Physically describing the 1st person MC

[bubbagringo]

I'm having a hard time droppin in what "I" (the mc) looks like physically without sounding ridiculous.

anybody have any tips/pointers/suggestions to do this smoothly?

thanks

[Willowmound]

Here's one: don't!

[bubbagringo]

Here's one: don't!

got that one completely covered...

[Aggy B.]

Yeah. That's difficult.

Partly depends on what genre/tone you're writing in too.

Only helpful thing I can think of is to take a day or so and see what sort of occasions you (the author) actually think about what you look like.

I don't think about my appearance constantly and certainly not in much detail. However, there are still times when I look in the mirror and think "Eww, my roots are showing. I should dye my hair." Or "This color makes me look dead."

But then, I'm a girl, so maybe I think those things more than a guy would.

Whatever you do, keep the details to a minimum. Figure out what things make the character unique. When you picture him/her what little oddities of appearance can you not do without? Ignore the rest. In other words, if it's important that the reader know the "I" in your story has buck teeth, but not what color hair, then ignore the hair. Concentrate on what makes the character individual.

Hope that helps.

[DeleyanLee]

I'm over 100 pages into my first person POV novel and have yet to describe the MC, yet everyone who's read it has a clear image of him because of his personality, his movements, his mannerisms. They're all roughly on par with what I had in mind, so it's good.

Let the character do his/her own description in who they are. Physicals are easy for the reader to fill in.

[Stew21]

I never once describe my first person MC.

The only way I've seen it done effectively (without feeling like it was contrived and a trick of writing) is when the character is narrating a reaction to something of himself physically.
Such as: The new khakis were stiff and not nearly as comfortable as my well-worn sweatpants. I hated dress pants, which was probably a throw-back to childhood when I was too tall and thin for normal off-the-rack clothes to fit. My waist had filled out, but I couldn't help feeling that I needed another inch or two of fabric to cover my argyle socks.

or
I wish it still fit. The gold ring meant everything to me for years, but age has not been kind to me and as I stare at the fleshy plump sausages that used to be lean fingers, I can't help but miss the sparkle I once wore so proudly.

or

My eye color never concerned me, until I found out about the mailman and my mother. Indeed I was the only of my siblings with green eyes, and it so happened, Mr. McFeeley had green eyes too.


:D

[HoosierCowgirl]

I wrote that one character, a tall man, reminded himself to duck through the low doorway.

IRL, a taller than average visitor went through the barn looking for my husband and about gave himself a concussion when he walked into a low beam

I know you all are going to howl but some of my female characters have looked in the mirror. Arrraggghh! But for technical reasons. It's hard to do that perfectly smooth center part 1860s 'do without a mirror. Upon trying a new dress, how could she not see how it fits? But also to establish that the emerald tones of the dress matched her smoky jade eyes ;)

There might be different expectations for different genres.

Ann

[Lyxdeslic]

Many will say, "Don't do it. Not necessary. Only a hack would bother."

I agree, with a caveat: do it only if it enhances/helps to show character development as well.

That said, I now have to go look through my ms again and seriously contemplate eighty-sixing my character descriptions. :)

Lyx

[Stew21]

I agree, with a caveat: do it only if it enhances/helps to show character development as well.


Lyx

YES. I agree.

[Lyxdeslic]

Interesting. Would this work with a third person, like a story about Joe without describing Joe?Yes. It would work with any pov. The reader is quite capable, and probably prefers, of picturing "Joe" however he/she deems.

Lyx

[hammerklavier]

Only describe as much as is important to the story. Depending on your story that may be none or a lot.

Another way (besides those excellent suggestions above), is to have another character, preferably the MC's mother, make certain comments. You know the kind.

[dpaterso]

Hmm, I can't recall ever describing my 1st person protag either.

But women seem to gravitate towards him and smile, and men become gruff and manly in his presence. :)

So I guess he might be ruggedly handsome, a man's man, yet appealing to the ladies.

I've no idea what color his eyes are... but I know he swings a mean sword.

-Derek

[Stew21]

I don't know my MC's eye color either, or what color hair he has, or if he is tall, thin, average.
He's attractive enough to have a girlfriend :shrug:

I *imagine* him a particular way, and thought it would be a good idea to let readers imagine him their own particular way.

[jst5150]

Another way ... is to have another character, preferably the MC's mother, make certain comments. You know the kind.

Seconded. :)

[HeronW]

If there's something unusual about your character then you need to let the reader know: My MC is half-dragon, scaled on the left. That's important to what she can do & what others want--her skin on that side. Secondary MC's are triplet princesses, all with about 5' with blonde hair but very different goals, life experiences, and eye colors. My Prime Assassin wears a dozen fine gold chains in each ear and she can move without making a sound. Scary woman :} Describe details if they are important, a general sketch or a line here and there works too. Most 'I looked in a mirror' descriptions are frowned upon.

