What character feature, if any, do you tend to focus on?

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CJ.Wolfe

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I have a thing for eyes....

If there is any feature that will be noted in my character it is the eyes. I could omit everything else.

I think this is because when I meet someone, the first thing I always notice is their eyes. It's my favourite feature on a person.

Anyways, what features of your character do you tend to focus on?
 

Sol Quince

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Hair and eyes >.> body type too.
 

Persei

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I often use body build and describe them by behavior: polite, nice, rude, sarcastic, aloof, and so forth.
 

katci13

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I can't say I actually focus on anything, but my guess would be eyes. But in my story now, the color of people's eyes is important. So I want to make sure the reader remembers what they look like. But I also do general descriptions on just about everyone.
 

Kerosene

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Eyes for me.
Skin color too.
Tattoos - that's just one clan in my WIP though.

I also like to give characters unique item. Many of my characters carry weapons and each one reflects the characters's personality, role and tendencies.

This is all odd, because when I see someone, the last thing on my mind is the eyes. I was getting my license done when I was 16 and the clerk asked, "what color are you eyes?" We had to look into her makeup mirror to tell, then we got 20 other people to tell me (because I have gray eyes, it's hard to tell).
 

Riley

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I tend to focus on distinguishing marks or possessions. We're talking scars to wings to magic wands to spacecraft.
 

Richard Brown

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I tend not to focus too much on what people look like and how they dress unless it's important to the story.

I know some authors get carried away describing a characters strong jaw or feathered brow, but from my own experience reading, I tend to develop my own image of what someone looks like based more on how they act and their dialogue, rather than anything the author says.
 

Mandiloo322

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Probably hair. If they have freckles I always mention those. ...Not sure why exactly. I kind of like them I guess.
 

Quiessa

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I try to avoid describing my characters physically as I hate reading books where, for example, the handsome hero is suddenly revealed to be blond haired and brown eyed when I've been seeing him as black haired and blue eyed; I feel pretty cheated by that sort of thing.

I do occasionally mention hair or eye colour or body type, etc, but only rarely and when I feel it adds to the character I've created. I tend to use mannerisms, behaviour, speech more. Also, since I write medieval fantasy, I think the types of weapons a character chooses to use or carry can say a lot about their personality type; I guess that's a bit of shorthand that comes from playing too many MMORPGs :)
 

amschilling

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Eyes. It's a sickness. Or maybe a crutch when I'm trying to show emotion and not tell. Either way I describe what they'd doing way too much.

Guy's hair always gets brought into things, too. Mainly as something they scratch, hide behind, or tease with somehow. Beyond those two things I rarely describe my characters at all.
 

GiantRampagingPencil

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I tend to focus on distinguishing marks or possessions. We're talking scars to wings to magic wands to spacecraft.

Me too. One of my characters has a robotic arm, another has a scar, another has Green Arrow style facial hair. Another is seven feet tall. I find myself constantly resisting the urge to give all my characters exceptional characteristics. Everyone can't be immensely fat, cadaverously thin, beautiful, ugly, have a robotic eye, etc.

Come to think of it, it is thanks to an exceptionally ample bosom that the world was saved. (The villain's weakness is bosomy blondes and consequently he ends up with secretary who has more integrity than loyalty and bravely betrays his evil schemes at a great personal cost.)
 
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blacbird

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Behavior.

A character's behavior always has significance for a story. Physical features? Unless they have story significance (e.g., Quasimodo, in Hunchback of Notre Dame), I couldn't care less about them. What color hair did Huckleberry Finn have? What color eyes did Atticus Finch have (and forget about Gregory Peck; that was the movie, not the novel)?

Who cares?

caw
 

ArachnePhobia

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I try to think of what I'd notice first if I sat next to the character in a waiting room. Like, if she has a skinned knee and keeps picking the scab. Or he's so tall, he shifts in the seat because it's uncomfortable. I don't go further than one or two specific details, normally.
 

rwm4768

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I tend to focus on how they act rather than how they look. Looks aren't all that important to me.
 

Chasing the Horizon

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I'm like the OP with being entire too interested in eyes (IRL and in my writing). I also focus a lot on body language, how someone carries themselves, if they make eye-contact when they meet someone and whether it's in an aggressive or friendly way, that sort of thing. I guess I usually mention hair at one point or another. Otherwise it depends on what is distinctive about the character.

I like physical description, but it's a real art form. Because I'm good at it I use it a lot, but if it doesn't come naturally there are other ways to communicate who a character is.
 

RevanWright

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I tend to focus on facial expressions, mostly in the eyes. The eyes are fairly important parts of some of my characters anyway, so it gives me an excuse to write about them.
 

Olika

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I don't think there is any single feature that draws me in as a writer (or as a reader, for that matter). In most cases, I think it's effective enough to provide one or two descriptors and let the reader fill in the blanks.

That said, I prefer to write in third limited, so when I do start in on a physical description I generally focus on whatever features demand my POV character's attention.
 

Flagship

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If I plan to have any character in the story for more than a paragraph, you will know what their hair looks like. Even most of the characters that don't make it more than a paragraph. Hair.
 

Spy_on_the_Inside

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I focus on hair as well, but I also find I place a lot of emphasis on face shape: sharp, angled faces, hollow, gaunt faces, soft, mood-shaped faces.
 

Grunkins

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None. Character description is one of my weaknesses.
 
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