how to describe a character in creative writing

How To Write A Character Description (101 Examples)

February 15, 2024

Learn what character description is and how to describe a character. Jump into OC description writing with one of the iconic character description examples from our list.

Developing a description of a character can be a challenge for OC creators. How much do you give away as someone who knows the character innately versus trying to generate interest and get an audience to invest in the character’s journey? We’re going to dive into writing character descriptions that stand out.

Why Character Descriptions Matter

Character descriptions, at heart, serve as a marker for the reader to determine if they wish to know more about the character. They are creators' attempts to signal that an individual they are writing about is worth becoming invested in. This is why a boring character description can be fatal to first impressions - why bother exploring a project if the character's description generates no spark?

Character descriptions are also influenced by purpose. A character description in a screenplay occupies a different purpose than a character description on a profile page. A description in a screenplay is lean, whereas a profile has more room to explore. These descriptions we’re talking about are too large for a character reference sheet .

While focusing on writing character descriptions for profiles, we will look at examples from literature, screenplays, and existing character profiles on CharacterHub. 

The Five Key Questions

When it comes to description in a general sense, there are five questions to consider: Who, What, Where, Why, and When? These questions are also beneficial in writing original character descriptions because you can use as many as you wish or even omit some to generate interest.

It is rather complicated to omit the who in a description, as a description is usually tied to an identifiable figure. Even if you may not want to give away a character’s identity, there is usually some marker that identifies them. For example, in the script for the horror classic Halloween (1978) by John Carpenter and Deborah Hill, the lurking presence of Michael Myers is simply referred to as “The Shape.” It is a name as evocative as it is practical. In most cases, a creator will probably just include the OC’s name.

The what in a character description can be interpreted as a marker for their identity. This could be their ethnicity, role, or species, for example. It is, again, reasonably complex to avoid this when developing a description, as a character without a perceived role may not feel like a character. A great example of “the what” in a character description comes from the character Tiberius Skärvas IV from the webcomic The Fourth . 

From the character's description on the cast page: “Ever since the First and his rather unethical business practices, the Tiberius Skärvas have been accursed by the gods. While technically still human, they possess the appearance and certain traits of sharks.” A cursed human with shark-like traits is undoubtedly a bold answer for “the what.”

When it comes to where , you are likely answering who the character is to their setting. It is less about a physical location and how that character connects to or runs counter to a location or society. Essentially, you are positioning them against civilization in whatever form that takes. A great example of this can be found in the codex entry of Agrippa Varus from the webcomic Terra Incognita . 

Case in point: “Agrippa Varus was raised in a well respected family in the Asurian capital of Sokai. His father Argo Varus, served as a consul and the main liaison between Asura and other sentient worlds. Due to his exposure to other species from a young age, Agrippa has an open mind and is much less prejudiced than the average Asurian citizen.” 

As we can see in this description, Agrippa is given a physical “where” regarding a space civilization while also being described of their societal “where” - as a figure that runs outside their culture.

The when of a character in their description is all about position. Whether the setting is based on natural history or set in an entirely fictional timeline, a character occupies temporal space, which can factor into how they are seen. Are they of their time, or do they feel apart from it? Descriptions that hint at such things are great at generating interest.

A great example of this can be found in the script of Warm Bodies (2013), in a description of the character R. “Blank face, sunken eyes. Blueish lips. If we didn’t know any better we’d think he was a junkie, a runaway from the set of My Own Private Idaho . Then we might notice a few thin gashes cutting across his cheeks. And then we might hear a soft groan humming from his frozen lips. And then we might start to wonder…

In this example, we see the deliberate usage of a contemporary reference to another film, positioning R and their relationship to a contemporary setting. The reference also does double duty, saying a lot about how R can be perceived by those familiar with the reference.

The why of a character description is most easily omitted to generate interest and intrigue. However, it can also be incredibly influential in generating interest in an original character. Knowing what drives a character can be a descriptive hook.

A great example of the “why” in a character description comes from Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra’s Don Quixote in this rather brilliant moment: “In short, his wits being quite gone, he hit upon the strangest notion that ever madman in this world hit upon, and that was that he fancied it was right and requisite, as well for the support of his own honour as for the service of his country, that he should make a knight-errant of himself, roaming the world over in full armour and on horseback in quest of adventures, and putting in practice himself all that he had read of as being the usual practices of knights-errant[...]”

Don Quixote’s mad notion of being a knight proves a compelling hook to the character, especially in how that motivation is presented. A reader can’t help but be intrigued by the description of the thin, elderly man who wants to be a knight.

Other Descriptive Traits and Tips

Much descriptive writing can come from things you probably already learned in school but are worth repeating. For example, utilizing sensory details in a character description can be particularly useful. Writing about how a character may smell like motor oil or freshly baked bread can suggest different things.

Contrast is another powerful tool in the character description, as when we are introduced to someone, we cannot help but size them up compared to people we know. This is especially true of original characters. How does one protagonist compare to another? How might you set a character apart from others? Using contrast is especially helpful here. For example, describing how a lead character differs from others in a similar position of their setting.

