Character description

Today I want to talk about something that caused more than a few arguments in creative writing classes that is describing characters. First my opinion: I do not care how someone describes their characters. I do think that there better ways of doing it but in the end I do not care. That was and is my opinion on the matter but even I was pulled (very willingly) into the big discussion and argument about the ‘right’ way to do this. There is no right way but there are better ways.

The biggest way that characters are described is the Mirror method. That is when you have a character look into a mirror and tell you what they are seeing. For example:

Rachel looked at herself to fix her hair. Long blonde hair that wanted to curl but then decided that was too much work so it just flowed into waves down her back. Her light blue eyes were round as she took in her skin. Normally flawless but the last week of stress had taken its bill to her skin. She was breaking out all on her chin. She closed her eyes and bowed her head so she was looking at her short legs when she opened them.

That is the mirror method. It has its place in writing and it is not a bad way to describe but there better ways. I do not know the name for how the best way I learned in college. But it is more showing the reader than telling them what they see. I will try do it.

Rachel ran her hands through her hair trying to untangle the long blonde locks. As she moved into the bathroom worried about how her skin would look. The past week of stressing would, no doubt, taken a toll on it. Rachel ran her right hand over her face feeling the bumps on her chin. Rolling her blue eyes she turned to face the mirror.

I do not know if that is a really big difference to you but it is to me. In the first I feel like I am telling you what to see and in the second I feel that I am showing you how Rachel looks. But if I am not then please tell me, I am still learning about this writing thing, I think that is something that everyone is still learning. Description is very important and you can do the first method, I do, but I do not use method one for characters only for places. Places can just be told but do not use it too much. It can be a quick and useful way to jump start a story but it can also make you a cheap writer. By that I mean if you only use method one then you are cheating your reader and yourself out of what you can do as a writer. The best way to not do that is to have other people read your work. Have someone who likes you but is not going to worry about your feelings. You are not your work. The work is something that you have created but you are not it. But I think that I will talk about that next week. Until gentle reader, Je ne.