preyer said:
i used to listen to radio dramas all the time. almost nightly, in fact, when there was a great suspense radio drama on hosted by e.g. marshall. and an hour later it was over with. and the characters were fairly generic, as i recall. are you saying you write stuff with absolutely no description as to what the character even wears, or are such details that much implied? anyway....
Why does anyone care what the character is wearing? If he's a cop, officer of plain clothes, don't you already know what he's wearing? If he's going to work at the local factory, do I really need to tell you he isn't wearing a pink dress, a cop's uniform, or a spacesuit? You've seen factory workers, haven't you?
Now, if a viewpoint character is wearing something special, say an arm brace, I'll mention it, but even more than I hate physical description of the viewpoint character, I triply hate it when a writer gives me a clothing description.
Really, who the heck cares what the viewpoint character is wearing, unless there are special circumstances? He's wearing whatever you want him to be wearing, in whatever color you prefer it to be. I'm also not going to tell you what color his hair is, or what color his eyes are. His hair and his eyes are whatever color you want them to be.
I guess we listen to different radio dramas. I still listen to them daily, and I find nothing at all generic about the characters. Radio, where these shows are concerned, is called "The Theatre of the Mind," and I believe it. I see every character in stark detail, right down to the soup stain on the private eyes's lapel, even when it's never mentioned that he ate soup.
The funny thing is this. Just about every last one of the male POV characters on those radio dramas looks exactly like me. But I see all the others just as clearly.
If I want to know what everyone is wearing, I'll go watch TV. Though most often I can tell you what TV characters are wqearing with my eyes closed. Most are dressed exactly as they should be for where they are and/or who they are. Characters in novels, too, should usually be dressed according to where they are and/or who they are. Really, try it sometime. Go watch a TV program with your eyes closed. Guess what the characters are wearing. You may get the color wrong, but you should get the basics right most of teh times.
I won't say there's never a time when you should describe the viewpoint character, but there does need to be a strong reason other than letting the reader know what he looks like. If your viewpoint character is a man, stands five feet tall, and dresses eaxctly like a gay leprechaun, the reader will probably need to know this, but even then it can all be done in a sentence. Please, no lists.
I just thinks it's best to credit your readers with having a good imagination, and I think it's best to let the reader become teh viewpoint character. It's hard to place yourself in a characters shoes when he's a foot taller than you, when he has red hair and you have brown, and when he has bright blue eyes and you have muddy brown eyes.
I love good description, and I like more description than many readers, but I hate needless description, and I hate being TOLD what the viewpoint character looks like, or how he dresses. I know he isn't naked, I know what he does for a living, what he's doing right now, where he is, etc.
And I know real people don't go around describing themselves, even in third person limited.
Then again, I detest it when writers insist on giving me a runway, Monkey Ward description of any character. It stops being fiction, and jumps over to fashion magazine.
Describe the things the viewpoint character has a REASON to notice. Describe the things he has a REASON to pay attention to.
Really, when you walk into a bank to despoist money, how do you think about what all the other customers are wearing. When you get to the teller, does it matter that she's wearing a faux pearl necklace? Do you care? So why would I care? Do you tell anyone, "I went to the bank to deposit my check, and the teller was wearing a blue dress and a faux pearl necklace."
There are times when characters need to be described, but most descriptions I've seen, sometimes in published novels, and in darned near every unpublished manuscript I've seen, are pointless filler that often takes several sentences, or even paragraphs, to do the job my imagination can do better in half a second.