Of course, there are also things to avoid when developing character descriptions. Writing a description that is a laundry list of traits is something you may want to avoid. It can lack personality and feel a little boring. A solid character organizer can help you visually track if you rely on listing too often.

In any case, referring to some classic descriptive writing techniques can be helpful, especially when punching up a first draft of a character description.

Ways of Establishing Character Through Description

Well-written, informative descriptions greatly help establish interest in an original character. Consider them a teaser to what you hope to be a more significant journey you want to take readers on. Your goal is to connect an audience and a character through intrigue an interest - your aim can be to use description as a hook. Here are some different ways to use description to create that hook.

Using Description to Create a Presence

One of the most essential uses of description is to establish the presence of a character in their respective story. How about who is heroic or villainous? Who merits us following their story and becoming invested in them? This is particularly useful in writing an OC profile because you want to establish how we should feel about them without the burden of a ton of backstory to provide context.

Consider this like trying to convey everything about a person possible at a glance. How can you give us what we need about an OC in a descriptive passage? Well, let’s look at some examples.

In this sample from Margaret Atwood’s The Blind Assassin , we see presence established by tying description to color and costuming details. Note that the presence established here is not a flattering one.

I could picture the smooth oval of Laura’s face, her neatly pinned chignon, the dress she would have been wearing: a shirtwaist with a small rounded collar, in a sober colour – navy blue or steel grey or hospital-corridor green. Penitential colours – less like something she’d chosen to put on than like something she’d been locked up in.

• Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin (2000)

Another great way to establish a character’s presence through description is to tie it to a metaphor. Let’s look at an example of Arudhati Roy’s The God of Small Things, where we have a character consumed by quietude.

Once the quietness arrived, it stayed and spread in Estha. It reached out of his head and enfolded him in its swampy arms…sent its stealthy, suckered tentacles inching along the insides of his skull, hoovering the knolls and dells of his memory, dislodging old sentences, whisking them off the tip of his tongue.

• Arudhati Roy, The God of Small Things (1997)

In these examples, we see how descriptive language can imply something about the character's presence, such as their authority or lack of authority. In the Atwood example, the character is effectively rendered blank or meek. Meanwhile, in the Roy example, the description paints a picture of a character consumed by their awkwardness and silence. Noting and working with such traits is key to building a good character profile.

Let’s look at how the presence of Gandalf is established through description in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring .

“Gandalf was shorter in stature than the other two; but his long white hair, his sweeping beard, and his broad shoulders, made him look like some wise king of ancient legend. In his aged face under great snowy brows his eyes were set like coals that could suddenly burst into fire.”

• J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring (1954)

Gandalf’s physical presence is a fun juxtaposition with him appearing larger than life. He may be shorter, but he has an aura about him - something noticeably distinguished. I recommend reading Tolkien for character description, not just because I am a fan. 

Using a History to Create Significance

Character description that depicts an established history can go a long way to informing a reader about what makes the character tick. A character can sometimes be seen as a record of their experiences, and knowing those experiences can tell us a lot about a character, how they view the world, and how the author wishes for us to view them. There is no shortage of character ideas , but a character is more than an idea: they are a story.

In Charles Dickens’ Hard Times , the character of Bounderby is pernicious and self-centered, motivated by the pursuit of their wants and desires having come up from poverty. We can see Dickens establish much of that in his description of Bounderby by including history in the character’s description.

“A big, loud man, with a stare, and a metallic laugh. A man made out of coarse material, which seemed to have been stretched to make so much of him […] always proclaiming, through that brassy speaking-trumpet of a voice of his, his old ignorance and his old poverty.”

• Charles Dickens, Hard Times (1854)

Let’s look at a character with an established history and how that history plays into their description in the present. If you are a fan of Star Trek , then the film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan should be pretty familiar. The film was a culmination of a storyline that began in the 1960s featuring characters who have aged decades for the 1980s film. In particular, let’s look at a description of Captain Kirk from the script.

“Kirk reads the novel, trying to focus. His flat befits an Admiral and a loner with few possessions, except a collection of antiques.”

• Harve Bennett, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

In this example, we have a little bit of environmental storytelling that plays against what audiences would know of Captain James T. Kirk. Kirk, from the original series, was quite the heroic figure, not mainly seen as an elder statesman. However, the depiction of his apartment, filled with antiques belonging to a man who is alone, shows that much time has passed for the figure. He is different in many ways - almost startlingly so.

So, what can we draw from these examples when developing descriptions of our original characters? A character with a lot of history is undoubtedly colored by it, so if your description can evoke a journey, you’ve gone a long way to informing us about what makes them tick. This is seen in the example from Hard Times, where the character’s journey through the classes of 19th-century London colors how we see their outward-facing personality.

Further, if you are playing with time, descriptions of a character at different stages in their life or respective journey can highlight their growth, such as in the example from Star Trek . Contrast through history is a particularly effective strategy when writing a character description.

Using Perspective to Create Interpretation

In some cases, describing a character from another person's perspective can yield beautiful results. First impressions can say a lot, and stepping away from an omniscient narrator’s view of a character, filled with insight about them and their past, can be a valuable technique. It also can create a narrative journey for an OC later on, as our initial impressions, through a more limited outsider perspective, do not usually represent the whole character.