[Stew21]

Only describe as much as is important to the story. Depending on your story that may be none or a lot.

Another way (besides those excellent suggestions above), is to have another character, preferably the MC's mother, make certain comments. You know the kind.


"You're too thin, dear. Are you eating enough? And so pale! Are you feeling alright? Probably the not eating enough. You need protein. How are you ever going to get a girlfriend while you don't dress yourself properly? When it was up to me, you were a very neat and tidy sort of boy and now you are a frumpy wrinkled mess. And another thing! Cut your hair. I can't even see your eyes with that tangled and snarled mess hanging over them. No one can even see what a brilliant blue they are behind that mess.Mummy just wants the best for you, Charles."


Have to love mum.

[DWSTXS]

You can always have other characters do it for you.

"wow Jim, you've got the bluest eyes I've ever seen"

"Hey Janet, that's a nice green dress, goes well with your red hair too!"

"Gee Andy, have you been working out in the gym? You're arms are huge!"


see?

[Nightfall]

OK, I'll go against the crowd and say that I LIKE and prefer to know what the characters look like.
The trick is in the presentation of the description. The description can be sprinkled in and presented to the reader in small bits so it isn't so intrusive or obvious.

[bubbagringo]

wow...thats a lot to think about

thanks all

[Danger Jane]

I don't mind knowing what the characters look like, but I don't want to know in a big chunk of description when I meet them, and I generally don't want to look in the mirror at the MC. There are ways to stick in relevant description without it feeling like description.

Sometimes it's relevant. And sometimes it isn't at all. The trick is in picking out the relevant details.

[Brighid]

As a reader, I don't need a head-to-toe description. Without knowing what genre you're writing, it's difficult to give suggestions.

The traits that I think are worth mentioning are: extremely tall/short; missing limbs or other body parts; tattoos; unusual hairstyles ~ i.e. distinctive traits.

I've been reading Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone series - the only things I can remember being mentioned are her clothes (because she owns one all-purpose dress and otherwise wears jeans/sneakers/comfortable shirts) and her hair (because she keeps it short and trims it herself with nail clippers). It's enough that I can form a picture in my mind.

[Devil Ledbetter]

OK, I'll go against the crowd and say that I LIKE and prefer to know what the characters look like.
The trick is in the presentation of the description. The description can be sprinkled in and presented to the reader in small bits so it isn't so intrusive or obvious.I've got to side you here, Nightfall. Aren't writers supposed to describe the various elements of their story so that readers can picture them? What is the point of making a giant exception when it comes to characters? What a character looks like is a part of his characterization. I suspect this almost pridefully stubborn refusal to give any character description whatsoever is a bit of a writerly affectation.

I wouldn't stop the action and give some long, detailed description, but if my POV character notices something about another character, it's going to get mentioned as surely as any other part of the scene he notices. Sure, I want my readers to develop their own ideas of what a character looks like, but I don't see the point forcing them to do so with no guidance at all. There aren't any other elements of a story where we're expected to flatly deny the readers help in picturing things, so why do this with characters?

I don't get it.

[Chasing the Horizon]

I'm going to go against the crowd as well. Undescribed characters are a pet peeve of mine in reading. The picture in my head constantly changes, or I end up imagining one of my own characters, or some detail in chapter 12 makes me realize the tall blonde was actually a short brunette all along *book slams against wall*. In my own writing describing the characters is easy because I do each one from another character's POV. When we meet an attractive member of the opposite sex, we DO notice what they look like, usually in a fair amount of detail (one reason I like describing from the POV of the opposite sex--or a gay member of the same sex, lol). There's nothing forced or unnatural about this. I've never written first person, but one of my next projects is going to be in first person. I'm sure there must be some way to describe my MC without having it sound silly (it certainly will be harder than in third limited, though). I'll probably have to work the details of her appearance into the first few scenes, rather than describing all the important aspects at once like I usually do.

[Bufty]

The reader will picture him (meaning the 'I' in the first person POV) from what he does, what he says, how others react etc.,

To my mind there is no need to do more unless it is essential to understanding the unfolding story. And with a little extra thought, outright description is avoidable even in that scenario.

