Guys & Dolls

Exercise Your InkTank

When we talk about character description, we aren’t simply talking about what our characters look like. After all, the color of their hair isn’t often terribly important to our understanding of who they are, unless of course it defines or describes their experiences in the world somehow. An albino’s corn-silk sheen might be meaningful beyond the color itself, for example, and even a bald head can mean a certain attitude about age. But a straight list of physical details (eye color, hairstyle, figure) doesn’t really give us much in that regard. It may lead our readers to the water, but we’ve still got to coax them to drink, to believe that the water is real.

When we talk about character details, we’re talking about the details that give our readers (and perhaps even ourselves) a sense of who characters are in the world of the story. For that reason, physical details should do more than just fill in the blanks. Think of it this way: a story can conjure a vivid and effective sense of characters without ever once mentioning their physical appearances. If readers’ imaginations are actively engaged in the story, they will supply those details themselves, using their own lives and stories as templates. Some readers may even chose to supplant the physical details you’ve supplied with their own, if theirs prove more useful to their believing and imagining. It all boils down to a matter of trust and/or control. How much control do you wish to have over your readers’ imagining and how much do you trust them to see what you’re hoping they’ll see? A bit of advice: give your readers the benefit of the doubt and give them character details that do more than describe physical appearance. Let those details do two jobs at once.

So, here’s our girl. She’s a vintage cut-out doll. Let’s put a new dress on her and let’s make it one that means. It’s our job to bring Edith to life. I’ve given her a name. Now let’s give her a life. And finally, let’s generate some physical details that express that life most accurately. Write an introduction to Edith that would fall early in a story, establishing who she is for our imagined readers.