Here is an example of Virginia Woolf establishing a character’s description from another character's perspective.

“He was such a miserable specimen, the children said, all humps and hollows. He couldn’t play cricket; he poked; he shuffled. He was a sarcastic brute, Andrew said. They knew what he liked best – to be for ever walking up and down, up and down, with Mr. Ramsay, saying who had won this, who had won that …”

• Virginia Woolf, To The Lighthouse (1927)

Here is an example of a character description written from another character's perspective. In this case, we have Ripley from Aliens , who first encounters Burke as she recovers in a hospital room. Notice the usage of traits in the following passage. This is taken from the film's shooting script.

“The visitor sits beside the bed and Ripley finally notices him.  He is thirtyish and handsome, in a suit that looks executive or legal, the tie loosened with studied casualness.  A smile referred to as ‘winning.’”

• James Cameron, Aliens (1985)

Specifically, this is a friendly, somewhat charming face for a recovering from intensive trauma. However, we also get a sense of Burke's nature through the description, such as emphasizing the fakery of a “winning” smile.

If we want another great example of perspective coloring the description of a character, we can look toward another sci-fi franchise with Star Wars . In particular, the 4th draft script from A New Hope introduces Darth Vader in a fantastic way that tells us everything we need to know about the character from the perspective of the terrified Rebels.

“The awesome, seven-foot-tall Dark Lord of the Sith makes his way into the blinding light of the main passageway. This is Darth Vader, right hand of the Emperor. His face is obscured by his flowing black robes and grotesque breath mask, which stands out next to the fascist white armored suits of the Imperial stormtroopers. Everyone instinctively backs away from the imposing warrior and a deathly quiet sweeps through the Rebel troops. Several of the Rebel troops break and run in a frenzied panic.”

• George Lucas, Star Wars: A New Hope (1976)

That Darth Vader cuts an imposing presence in this description is an understatement. The key here is that we are seeing him through the eyes of those terrified Rebel troops.

Character Descriptions from Some Friends of Mine

There are many great examples of strong character descriptions out there. I turned to a few writer friends who are particularly good at creating characters, and I want to look at examples from two of them.

Robert Livingston: Tom n’ Artie and Kaiju Dayz

First up, we have my friend Robert Livingston, who was gracious enough to provide some examples from his in-depth pitch documents for two of his projects. First, look at some examples featuring the two leads of his comic Tom n’ Artie .

Tommy ‘Tom’ Sunshine Bliss

“Our stoic, disciplined Unicorn with the sparkly hair! Tom is the straight man of the duo usually doing the talking when they're with clients or when a deal needs to be made. Straight-laced with a dry sense of humor, he approaches situations with a strategic mindset preferring to have all the information before diving in. Due to his friendship with Artie, he commonly has to just 'wing it' with his little wildcard friend as he changes strategies on the fly.”

As we can see, Tom is the comedic straight man of the pair, but given the nature of the project, he still has his quirks. In particular, I want to note the contrast between his character and the description of his appearance. It does a lot to sell the inherent comedy of the character.

Artie Artillery

“The cartoon wildcard! Artie is zany and a rabbit/cat of action preferring to let his fists, teeth, legs, bats, guns, bombs and whatever he's got do the talking for him. He's spontaneous with a short fuse willing to crack jokes then skulls seconds apart from each other. Tom usually is the one who has to hold him back but during the events of the arc, he's more willing to let his little toon buddy cut loose more.”

Because the project revolves around a comedic pairing, we can see how essential contrasting the two leads can be in establishing their characters. There is some great description here, especially the emphasis on Artie’s improvised armory. Artie has enough of a hook from his description, but the depth is substantial when paired with his co-lead, Tom.

Next, we have an example from Robert’s other series, Kaiju Dayz . This project is like a sitcom set on an island of giant monsters. Let’s look at the series lead, Big Mama.

“A well-known Kaiju on Monster Island for her several successful attacks on human cities and other locations for many years. She’s gained a large reputation that gives her a lot of respect from others. It’s also forced her to put up a constant face of intimidation to keep that respect, she feels force is the only way to keep others in line. The only ones she’s softer on are her own children, Junior and Pestania, but now seeing that she’s growing estranged from them she’s trying to change that. She isn’t of this world (or possibly reality) and has no love for it but wants to keep anything she does love (her children and late husband) as close to her as possible.”

This character description does a great job of pitching the whole character. While I only used some segments for Tom and Artie earlier, I wanted to share the entire character description for Big Mama because it is so thorough without being overly long. This is an excellent example of a character description meant to sell the original character to an audience. This is what you’d want to see on a character profile .

Ben Paddon: Jump Leads

Ben Paddon sent me pitch documents for their audio drama, Jump Leads . You should give it a listen. Let’s look at the character descriptions for Meaney and Llewellyn, the dual protagonists of the story.

Thomas Meaney

The following is transcribed from the Jump Leads character breakdown about the character of Thomas Meaney.

