Describing attractive characters...?

Since I write erotic romance, its sort of a necessity to be descriptive when it comes to both female and male characters. When I get the feeling I'm using the same adjectives too much or need to freshen up my descriptions, I browse through a dozen of my favorite romance books to get some new ideas.

FYI: I'm not an accomplished author.

If the story is written in the first-person then it really only matters what the protagonist POV thinks of them. For example, the character may be attractive, but because our hero 'Joey' doesn't feel attracted to 'Frank' then he wouldn't spend much time thinking about how 'chiseled' his jawline is.

If the character in question is infatuated by another one, then the descriptions would become more obsessive, and not just the physical ones. Try to have your main POV admire the other character's personality and actions as well as their physical attributes if this is a love interest.

A good rule to follow, that apparently a bunch of people do, is not to describe a characters physical appearance much at all. Let the readers imagination fill in the blanks. Especially if you're trying to describe the main POV.

As mentioned above, the genre also dictates whether physical descriptions are important, and if love/sex is one of the central themes then it plays a much bigger role.

If you're worried about it sounding cheesy then inject a little bit of your own personality into it. Say the dialogue / words out loud and think... "Is this personally how I would describe them?" Doing this should allow more natural descriptions to follow.

I think as readers we tend to assume that our heroes/main characters are handsome unless we're told otherwise.

If your character's good looks are important to the story then the fact of them will come out through the story; if they're not then do you really need to describe them at all?

Why do you want to describe your characters as goodlooking? Are you writing romance or erotica?

If you are not writing for a genre that requires it, then there is no need to describe your characters. Your reader will do that for themselves in thier own reading experience.

Honestly, describing characters is one of the hardest parts. (Imo, anyway.)

Instead of describing for paragraphs about how they're made of marble ala Smeyer, focusing on others' reactions to their beauty is a good one. Have them do double takes, have girls blush, boys nudge each other, wolf whistle. Just don't go too overboard. Instead of telling us, show us!

I generally do a one-paragraph physical infodump on the character when they're first introduced ("She had blisteringly red hair and eyes like a cat's, and wore dresses two sizes too short for her long legs etc etc"). After that, I don't mention their looks again unless other characters are reacting to it. But that's personal preference.

And don't worry too much about sue-ness. It's all relative.

Since 95% of the stuff I write is hot guys boning, I don't really have that problem :-D I'd suggest you start from a visual, stare at the photo, and describe the visual. Don't use a single abstract word such as handsome or gorgeous. Describe specific features and specific aesthetic qualities that set this particular man apart from other men, and how looking at this man makes the POV character feel. Body language and pose should also be an important part of the description.

One of my favorite series of books has always been "Mirror of Her Dreams" and "A Man Rides Through" by Stephen R. Donaldson. He had a knack for describing his characters in a casual manor. His style was reminiscent of an inner monologue that one may get when seeing a random person for the first time. It wasn't like a list of characteristics either, it was more along the lines of "the candlelight gave his auburn hair the appearance of flames, only emphasizing the ire in his tone." You know, stuff like that, little things thrown in here or there that eventually give you an overall picture of how the person looks.

When I write, if my characters see one another from afar I am able to give a general description without going into too much detail, but it can be tricky sometimes.

I would highly suggest reading the above mentioned books, (if you like fantasy at all) they are very good, and like I said, his detailed character descriptions make for good references.

I wouldn't worry too much about describing them unless it's absolutely vital to the story. Most of the time, a few physical characteristics will do the job. Don't go on about the godly beauty of her face, and the azure orbs of her eyes. A good rule: if you feel like it's cheesy, it probably is.

I almost never describe my characters, but I don't write romance either and I'm guessing the rules are probably different for that genre (?). Occasionally I'll interject a description but only when it feels natural. In my urban fantasy novel I had my MC (who narrates the story) say "I tried to play the dumb blonde, which didn't really work because I'm actually brunette." That was the only time I really mentioned anything about the way she looked.

Kit-Chan said:

I've always found it hard to describe good looking characters without feeling cheesy. I don't have as much trouble describing beautiful female characters as much as male ones. I believe that, since I read the Twilight Saga at age 11 (if any of you read it, you'll remember seeing the words godly, dazzling, handsome, and striking twenty times per page), since then I've been afraid to say much other than the occasional hints that the character is attractive. I would hate to ever sound cliche, or make the character sound like a Sue/Stu by their looks alone. How would/do all of you describe you characters who are on the more attractive side? Namely, men.

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I usually write in close third, or first, so in either case: In the voice of the character. If the character is a nerdy artist working on a PhD in Rennaissance art, the words will be much different than if she's a horny seventeen year-old cheerleader, which would also be different than the horny seventeen year-old basket-case with zero self-esteem.

One of my latest descriptions:

Marla was good looking. Long, dark, hair draped over her shoulders and brushed her chest. Not large, but well proportioned with a firm shape that fit her toned body. No tan lines, hinting at possibilities under her sun dress. Her legs were elongated by red stilettos, toenails matching. She wasn't a supermodel, but she could hold her own in this room of modern medical enhancements.

Enough to get the point across while leaving enough to imagination so the reader can fill in the blanks and be comfortable with the character. For the story, it's important that she is attractive, the kind of woman men notice immediately, but the details don't need to be specific.

