Happy August, fiendish writers!
It’s high time we discussed our characters’ appearances, isn’t it?! I see you all nodding there, which is excellent because today’s questions are entirely LOOKS THEMED.
Appearance tells a lot about your character. It also can affect your story a lot, so it’s important to have a good idea of what everyone looks like. Everything from clothes to hair-struggles to identity can give your readers a better grasp of your characters — and also make your characters more complex and relatable.
Or, in the case of evil queens: appearance gives your characters motivation for murder.
Hopefully that is the exception not the norm.
Ahem. Let’s move forward, shall we?
Beautiful People is a writing blog meme which I co-host with the marvellous Sky @ Further Up and Further. We post questions at the beginning of each month (generally around the 5th) that you can answer on your own blogs! It’s designed (A) to help you get to know your characters better, and (B) share with us about your writing projects!
OH! And the linkup is open all month. And check out our FAQ page for more details and to see the archives.
DON’T FORGET TO TAKE THE BUTTON!
Or link to this page so anyone can join in!
- Give a brief overview of their looks. (Include a photo if you want!)
- Share a snippet that involves description of their appearance.
- What is the first thing people might notice about them?
- What are their unique features? (Ex: freckles, big ears, birthmark, scars, etc.)
- How tall are they? What is their build (Ex: stocky, slender, petite, etc.)
- What is their posture like? How do they usually carry themselves?
- Your character has been seen on a “lazy day” (free from usual routine/expectations): what are they wearing and how do they look?
- Do they wear glasses, accessories, or jewelry on a regular basis? Do they have any article of clothing or accessory that could be considered their trademark?
- Have they ever been bullied or shamed because of their looks? Explain!
- Are they happy with how they look? If they could change anything about their appearance, what would it be?
YESSS I am so excited for this one. It’s perfect for helping me know the appearance of one of the characters for a new idea I’m brainstorming right now. The irony is that she’s vain XD
Right now I’m doing a mix between editing one book and brainstorming another. I’m always a little lost after I finish a first draft (Golden Revenge is done, yay!) so now I’m trying to figure out which project to focus more on. As for description, I always like to add bits and pieces in because I tend to have trouble making it all fit in one flowing paragraph. 🙂
Melissa @ Quill Pen Writer recently posted…I Write a Lot of Criminals
Oh YAY for excellent timing! *twirls happily* Editing and brainstorming?! That is a fabulous combination. :’) I feel like one must do something fun while editing hahahah….ahem. I mean, maybe you like editing so I should shush.😂
I do the same with description! I usually do an initial sentence introduction and then build up more as the book goes along. IF I EVEN REMEMBER.😂 Sometimes I completely don’t describe characters at all because I forget. #fail
This is a great set of questions! It’s definitely going to help me with my character building this time. 😜
For some reason, I come up with really short, condensed explanations that can sum up my character in a sentence, then I build from there. The hardest thing ever is naming them though 😖 I can go on for hours searching for ONE single name, only realizing I despise it a day later.
I didn’t do Camp NaNo this month but I might do the November NaNo this year! I have a bunch of ideas floating in my head, one that’s a murder mystery in a seaside town with witches and dolls and cracked mirrors. Kind of like Diviners (which was a bit too draggy for me) plus The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer minus the romance.
How are your NA ideas? I have stalked your progress and I am enjoying your synopses immensely.
Oh yay, Andrea! I’m really glad!! And omg I totally relate to naming-prolems. Myyyy life. I honestly plotted out an entire book in my head in like A WEEK. And then took a month to figure out names.😂 #fail
I’m doing NaNo in November too! WE CAN CHEER EACH OTHER ON! And seaside witches sound decidedly awesome…plus anything reminiscent of Mara Dyer is just going to be sooo coooool. I LOVE IT ALREADY.
And the NA ideas are coming along nicely! I’M STILL SUPER EXCITED ABOUT THEM. I’ve written out some plots (one ended up as a 10,000-word outline…ouch). Hopefully I’ll do a whole post on it soon.😂
Yay! It’s awesome that you got one out this month. I’m looking forward to reading everyone’s answers, even though I’m not blogging right now. 😞
QUESTION. Why don’t you ever do the prompt? It would be cool to see you do a beautiful people prompt for one of your own characters. I understand if you can’t, it’s just an idea. I love hearing about your WIPs. 😁
(Side note: How are your Pinterest boards always so amazing? I could just scroll all day. Scrolly scrolly scroll.)
Well we actually run Beautiful People every month?😂 Aww, but I do miss reading your blog! Will you be blogging again sometime soon, or no?
Oh and the reason I haven’t been joining in is just because I’m working on some Super Secret Projects (hahaha not *that* secret since PINTEREST) but when I can give details I will!
And omg thank yooooou about my pinterest boards. <3 I admit to possibly spending a LOT of time on their. But it's plotting and research right? RIGHT? *coughs*
It’s August. This is officially a bad writing year. I would like to think that we all have them, but I doubt it. 🙁
I find it easy to describe my characters, because I always picture them in my head. How they look in there is how I describe them in the story, and I don’t like to change any aspect of that for any reason.