• Meaney is excitable, enthusiastic, and young. She has wanted to be a Lead her entire life, and now she’s finally in training. This is her dream come true. Such a pity it’s about to be absolutely derailed by Misadventure.
• Meaney is a hopeful idealist. She always wants to see the best in people, and always tries to do good, even when the odds - and, indeed, her own skill set - are not in her favor. She’s also driven by a desire to get back home to complete her Lead training, though her adventurous, helpful nature, coupled with a desire to explore, often get the better of her.
• Meaney is excitable, in every sense of the word - her enthusiasm runs just as deeply as her fear, though she tries not to let being scared of a situation prevent the right decision from being made.
• Meaney is a brilliant problem-solver. She doesn't quite know this yet. She’ll discover that soon enough.

This is a wonderfully written character description that gives us everything we wish to know about a character while giving us the suggestion of a larger arc. When you think about this profile in terms of the questions who, what, where, why, and when, you’ll see they are all there.

Richard Llewellyn

• Llewellyn is in his mid-to-late 20s - still young enough to be bitter and cynical without having any of the real-world experience to justify it. He’s indifferent, snide, at times cruel, and he keeps people at an arm's length. Unfortunately, he’s been utterly unsuccessful in doing this with Meaney, in part because the alphabetical arrangement of the training classes has stuck them together.
• Llewellyn is smart, but lazy; brilliant, but apathetic. He joined the Lead Service because the alternative involved being in the real world, and that isn't something he's willing to do just yet. Of course, he'd never admit this.
• Underneath it all, there's something else. Maybe he's ready to let someone in. Or maybe he's hiding something else entirely…

Again, we have a dual protagonist situation; contrast is essential to define each. Each character can stand independently, but their descriptions are tailored to work best when read together. Yes, we get a fully rounded character in Llewellyn thanks to the description, but we also get a further hook because of the emphasis on personality clash. How might their journey go down, given their radically different perspectives?

Character Description from CharacterHub

While writing this article, I wanted to look at examples of character descriptions written by CharacterHub users. I’ve found some great examples to share, so why don’t we dive in and see what OC creators have been sharing with the community?

I’ve taken snippets from each profile of something I found to be particularly evocative or inspirational. Be sure to visit the complete profiles for even more great examples.

• Euronym by genderkiller - “driven to be the least evil thing around her, euronym chooses to use her manipulation and intelligence for what she believes is the betterment of others. but does it really know what's best for others, so blinded by its own trauma?”
• Valentine Adelaide by DEADRKGK - “Personality wise, Valentine is a man with many facets to him, and all are generally expressed and felt in extremes. To call him unpredictable would be both correct and incorrect. For those around him often, he can be much more easily predictable of a person. He’s open with his thoughts and feelings and expresses them freely with a poor social filter– good or bad, he’ll speak his mind regardless of if people want to hear it or not.”
• Tessa Verisey by LuminaLyric - “Standing at 5'8" with chestnut brown hair cascading in loose waves to her shoulders, her hazel eyes conceal a depth of intelligence and charisma.”
• Seth Salem by Paracosmic - “If looks could kill, Seth's would be the firing squad.”
• Aries by AFishWithAGun - “Aries is not a good person. At least, not anymore. Greif is a funny thing, pushed by a whirlwind of emotions. Anger, regret, betrayal. It spins its way into a palpable rage. His jagged psyche knows how best it can ruin a man.”
• Sidney Ignacio by soupysoupster - “Throughout his days, Sidney can’t seem to get past his own thoughts and anxieties. As a result, he comes off as withdrawn and uninterested to most. Despite what people may think though, Sidney is nothing short of a caring and compassionate person and will do anything he can do to help others. He’s a great listener, and will often catch onto things others don’t. ‘The devil is in the details’ as their father would say.”
• Adem Petrovic by lysesander - “Athletic enough to make a quick escape over a side wall if the situation calls for it. Face is unmemorable, and hard to spot in the crowd.”
• The Depths by celestrian - “A mysterious and enigmatic traveling merchant of the depths, a man whose past is shrouded in secrecy and his appearance completely hidden beneath a strange fox mask as well as a hooded cloak, wrapped in layers of cloth that cover his entire body. He claims to have knowledge of the entire kingdom and forbidden secrets, despite seeming quite young.”
• Clawfoot by Sunckeys - “Naivete is not a word known to poor Clawfoot, yet it may just be the best word to describe him. Unknown to him are the ways of man, of conversing with another and sharing pleasantries. No, for Clawfoot's expertise lies in savagry, ravaging, of ripping and tearing. Yet he hungers not for prey- though he much enjoys a meal or four- but for connection.”
• Soffice Pluvia by bunnymacaron - “Recently, he's found himself in an...unusual situation. Almost as soon as he entered the country he went through the Magical Girl transformation process. Immediately after, he got roped into the schemes of a sadistic Magical Girl and is stuck unraveling the tangled web of Kannazen City's Magical Girls to hopefully finally have some peace and quiet...or die trying.”
• Joshua Vox by ThaLizardWizard - “In terms of appearance, he is very skinny, pale, and sickly looking, with wild black hair that stands on end, and freckles all over his body and face. He has intense eye bags under enormous pale gray eyes, and to be completely honest, has frequently been mistaken for a ghost.”