Jeff

The problem is physical description is not characterization (in my opinion), and novels tend to play to a narrow stereotype--there is a disproportionate number of gorgeous people with blue or green eyes, blonde hair, rock-hard muscles or generous breasts and tight buttocks. This is writing just as shallow as the people who focus only on physical characteristics when admiring potential mates (or hook-ups). For this reason, I tend to give the minimal physical description necessary for the reader to form a rough image of the character (so the reader can fill in the blanks for their own personal mental picture). Keep in mind I don't write romance. But I bet many of us normal-looking people have had just as many smoking-hot romances and mop-and-bucket sexual experiences as the stereotypes in the romance novels.

Most of the people in my stories are normal-looking people so their impact on the readers come from what they do, how they act and react, and how other characters interact with them.

I would say less is more. Just write that he/she is attractive. Readers will fill in the blanks with a mental image of a person they find good looking.

The problem with writing attractive characters is that what one person sees as attractive, another sees as nothing special. Some people in reality are almost universally seen as good-looking, but there are still people who don't see it. So unless you're writing characters with generic good looks or you tell your readers outright that the character is hot, you've got a hard time. And then, of course, when you do either, you give yourself a second problem because who cares about someone who's generic and who wants to be hit over the head with how good looking someone is?

I give a brief description when it's needed and let the reader decide for themselves if the character is good looking. And writing about real people in unreal situations, how attractive they are is the least of my concerns.

NeuroFizz said:

The problem is physical description is not characterization (in my opinion),

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This is true of who is being described. However if, as said upthread, you are writing close third/first then what and how someone is described can be characterisation of the describer. What they notice, how they describe etc.

To the OP, if you keep it in voice, rather than a list of attributes, and show how the person affects the describer, then the reader should know at least that your POV person thinks they are hot, and why.

So: She was five four and a redhead, with pale skin and trim ankles. That's not really giving much of a vibe about the person (describer or decribee) though no doubt for some styles/people to intro it would do.

I would describe her, but all I can remember is the split in her skirt that kept sliding backwards to expose pale skin and stocking tops.... <-- this tells you volumes about the describer, not much about who is being decribed apart from the POV character is rather mesemerised by her and therefore probably thinks she is hot.

Alternatively, describe the way they move, or other things that capture the essence of a person.

An excercise I've found very helpful is to take a notebook, go to a cafe and try to capture a person in three sentences. No cheating with run ons. Pick two or three telling little details about them - the way they run their hand through their hair, the little bobbles on their jumper that they pick off in a nervous habit kind of way, the air of that man over there who looks like he's communing with higher spirits. If attractive, determine what is it about them that makes them attractive as opposed to just good looking (there is often a difference)?A grace in movement? A fluid gesture? An air of self confidence?
Describe what it is about them that is the essence of their attractiveness.

IdiotsRUs said:

So: She was five four and a redhead, with pale skin and trim ankles.

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I say.

Is anyone else imagining seun reaching for the smelling salts?

IdiotsRUs said:

Is anyone else imagining seun reaching for the smelling salts?

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Yep.

A trick Tolstoy claimed to use was that you don't really describe characters at all. You spend more time focusing on how characters react to them. So a beautiful character doesn't really need to be described, unless you want to. But you probably *do* want people reacting to them as though you're beautiful. (Being overly friendly, stopping to stare at them on the street, mentioning that they're gorgeous, whatever.)

Mutive said:

A trick Tolstoy claimed to use was that you don't really describe characters at all. You spend more time focusing on how characters react to them. So a beautiful character doesn't really need to be described, unless you want to. But you probably *do* want people reacting to them as though you're beautiful. (Being overly friendly, stopping to stare at them on the street, mentioning that they're gorgeous, whatever.)

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This.

But I also think you have to lay the basic groundwork on appearance to help form a mental picture for the reader.

Ralley37 said:

This.

But I also think you have to lay the basic groundwork on appearance to help form a mental picture for the reader.

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I've read many novels without anything about appearance, and I've had no trouble creating a picture of the characters.

You don't want to give a run-own of the character's attractive qualities. That's boring, doesn't actually paint a very good picture, and might put someone off if what you describe isn't their idea of attractive. I mean, a nose like this and hair like that doesn't necessarily add up to "wonderful". If you give bits and pieces of information here and there, and if you show how this person affects everyone around him/her, then your reader can fill in the pieces.

In my current WIP, it's actually the male love interest who is the attractive one, not the female MC. My favorite description of him comes when he is about to go outside and is trying to convince the MC to come with him. He comes to sit with her in the window seat, and she notices how great he looks in his white suit with the sunlight shining on his dark hair. She's 16, so she's attracted to him. We see him through her eyes. Later, he's sneered at a pretty boy. At one point, his friend tells him that he puts a spell on women. I never spend more than a sentence or two at a time on his appearance, but you get a pretty good idea of what he looks like (I hope).

I write romance, and I'm pretty sketchy with description. I don't think highly descriptive writing is a requirement of the genre.

I agree with those who say that the character is best described by other characters' reactions. Don't say your character has high cheekbones; say that one of the other characters dreamed of running her fingertips along his cheekbones. etc.