Summary

The author emphasizes that character descriptions should serve the plot and cautions against overly detailed and irrelevant physical characterizations.

Abstract

The article argues for a more judicious approach to character descriptions in literature. It criticizes authors who spend excessive time on detailed physical descriptions that do not contribute to the story's plot. The author uses hyperbolic examples of character descriptions that focus on body parts and unnecessary comparisons to food, which distract from the narrative. Instead, the author suggests that writers should provide readers with enough information to imagine characters on their own, thus enhancing their engagement with the story. The article also touches on the author's personal background, revealing that he is blind and relies on writing for income, encouraging readers to support his work if they find value in it.

Opinions

The author believes that detailed physical descriptions of characters can be a disservice to the reader if they do not advance the plot.
There is a critique of the tendency to use food comparisons when describing people of color, which is seen as unnecessary and potentially offensive.
The author holds that readers' imaginations should be engaged by giving them just enough detail to form their own mental images of characters.
It is expressed that authors should focus on the plot and narrative rather than spending words on irrelevant details about a character's appearance.
The author values the reader's time and suggests that extraneous descriptions waste both the reader's and the writer's efforts.
A personal opinion is shared about the importance of reader support for the author's livelihood, given his disability and financial situation.

If Your Character’s Looks Don’t Push the Plot, Don’t Describe Them

It gets my goat, and he’s growing surly.

You get my goat hungry. Photo by Nati Melnychuk on Unsplash

One thing I find both fascinating and dismaying is the endless effort some authors put into the descriptions of the characters they write.

“Her sturdy frame, skin as alabaster and rose-red lips pouting furiously, strode through the doorway. Her hair, dappled with the morning dew of the ivy she passed on her way in, swayed in the air…”

Written on the fly, that one isn’t too shabby compared to some of the ways people describe the looks and bodies of the inhabitants of their creations.

Some authors go out of their way to dedicate hundreds of words into the swaying breasts, the size of their calves and posteriors, and every other body part imaginable. They do all of that while avoiding actually getting to the plot.

And don’t get me started on the “pouting breasts” and other nonsense along those lines. Breasts don’t pout, dude. Sure, they sway. They jiggle. They might even bounce jauntily. What they are not are creatures with emotions.

You know, like your character is supposed to be?

Of course, then there’s the endless amounts of authors who dedicate pages to describing people of any color other than white with every food product they can get their minds into.

Again, without actually going into the plot of the story they’re trying to convey.

This kind of thing really gets my goat, my friends. My goat wants to be left alone. He gets grumpy.

Humans have this wild ability to fill in the gaps when information is missing. It’s pretty amazing, really.

If you give your readers just enough information to run with, their brains will form the figures in the imagination. This allows them to have a more visceral read, becoming an experiencer of the story rather than just telling them what’s happening.

Instead of describing everything to them, why not allow them to become a part of the narrative themselves?

Let them have the experience of the “theater of the mind.” Your stories will be better off for it.

If your character is a blonde bombshell whose breasts are like wild deer running through a forest, that’s fine. If it’s not essential to the plot that the reader knows that about her, don’t bother telling them.

It’s wasted space, an excess of words, and takes them out of the incredible story you should give them.

In the end, it’s doing the reader a disservice.

In another example, though, if he has a scar on his cheek, and there’s something about that scar critical to the plot, tell us all about it. Did he get it from the guy who’s holding the gun to his head at this moment? That would add something to the tension.

But if he got it because he was chasing some girl on the playground when he was ten, and it does nothing for the movement of his current experience, it doesn’t do us any good to know.

Tell us your stories. We want them. We crave them. You have the desire to get it out for a reason.

Just don’t give us the extraneous things which do little to push the story forward. It’s a waste of our time, and yours.

And, again, for the love of my goat Bob and all that is unholy, please stop describing people as if they’re food.

That’s just senseless. It makes my goat hungry, and he’s already eaten everything.

About me:

I am an author with over a dozen books and dozens of short stories published. I have experience with both traditional and self-publishing, and love to discuss the pros and cons of both.

Why do I write? Because I am blind and live on woefully low disability payments each month. The government graced me with trying to live on about $700 per month, and I decided to start publishing because I also like to be able to eat.

If you like my work and feel inclined to support it, please consider buying me a Ko-Fi.

Thank you from the depths of my soul for being here. Keep striving to “be the best you that you can be” in this moment.

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