Further fantastic examples of evocative character descriptions can be found all over CharacterHub . Browsing the thousands of existing character descriptions will inspire anyone to create character descriptions for their OCs. In particular, searching tags to find the kind of characters that inspire you most is super easy.

Further Examples of Character Descriptions

We’ll leave you here now with the following massive list. This list features different examples of character descriptions from various stories. Try to match the selections to some of our established principles. The descriptions here are very inspiring for any OC creator.

• Denis Lehane’s A Drink Before the War : “He had a shock of stiff white hair you could land a DC-10 on and a handshake that stopped just short of inducing paralysis.”
• Amber Dawn’s Sub Rosa : “When he did appear his eyes were as brown as I remembered, pupils flecked with gold like beach pebbles.”
• Sherman Alexie’s The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven : “I thought she was so beautiful. I figured she was the kind of woman who could make buffalo walk on up to her and give up their lives.”
• Louisa M. Alcott’s Little Women : “Amy, though the youngest, was a most important person,—in her own opinion at least. A regular snow-maiden, with blue eyes, and yellow hair, curling on her shoulders, pale and slender, and always carrying herself like a young lady mindful of her manners.”
• Frank Herbert’s Dune : "Through the door came two Sardukar herding a girl-child who appeared to be about four years old. She wore a black aba, the hood thrown back to reveal the attachments of a stillsuit hanging free at her throat. Her eyes were Fremen blue, staring out of a soft, round face. She appeared completely unafraid and there was a look to her stare that made the Baron feel uneasy for no reason he could explain."
• Kury Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five : "He was a funny-looking child who became a funny-looking youth — tall and weak, and shaped like a bottle of Coca-Cola."
• Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? : "Black-haired and slender, wearing the huge new dust-filtering glasses, she approached his car, her hands deep in the pockets of her brightly striped long coat. She had, on her sharply defined small face, an expression of sullen distaste."
• John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces : “Full, pursed lips protruded beneath the bushy black moustache and, at their corners, sank into little folds filled with disapproval and potato chip crumbs.”
• Ralph Ellson’s Invisible Man : “I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids — and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, simply because people refuse to see me.”
• George Eliot’s Middlemarch : “The rural opinion about the new young ladies, even among the cottagers, was generally in favour of Celia, as being so amiable and innocent-looking, while Miss Brooke’s large eyes seemed, like her religion, too unusual and striking. Poor Dorothea! Compared with her, the innocent-looking Celia was knowing and worldly-wise.”
• Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness : “He was commonplace in complexion, in feature, in manners, and in voice. He was of middle size and of ordinary build. His eyes, of the usual blue, were perhaps remarkably cold, and he certainly could make his glance fall on one as trenchant and heavy as an axe…”
• Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Books : “But he had a voice as soft as wild honey dripping from a tree, and a skin softer than down.”
• Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice : “…your manners, impressing me with the fullest belief of your arrogance, your conceit, and your selfish disdain of the feelings of others, were such as to form the groundwork of disapprobation on which succeeding events have built so immovable a dislike; and I had not known you a month before I felt that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry.”
• Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn : “He was most fifty, and he looked it. His hair was long and tangled and greasy, and hung down, and you could see his eyes shining through like he was behind vines.”
• Lindsay Faye’s Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson : “The door flew open, revealing a wrinkled, forward-thrusting face wreathed with a nimbus of wispy white hair, a face resembling nothing so much as a mole emerging from its burrow. Her spectacles were so dirty that I could hardly see the use of them.”
• Adlous Huxley’s Brave New World : "Tall and rather thin but upright, the Director advanced into the room. He had a long chin and big rather prominent teeth, just covered, when he was not talking, by his full, floridly curved lips. Old, young? Thirty? Fifty? Fifty-five? It was hard to say."
• F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby : “He smiled understandingly — much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life.”
• J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring : "The face of Elrond was ageless, neither old nor young, though in it was written the memory of many things both glad and sorrowful. His hair was dark as the shadows of twilight, and upon it was set a circlet of silver; his eyes were grey as a clear evening, and in them was a light like the light of stars."
• Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight : “I vividly remembered the flat black color of his eyes the last time he glared at me – the color was striking against the background of his pale skin and his auburn hair. Today, his eyes were a completely different color: a strange ocher, darker than butterscotch, but with the same golden tone.”
• Joan Johnston’s No Longer A Stranger : “Her straight, boyishly cut hair fell onto her brow haphazardly and hid beautiful arched brows that framed her large, expressive eyes.”
• Anne Rice’s The Vampire Armand : “I saw my Master had adorned himself in a thick tunic and beautiful dark blue doublet which I’d hardly noticed before. He wore soft sleek dark blue gloves over his hands, gloves which perfectly cleaved to his fingers, and legs were covered by thick soft cashmere stockings all the way to his beautiful pointed shoes.”
• Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations : “Though every vestige of her dress was burnt, as they told me, she still had something of her old ghastly bridal appearance; for, they had covered her to the throat with white cotton-wool, and as she lay with a white sheet loosely overlying that, the phantom air of something that had been and was changed, was still upon her.”
• Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn : “He was sunshine most always-I mean he made it seem like good weather.”
• N. K. Jemisin’s The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms : “His long, long hair wafted around him like black smoke, its tendrils curling and moving of their own volition. His cloak — or perhaps that was his hair too — shifted as if in an unfelt wind.”
• Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings : “Her skin was a rich black that would have peeled like a plum if snagged, but then no one would have thought of getting close enough to Mrs. Flowers to ruffle her dress, let alone snag her skin. She didn’t encourage familiarity.”
• China Miéville’s The Census-Taker : “His hand was over his eyes. He looked like a failed soldier. Dirt seemed so worked into him that the lines of his face were like writing.”
• Louisa M. Alcott’s Little Women : “Fifteen-year-old Jo was very tall, thin, and brown, and reminded one of a colt; for she never seemed to know what to do with her long limbs, which were very much in her way. She had a decided mouth, a comical nose, and sharp, gray eyes, which appeared to see everything, and were by turns fierce, funny, or thoughtful.”
• Henry James’ The Aspern Papers : “Her face was not young, but it was simple; it was not fresh, but it was mild. She had large eyes which were not bright, and a great deal of hair which was not ‘dressed,’ and long fine hands which were–possibly–not clean.”
• Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death”: “The tastes of the duke were peculiar. He had a fine eye for colors and effects. He disregarded the decora of mere fashion. His plans were bold and fiery, and his conceptions glowed with barbaric lustre. There are some who would have thought him mad. His followers felt that he was not.”
• Becca Fitzpatrick’s Hush, Hush : “He was abominable…and the most alluring, tortured soul I’d ever met.”
• William Golding’s Lord of the Flies : “Inside the floating cloak he was tall, thin, and bony; and his hair was red beneath the black cap. His face was crumpled and freckled, and ugly without silliness.”
• Maggie Stiefvater’s The Raven Boys : “As always, there was an all-American war hero look to him, coded in his tousled brown hair, his summer-narrowed hazel eyes, the straight nose that ancient Anglo-Saxons had graciously passed on to him. Everything about him suggested valor and power and a firm handshake.”
• John Safran Foer’s Everything Is Illuminated : “He did not look like anything special at all.”
•  J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring : “He wore a tall pointed blue hat, a long grey cloak, and a silver scarf.  He had a long white beard and bushy  eyebrows that stuck out beyond the brim of his hat.”
• Andrew Lang’s The Crimson Fairy Book : “When the old king saw this he foamed with rage, stared wildly about, flung himself on the ground and died.”
• Rudyard Kipling’s Many Inventions : “He wrapped himself in quotations – as a beggar would enfold himself in the purple of Emperors.”
• Bram Stoker’s Dracula : “The Count smiled, and as his lips ran back over his gums, the long, sharp, canine teeth showed out strangely.”
• Hugh Lofting’s The Story of Doctor Dolittle : “For a long time he said nothing. He kept as still as a stone. He hardly seemed to be breathing at all. When at last he began to speak, it sounded almost as though he were singing, sadly, in a dream.”
• M.L Legette’s The Orphan and the Thief : “Its gray, slippery skin was stretched taut upon its face. Its mouth was wide and full of needle teeth.”
• Julia Stuart’s The Tower, The Zoo, and The Tortoise : “Blooms of acne highlighted his vampire-white skin.
• James Lee Burke’s The Neon Rain : “His khaki sleeves were rolled over his sunburned arms, and he had the flat green eyes and heavy facial features of north Louisiana hill people. He smelled faintly of dried sweat, Red Man, and talcum powder.”
• Becca Fitzpatrick’s Black Ice : “His brown hair was cropped, and it showed off the striking symmetry of his face. With the sun at his back, shadows marked the depressions beneath his cheekbones.”
• Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein : “His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips.”
• Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado”: “He accosted me with excessive warmth, for he had been drinking much. The man wore motley. He had on a tight-fitting parti-striped dress, and his head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells.”
• E.C. Sheedy’s Killing Bliss : “He stood, which put him eye to eye with the dark-haired woman whose brilliant, burning gaze poured into his worthless soul like boiling tar, whose mouth frothed with fury–and whose hand now curled, knuckles white, around a steak knife.”
• Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games : “She has bright, dark eyes and satiny brown skin and stands tilted up on her toes with arms slightly extended to her sides, as if ready to take wing at the slightest sound.”
• J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone : “A giant of a man was standing in the doorway. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair.”
• Louisa M. Alcott’s Little Women : “Elizabeth—or Beth, as every one called her—was a rosy, smooth-haired, bright-eyed girl of thirteen, with a shy manner, a timid voice, and a peaceful expression, which was seldom disturbed.”
• Anne Rice’s Violin : “What a well-formed mouth he had, and how the narrow eyes, the detailed deepened lids gave him such a range of expression, to open his gaze wide, or sink in cunning street.”
• Kevin Brooks’ Lucas : “An easygoing lope. Nice and steady. Not too fast and not too slow, Fast enough to get somewhere, but not too fast to miss anything.”
• Iris Johansen’s The Face of Deception : “Kinky tousled curls, only a minimum of makeup, large brown eyes behind round wire-rimmed glasses. There was a world of character in that face, more than enough to make her fascinating-looking instead of just attractive.”
• Herman Meilville’s Moby Dick : “There seemed no sign of common bodily illness about him, nor of the recovery from any. He looked like a man cut away from the stake, when the fire has overrunningly wasted all the limbs without consuming them, or taking away one particle from their compacted aged robustness. His whole high, broad form, seemed made of solid bronze, and shaped in an unalterable mould, like Cellini’s cast Perseus.”
• Gena Showalter’s The Darkest Night : “Pale hair fell in waves to his shoulders, framing a face mortal females considered a sensual feast. They didn’t know the man was actually a devil in angel’s skin.”
• Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game : “Ender did not see Peter as the beautiful ten-year-old boy that grown-ups saw, with dark, tousled hair and a face that could have belonged to Alexander the Great. Ender looked at Peter only to detect anger or boredom, the dangerous moods that almost always led to pain.”
• Caitlin Moran’s How To Build A Girl : “He had his head in his hands, and his tie looked like it had been put on by an enemy, and was strangling him.”
• Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass : “Lord Asriel was a tall man with powerful shoulders, a fierce dark face, and eyes that seemed to flash and glitter with savage laughter. It was a face to be dominated by, or to fight: never a face to patronize or pity.”