[Devil Ledbetter]

The reader will picture him (meaning the 'I' in the first person POV) from what he does, what he says, how others react etc.,

To my mind there is no need to do more unless it is essential to understanding the unfolding story. And with a little extra thought, outright description is avoidable even in that scenario.I'm curious about what other elements in a story that there is never any need to describe unless it's essential to understanding the story. Someone please clue me in. Must we never describe the setting or climate in the story, unless it's essential to understanding the story? How about the MC's living quarters? Must we refuse to say whether he lives in a mansion, an apartment, a trailer park unless it's somehow essential to the story? Must we never mention what kind of car he drives, or what he does for a living, or what his workspace is like unless it's essential to the story? Must we refuse to reveal what kind of pet he has, unless it's essential to the story?

I completely get that you don't stand around describing the MC in excruciating detail, and of course having a first-person MC describing himself as he stands before a mirror is the most hackneyed of cliches ... but I don't understand this blackbox mentality on what the MC looks like. It seems rather contrived, to me.

[jannawrites]

My WIP is in first person POV, too. I've clued the reader in to her appearance, using subtlety, in a number of ways:

I tucked a curl behind my ear.

Her auburn tresses, the color of which mirrored my own, looked stylishly straight.

A more complete excerpt:

I washed my hands and glanced in the mirror. The reflection staring back at me was one of a nice enough looking woman, despite the slightly-frizzing auburn curls. The nose was small and decently cute, the eyes large and green. Ah, there’s a zit. Before I could get too critical I stuck my tongue out, making a face. Can’t take one’s appearance too seriously.

From this paragraph the reader could glean: Ellie's hear is reddish and curly, prone to frizz. (It's a curse, I tell ya! :) ) Her facial features, though not described in exact detail, join together to create a pretty woman. Her skin is not flawless (because how many women can say that?), but yet she doesn't obsess over her looks.

ETA:

... and of course having a first-person MC describing himself as he stands before a mirror is the most hackneyed of cliches ...

I think it can work if approached the right way.

[hammerklavier]

The tradition with first-person is that you're telling a story. "Hi. Call me Ishmar (or is it Ishmael, I forget, you know how much whalers drink), I'm going to tell you about the time I was on a whaling ship." You simply aren't going to stop to describe yourself when telling a story. "As I faced the gale-winds I clapped my hat more firmly over my gorgeous brown curls." I'm not saying that it hasn't been done (did Ishmar do it?) but it's not tradition because it's not very realistic.

[Hopcus]

I also like to know at least a character's coloring. You don't have to describe every detail of a person exactly, but for me to fill in the lines I've got to have the dots first.

[girlyswot]

I just wrote a romantic short story about a vampire (I'm still wondering how that happened) and I did want the reader to get an idea of how she looked. I dropped some into a general reflection on who she was:

‘I…’ There was nothing to say to that. All her life that had been who she was. Not Bee, the girl who could turn five cartwheels in a row without stopping. Not Bee, with the dark red hair that hung down to her waist. Not even Bee who fainted during her last maths exam. In her own mind she’d only ever been – could only ever be – Bee, the vampire.

But the main technique I used was to have her flatmate help her fill in a dating agency application:
‘Right. Hair colour: red. Eyes: pale green. Height: five foot three?’

‘Four.’

‘Five foot four,’ he wrote down. ‘Weight?’

‘None of your business.’

He eyed her measuringly. ‘About nine stone?’

Bee made a noise of disapproval but Adam merely waited. ‘Oh, very well. Nine and a half stone, if you must know.’

‘Good. Strengths: witty, fun-loving, great arse.’

Someone else's viewpoint is helpful (and can be done without breaking POV) and mixing it up with non-physical descriptions works well too, I think.

[Willowmound]

He eyed her measuringly

Are you sure about this one?

[Devil Ledbetter]

Are you sure about this one?It doesn't bother me.

[Sage]

Some things can be easily hinted at. A character who is short is easily shown to be short when they find themselves dwarfed by a taller character. A character might have to tie back their unmanageable hair. A teen might wonder if she'd get more respect if her hair wasn't streaked with pink.

[WriterInChains]

I've got to side you here, Nightfall. Aren't writers supposed to describe the various elements of their story so that readers can picture them? What is the point of making a giant exception when it comes to characters? What a character looks like is a part of his characterization. I suspect this almost pridefully stubborn refusal to give any character description whatsoever is a bit of a writerly affectation.

I wouldn't stop the action and give some long, detailed description, but if my POV character notices something about another character, it's going to get mentioned as surely as any other part of the scene he notices. Sure, I want my readers to develop their own ideas of what a character looks like, but I don't see the point forcing them to do so with no guidance at all. There aren't any other elements of a story where we're expected to flatly deny the readers help in picturing things, so why do this with characters?

I don't get it.