Rain @ Ivyclad Ideas recently posted…Return to Camp Half-Blood – The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan
WE DO ALL HAVE THEM, RAIN!!! *pats shoulder* Mine was last year. I hated everything I wrote and I was really depressed about all of writing things. *cries quietly* So just keep going IT WILL PASS!!! And I’m super glad you’re able to picture characters in your head! That must be an enormously useful talent, actually. Even with pinterest boards, my characters are generally just faceless blobs.😂
I usually do the whole sprinkling descriptions into the story thing but I don’t actually like doing that a lot! I find it quite easy to create the image of a character in my head, but when I’m writing I always end up focusing on certain aspects of how a character looks – like their hair or eyes – instead of properly describing them. These questions are going to be so fun to answer!! (:
I totally get that actually! I usually just describe hair.😂 I HAVE NO IDEA WHY. But hair = the only thing I remember to describe hahahah. Ahem.
Who survived Camp Nano for July? NOT ME BECAUSE I DIDN’T PARTICIPATE BECAUSE I WAS BUSY BEING LAZY AND TURNING 18 ON HOLIDAY. what am i doing cait, what am i doing? I NEED TO SCHEDULE MY LIFE UP. and get things done, like you seem to be doing LIKE A BOSS.
anyway, what do my characters look like? who knows – they evolve every day (usually because i forget what they look like and change it halfway through the story)…..*shifty eyes*
HEY NOT ME EITHER BECAUSE I WAS LAZY TOO. *hi fives* Happy belated birthday YOU OLD FISH too btw. Although I can hardly call you old when I am 4 years older than you.😭 Omg. Someone save me. Peter Pan please help me.
(Also I completely do not describe characters’ eye colour on purpose because I can never remember what it was and they end up changing eyeballs like 9 times throughout a draft. #awkward)
Oh, I love describing! But never get to do it….. Well, not never. I make time in the story for it. 😀 I will have fun with this, and do my character…… hmmm….. “Echo” Torriven! I guess I cannot do my special force guy every single BP, so Echo will have to do. He is from my improvised fantasy (for lack of a better term) story. Sadly, though, I do BP on paper in notebooks and just put it on an E-mail to show my friends, because I have no blog….
I totally understand.😂 I always seem to forget??! Like I MEAN to, but then I get worried about info dumping and then people start running around on stabby adventures and we just DON’T HAVE TIME TO TALK ABOUT THEIR EYES. *sad noises* But I’m still glad you like the questions even though you have no blog…although *nudge nudge* you cooooooould start a blog? 😉 *lures you over to the blogging life with cake*
This one will be fun!
😀
YAY I’M GLAD YOU THINK SO!!🎉
Oooh these look so interesting! I might not participate this time around (SOOO many blog posts planned…not written, just planned lol). But these will definitely come in handy for research 🙂
BREAK MY HEART WHY DON’T YOU.😭 hhaha just kidding. I actually forget to link up myself mostly. SHhhh. I am so bad.😂
I like the theme for this month’s topic! Very out-of-the-ordinary! Hopefully I’ll manage to answer the questions soon.
Yay! Have fun answering them!
What am I currently working on? Why how kind of you to ask, Cait! Nothing new, sadly. I’m going crazy on Gearbound(I FINALLY GOT PINTEREST, AND I’VE MADE A BOARD FOR GEARBOUND) and the #secretsummerwritingproject which I am still refusing to reveal hardly anything about until Sept.1.
I like to describe a character slowly, spreading the description across the first 3-4 chapters, instead of just dumping alL THE DESCRIPTIONS ON THE POOR READER AT ONCE SO THAT THEIR BRAIN MELTS.
Mironiel Blokzyl recently posted…Beautiful People #20 // My Favorite Thing To Do: describing the appearances of my characters.
YAY FOR PINTEREST THOUGH THAT IS GREAT. I want to create a pinterest for my latest idea but I feel like I should have a plot first?? hahhaha. I mean, WEIRD to think that, but there it is.😂 YAY for Gearbound coming along nicely! And this secret summer project is making me curious. 😉
Also, tooootally agree with your description methods! THAT’S ME TOO. I think it sticks more, too, in small lumps instead of like “BOOM HERE IS 93 FACTS REMEMBER THEM ALL, READER”. Like, no, help me. My brain is too small for this.😂
I posted before the last day of the month this time! XD
I just love this month’s theme!!! Not only is it helpful, but it’s fun. Okay, yeah… I kind of struggled but it was definitely worth it. 🙂 I actually try to stay away from too much description of a character’s appearance. I think I took that to heart just a bit too much because, well… Obviously, I need to improve on character description. *sigh!* I am currently working (or trying to, really) on writing the ending of my second novel / story. Same characters as the ones in my blog post for this month’s Beautiful People.
I totally understand!! I honestly always forget to describe my characters and it’s a problem😂 So this month has been great for me too eeep. 😀 GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR ENDING OF YOUR NOVEL!!