• J.D. Salinger’s Franny and Zooey : “She found herself looking at Lane as if he were a stranger, or a poster advertising a brand of linoleum, across the aisle of a subway car.”
• L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz : “They wore round hats that rose to a small point a foot above their heads, with little bells around the brims that tinkled sweetly as they moved. The hats of the men were blue; the little woman’s hat was white, and she wore a white gown that hung in pleats from her shoulders. Over it were sprinkled little stars that glistened in the sun like diamonds.”
• Bram Stoker’s Dracula : “Within, stood a tall old man, clean shaven save for a long white moustache, and clad in black from head to foot, without a single speck of colour about him anywhere.”
• Algernon Blackwood’s Ten Minute Stories : “Then, by a green field that shone like a thought of daylight amid the darkness of the moor, he saw a figure lying in the grass. It was a blot upon the landscape, a mere huddled patch of dirty rags, yet with a certain horrid picturesqueness too; and his mind—though his German was of the schoolroom order—at once picked out the German equivalents as against the English. Lump and Lumpen flashed across his brain most oddly.”
• John Rhode’s The Murders in Praed Street : “He was tall and thin, with a pronounced stoop and a deep but not unpleasant voice. But it was his head that you looked at instinctively. Above the massive forehead and powerfully-chiselled features was a wealth of long, snow-white hair, balanced by a flowing beard of the same colour.”
• Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Telltale Heart”: “He had the eye of a vulture—a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold.”
• Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein : “His limbs were nearly frozen, and his body dreadfully emaciated by fatigue and suffering. I never saw a man in so wretched a condition.”
• Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow : “He was tall, but exceedingly lank, with narrow shoulders, long arms and legs, hands that dangled a mile out of his sleeves, feet that might have served for shovels, and his whole frame most loosely hung together.”
• Louisa M. Alcott’s Little Women : “Margaret, the eldest of the four, was sixteen, and very pretty, being plump and fair, with large eyes, plenty of soft, brown hair, a sweet mouth, and white hands, of which she was rather vain.”
• Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland : “It was the White Rabbit returning, splendidly dressed, with a pair of white kid gloves in one hand and a large fan in the other: he came trotting along in a great hurry, muttering to himself as he came…”
• J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan : “He was a lovely boy, clad in skeleton leaves and the juices that ooze out of trees but the most entrancing thing about him was that he had all his first teeth.”
• Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis : “He lay on his armour-like back, and if he lifted his head a little he could see his brown belly, slightly domed and divided by arches into stiff sections. The bedding was hardly able to cover it and seemed ready to slide off any moment. His many legs, pitifully thin compared with the size of the rest of him, waved about helplessly as he looked.”
• Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper : “John is practical in the extreme. He has no patience with faith, an intense horror of superstition, and he scoffs openly at any talk of things not to be felt and seen and put down in figures.”
• L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz : “When Aunt Em came there to live she was a young, pretty wife. The sun and wind had changed her, too. They had taken the sparkle from her eyes and left them a sober gray; they had taken the red from her cheeks and lips, and they were gray also. She was thin and gaunt, and never smiled now.”
• Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment : “This was not because he was cowardly and abject, quite the contrary; but for some time past he had been in an overstrained irritable condition, verging on hypochondria. He had become so completely absorbed in himself, and isolated from his fellows that he dreaded meeting, not only his landlady, but anyone at all. He was crushed by poverty, but the anxieties of his position had of late ceased to weigh upon him. He had given up attending to matters of practical importance; he had lost all desire to do so.”
• Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter : “The young woman was tall, with a figure of perfect elegance on a large scale. She had dark and abundant hair, so glossy that it threw off the sunshine with a gleam, and a face which, besides being beautiful from regularity of feature and richness of complexion, had the impressiveness belonging to a marked brow and deep black eyes.”
• Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde : “This was a hearty, healthy, dapper, red-faced gentleman, with a shock of hair prematurely white, and a boisterous and decided manner.”
• Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde : “Mr. Hyde was pale and dwarfish, he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation, he had a displeasing smile, he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness, and he spoke with a husky, whispering and somewhat broken voice; all these were points against him, but not all of these together could explain the hitherto unknown disgust, loathing and fear with which Mr. Utterson regarded him.”
• Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol : “Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster.”
• Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace : “Anna Pávlovna Schérer on the contrary, despite her forty years, overflowed with animation and impulsiveness. To be an enthusiast had become her social vocation and, sometimes even when she did not feel like it, she became enthusiastic in order not to disappoint the expectations of those who knew her. The subdued smile which, though it did not suit her faded features, always played round her lips expressed, as in a spoiled child, a continual consciousness of her charming defect, which she neither wished, nor could, nor considered it necessary, to correct.”
• Arthur Conan Doyle’s “A Scandal in Bohemia”: “His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their own story. He was at work again.”
• J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan : “In person he was cadaverous and blackavized, and his hair was dressed in long curls, which at a little distance looked like black candles, and gave a singularly threatening expression to his handsome countenance. His eyes were of the blue of the forget-me-not, and of a profound melancholy, save when he was plunging his hook into you, at which time two red spots appeared in them and lit them up horribly.”

