When I write a story, I generally have a definite idea of what my characters look like in my head. I know what color their hair is, what their skin tone is, any little scars they might have that identify them, the way they quirk their lips when they smile, and so on and so forth. However, I also know that what I see as my character's appearance isn't always what others imagine.
So, here's what I want. I want people to show me what they think the characters in some of my stories look like. I want these pics for two reasons.
1. It'll be fun to see what people think when they read my stories and how they imagine my characters to look.
2. I'm working on getting two of my more popular stories edited so I can post better versions of the stories than the ones currently available -- "Oh, Cheers" and "Boys of Summer," to be exact. When I do post the newly improved versions, I might just decide that a picture could be in order to include.
Not that those are the only two stories I wanna see people's ideas on -- it'd be nice to see others, as well, and if I like what people put up I might just see about revamping my story opening pages with the most popular choices. If someone else posts a picture that shows what you thought as well, say so, that way I know what images would be the most accurate to the most people.
And don't feel like you're limited to just the main character, either -- have the perfect Amazing Gordon in mind? Or Shelby? Put them up as well, I wanna see 'em all.
Pleeease?
Melanie E.
Comments
What A Delightful Idea
. . .but I wouldn't be me if I didn't play the devil's advocate.
Stephen King is said to have vivid characters. Yet, in his book On Writing he disclosed that he rarely describes his characters' physical traits. He believes the reader's imagination will fill in the blanks much better than he could possibly write.
Although adding graphics to the title of stories on BC does dress up the front page, it troubles the purist in me. Maybe that part of me needs to stirred (not shaken).
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Different Genres and Different Styles
Horror in particular is about mood and putting the reader into the scene. King spends a lot of time describing things and actually does describe the physicality of his characters more than he admits to. But his big thing is describing the surroundings and in comparison his descriptions of characters are sketchy. Horror depends on convincing readers that the events in the story are happening to them and you already know what you look like, too much character description gets in the way.
Mystery, Fantasy and Romance (and TG stories are often variations on Fantasy and Romance themes) tend to depend more on character descriptions. In Mysteries, this is because such descriptions are often clues. In Fantasy and Romance, the reader is actually expecting to be put into the story as someone other than themselves; they are forms of roleplaying and character descriptions help build the character in the reader's mind to establish the reality of the character.
Too much character description is counter to the aim and purpose of most non-genre fiction which is empathetic rather than role-playing.
Science Fiction themes can be all over the place and so can character description. With alien races, how a character looks may be very important.
For myself, I find it often helps me to write a story if I have a firm idea of what the character looks like. I'm casting and directing a play in my head and I don't want the short, round girl to play the jet setting sophisticate unless I'm casting against type. Even so, I tend to use short phrases to describe characters rather than long catalogs of details.
But many TG themes simply must have the details, often the details are essential to the plot, like in a Mystery.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Thanks Erin
I agree with your thoughts. I do recall reading somewhere that when you give a physial description of a character you should quit after three traits or items. It is thought the mind can only absorb about three at a time and rejects the rest.
Many writers suggest one main item that can be used again and again throughout your story to introduce that character in the readers' minds.
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Not describing characters
I tend to give some descripton of characters HOWEVER, I haven't given much of a clue as to how Captain Rikki looks in HaP. I kind of have an idea, but his looks are still pretty abstract to me. don't know if anyone else has noticed.
A.A.
Best way to understand
Best way to understand Stephen King is to visit him where he lives in Bangor, Maine. You can't miss his house it is the one with spiders built into the fence. It is shame you just missed his open house for Halloween which he has annually. You can generally catch him walking down the street or performing in a local pub with his band. He is very cool writer and does not mind talking with fans but watch out because fans usually end up in his novels.
Hugs,
Jenna From FL
Moderator/Editor
TopShelf BigCloset
Hugs,
Jenna From FL
Moderator/Editor
TopShelf BigCloset
It is a long road ahead but I will finally become who I should be.
I'm inclined to agree
If you think that it helps the story, describe the character. If not, let the reader's imagination run riot!
What does anyone else think?
Susie
A discussion instead of pictures?
*shrug* Okay, works for me!
To be honest, I do kind of vacillate (I hope that's the right word) between liking pictures and disliking them. It's true, they can put an artificial limit on people's imaginations when reading a story. At the same time, though, I do like to at least know some of the rough details about what a character looks like -- what color hair, or eyes, etc. -- when reading a story, because often that helps to explain something of why they react to things the way they do. Are they pretty or handsome, or can they fade into the background with no problem? Are they used to being picked on because of a their weight? Do they have a twitch in their right eye that's a tell when they lie?
It helps to establish a character's personality if you establish at least the basics of who they are on the outside to me, because one will often reflect the other in some way. And that's another reason I want the pictures; it'll tell me a lot about how people see my character's personalities if I see how my characters look to them, which esPECially in the stories I'm getting edited (Thanks Jill and Edeyn) could help me to decide how to handle anything I might need to rework.
Melanie E.
Fascinating but ....
.... , I think, unlikely to be productive. Doomed to failure alas.
I don't think that character is related to appearance. Nor that characters are. Broad brush strokes apply of course. A heroine is plain, or pretty, or attractive, or spinsterish etc. But that is all. Writers fill in the picture on a whim. Blue, brown, hazel, or green eyes? Then match the hair. See how the light moulds the line of a pert chin. At best skilful craftmanship, which paints the picture, adds to the feeling of being there, of seeing indeed. At worst clumsy and unwanted.
But afterwards how much does the reader remember, how less care.
Steven King's opinion is interesting but he surely states the obvious. Of course the imagination is far greater, more detailed, more lasting, than another's word picture. Radio plays are at least the equal of TV plays because the characters live unencumbered by anything but the listeners' imagination.
I can't recall ever reading Stephen King's work but I have an idea that such is not dependent on characterisation so much as plots dependent on outside factors. But even for those writers whose works are character driven, who may indeed seduce us with the roundness and completeness of a physical world in their writings, I don't think that the appearance of the character impinges to any lasting degree upon the reader.
A day after reading who remembers the colour of Miss Elizabeth Bennet's eyes, the shade of Becky Sharpe's hair (Having typed that I am struck by this overwhelming conviction that it was dark, God knows why. But even if it is I would claim that a.] the example is exceptional, b] one swallow doesn't make a summer, c] dark is hardly a precise description, d] it is the example that proves the rule, and e] Thackeray was better than most. If it isn't dark but fair, it just goes to show!) Their character resides in their thought processes and actions. That is what we remember, through such are they judged.
The only way for a writer to impose a visual character is to accompany the tale from the start with the work of a gifted illustrator. So Alice is always Tenniel's, Mr Pickwick always Boz's, Winnie the Pooh always Shepard's (In spite of the appalling, nay criminal, vulgarisation by Disney. May he roast in Hell for it!)
And even if you held close a mind's picture, what are the chances of finding a picture, a photo, that matches, comes near to matching? The finer the writing, the more sensitive the reader, the more lasting, the clearer, impression they leave, the less chance there is of finding such a match.
Cool Iris isn't going to help.
So I think Melanie that you are seeking to find a very precise, probably non existent, needle in a very large haystack.
Hugs,
Fleurie
A writer's best friend...
To paraphrase a wonderful quotation.
"A writer's best friend is their reader's imagination."
Persephone
Persephone
Non sum qualis eram
Imagine That
eom
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)