character looks like “so and so” within the text of the book even if I might imagine my current hero as looking like Rodrigo Santoro…
As a reader I don’t want to know an actor you had in mind in case it’s not someone I like. I like the basics, hair, eye build…although I always give the male lead black hair in my mind no matter what you tell me
There are exceptions and this depends on the authors skill. Here’s how Elizabeth Hoyt described the Earl of Swartingham in, “The Raven Prince”.
“The man heaved himself out of the mud puddle to loom over her in that irritating way gentlemen had of trying to look important when they’d just been foolish. The dirty water beading on his pale, pockmarked face made him an awful sight. Black eyelashes clumped together lushly around obsidian eyes, but that hardly offset the large nose and chin and the thin, bloodless lips.”
Does not sounds like the usual hero! but it gave the character a uniqueness. JR Ward writes great characters also, so good I don’t mind the odd blond one
As a writer, I always have that image of the hero and heroine in my head and sometimes I clip a picture from a magazine and put in with my character profiles, but I would never tell my readers who it is. Of course I know what hunky movie star should play the lead when they make my novels into blockbuster movies. As a reader, I prefer to leave it to my own imagination. And as a movie watcher, I often wonder if casting people ever read the book the movie derives from.
When I read I don’t like too much physical description of a character because I AM the heroine. I like to step into her shoes, since reading for me is about escapism. I can’t escape when I can’t fit into a well-defined/described body. I much prefer a one-size-fits-all character. When it comes to personality and character motivation though, I need detail.
When I put my writing hat on, I don’t normally have pictures, although having said that, my latest heroine is based on a well-known public figure. I was just about to google her.
A recent DNF for me was one where I reached chapter three and had yet to learn even basic physical descriptions of the characters or setting. I had no idea what clothes they were wearing, what their hair and eye colors were, or what their surroundings looked like. In my head, all I could see was the generic robot from I, Robot standing in a pitch black room talking to other robots.
I want the author to create the world for me. If I have to make it up all by myself, I might as well be writing my own book.
I agree with you Sylvia,
you need some input from the author early in the book otherwise you have a blank in your mind. Is he tall, dark haired ect
It’s not so much the physical description that I am after, that can be summed up in a couple of sentences early on. It’s the character development throughout the book. How does he carry himself around others, is he quiet, sarcastic, aggressive ect…
A pet hate of mine is when the hero and heroine don’t meet until half way through the book!
One of my favorite historical books of all time is Lisa Kleypas, “Dreaming of you” with Derek Craven and Sara Fielding. I love how the book starts out. Straight away you have such a clear picture in your mind of the two different character’s.
I guess I commit some cardinal sins. I’ve recently posted pics on my blog of actors on whom I based a couple of my recent heroes. I don’t use those references in the book for either hero or heroine, though I do describe them. I’m pretty visual. The interesting thing is that I know who my hero looks like, but I rarely find an actress or celebrity who resembles the heroine. I guess I see her as me in some ways.
Personally, I only like slight sketches of people. And sometimes, that’s not even the person I build in my head.
But I am not a very visual reader, I never do faces. Barely sketches places. I use the feel/personality of a place or person more than the actual details. In some books where I’ve read it many times I think I have a pretty solid look/feel, but many times I don’t.
Sometimes it’s fun to see who the author had picked out for a character, it usually doesn’t bother me. But I wouldn’t want it to be continually referenced (or maybe ever referenced) in the book.