Couldn't agree more. :)

[maestrowork]

I'm having a hard time droppin in what "I" (the mc) looks like physically without sounding ridiculous.

anybody have any tips/pointers/suggestions to do this smoothly?

thanks

A) Don't describe at all

B) Let other character describe the narrator

C) By Inference (e.g. my father is Cary Grant and my mother is Grace Kelly).


But if you decide to describe the narrator at all, do it early on -- don't wait until page 134 and then tell us "oh, by the way, I am bald." By then your readers will already have made up their minds on what the character looks like, and it'll sure throw them off.

[maestrowork]

Some comments:

My WIP is in first person POV, too. I've clued the reader in to her appearance, using subtlety, in a number of ways:

I tucked a curl behind my ear.


Most people are not aware of their "curls" or at least not consciously. Doing so in 1st person seems a bit forced. It's similar to saying "I brushed my fingers through my blond hair." It just seems like a clunky way to sneak in a description, since most people simply don't say things like that. I never once said anything like "I brushed my black hair."


Her auburn tresses, the color of which mirrored my own, looked stylishly straight.

Again, this feels clunky. Why mention "mirrored my own"? Unless there's a point of that reference, it seems rather forced. That reference simply looks wedged in.

Now, if you write: "She resembled me in almost every way, include her stylishly straight, auburn tresses" then it works well because there's a context.


I washed my hands and glanced in the mirror. The reflection staring back at me was one of a nice enough looking woman, despite the slightly-frizzing auburn curls. The nose was small and decently cute, the eyes large and green. Ah, there’s a zit. Before I could get too critical I stuck my tongue out, making a face. Can’t take one’s appearance too seriously.

The mirror thing is a cliche. Again, it calls the descriptions into question: why are the narrator describing herself this way? Is she self-aware? Is she at a date and trying to re-evaluate if she's a good-looking woman after all? Again, if given the right context, that may work. But simply doing the mirror trick for description's sake wouldn't work very well.

So my point is, if we're to include descriptions, it should be done in context so we're not forcing them. It's actually a slight POV violation when we write things like "I brushed my fingers through my blond hair" since the narrator wouldn't be thinking or observing the blondness of his hair.


OK, I'll go against the crowd and say that I LIKE and prefer to know what the characters look like.
The trick is in the presentation of the description. The description can be sprinkled in and presented to the reader in small bits so it isn't so intrusive or obvious.

If you want to sprinkle, do it early on as the information becomes relevant, before the readers already make up their minds about the character. It's very annoying to have imagined the character as a Brad Pitt lookalike and then find out on page 121 that he looks more like John Malkovich.

[Willowmound]

It doesn't bother me.

That's fantastic.

[DonnaDuck]

The way I'm writing it, she's narrating but she doesn't come into the story for maybe ten pages and even then, it's her 8 year old self but I've never described her. I've made mention that she's Italian from Brooklyn (which will garner specific looks initially) and then a small hint about skin color and facial features, "olive skin and eyebrows abound," which is a typical, and sterotypical, Italian physical description. So the asumption would be she has dark hair, olive skin and thick dark eyebrows (not Groucho Marx thick but thick enough). At this point she can be a typical Italian girl because her looks aren't important to the story yet, not to mention her at 8 and her at 32 are pretty different looking. And I've always found it best to let other characters make subtle mentions of the MC when in first.

While the mirror thing is cliche, I think it can be done and done well if you don't have your MC pouring over his or her features. For instance,


"Would you stop picking at your face? There's nothing wrong with it! You want scars?"

My Ma, I swear to god, I want to slap her some times. Like I'm gonna let a pus head fester on my face, right?

"Quiet, Ma! It's not that bad!"

"You'll be saying that when you're pock-marked, huh?"

At this point, she's easy to ignore. I'm a picker. I can't help it. You start on one little spot and before you know it, it looks like you've been wearing a beard of bees. Nothing a little make-up can't cover up . . . well, maybe a few minutes from now it'll cover it up. Really, my skin isn't that bad but, and damn her, my Ma is right. If I didn't pick, it'd be a lot better. Really, she just wants me to get out of the bathroom, you know, with 6 siblings and all. I think half of them are waiting, cross-legged at the door.

"Get out of the goddamn bathroom, Layla! I gotta take a piss! Ow, Da, what was that for?!"

"You know better than to take the Lord's name in vain. Now pinch it before He makes it fall off. Layla, out of the bathroom!"

You know it's bad when Da steps in. Eh, I'm covered enough. The red will go down eventually.

"What the hell you shut the light off for? I'm waiting out here! Ow! Da!"

"Don't say hell!"

"Habit, Jimmy. Get over it."

"Ma! Layla got crap all over the mirror!"


She's in front of the mirror the entire time but not pouring over her looks. Nothing else is important except covering her face. You get what information you need to see the scene and that's it.