Looking for more tips and tricks regarding character creation? Check out the CharacterHub blog !

David Davis

David Davis is a cartoonist with around twenty years of experience in comics, including independent work and established IPs such as SpongeBob Squarepants. He also works as a college composition instructor and records weekly podcasts. Find out more about him at his website!

Table of Contents

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How To Write A Captivating Backstory And Lore For Your Characters (With Examples)

How To Design A Video Game Character: Step By Step Process With Tips and Tricks

How To Make An Amazing Character Design Sheet (aka Model, Turnaround, or Rotation Sheets)

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Tricks for Describing a Character’s Appearance (With Examples)

Introducing a new character to your story can be difficult. There’s a lot that goes into it, and to make matters worse, you only have one chance to give readers a good (and memorable) first impression of that character. One of the ways you can do this is by giving them a distinct appearance, but many writers tend to fall short of describing appearance well. 

We’ve all heard the same cookie-cutter descriptions for characters a million times before. Golden hair, a heart-shaped face, a chiseled body, piercing eyes, yadda yadda… The problem with these descriptions is that they’re bland, they’re cliché, and they don’t really help your characters stand out. 

However, if you break from clichés, you can create uniquely vivid descriptions that will give your characters life. There are endless ways you can describe characters, and I’m not going to walk you through how I would describe every single possible human feature (or humanoid, animal, alien, etc). For one thing, that would take too long, but for another thing, descriptions are based on more than just the character’s physical appearance—their personality plays a part too. 

Tips for Describing a Character’s Appearance in a Story

There are a number of things to keep in mind when describing a character’s appearance. Here are just a few general tips before we dive into some more specific techniques for describing different parts of a character’s appearance. 

Don’t Make Everyone a Supermodel

This is probably one of the most (if not the most) important things to remember when describing a character. You should never objectively describe your characters as flawless. Humans aren’t perfect, so if you describe your characters like perfect little supermodels, they just won’t feel authentic. Worse still, they won’t stand out from the protagonists of every single young adult novel out there. You need to make them distinct, and to do that, you need to give your characters flaws . And I mean real flaws, not fake flaws that are actually just endearing traits packaged like flaws. 

Don’t Dump Everything Out at Once

Describing your characters is important, but you need to be able to keep it concise. No one wants to read a 7-page summary of every detail of a character’s appearance. You can go in-depth, sure, but don’t put your readers through a word-avalanche just for them to figure out what the character looks like. 

Remember, you can reveal more about the characters over time. When you introduce a character for the first time, you should focus on the things a person would naturally notice first, such as their face, hair, clothing, voice, and general energy. You can further elaborate on their appearance later when it is relevant, and describe their gait, posture, temperament, and more. 

There is one exception here I want to highlight. If you are telling a story from the first-person perspective, and you want to illustrate a character’s obsession with another person, hyper-fixating on the details can be a good way to show this. It can make the character seem creepy , and it can foreshadow the protagonist doing something bad to the person they are obsessing over. 

Don’t Sell Them Short

Opposite to the point above, you shouldn’t make your introductions too short. To some extent, it can be good to leave some parts of the character’s appearance up to the reader’s imagination. However, you should give them something to help them visualize the characters in the beginning. Otherwise, if you later reveal that the character has dark hair, all the readers that imagined them with light hair might have a difficult time accepting that. 

Descriptions are important, and they help to include a reader in the narrative. Like a well-described setting, vivid characters can help immerse readers into the world and make them part of the story. 

Use Their Personality

A character’s personality can have a large impact on how they are perceived, and therefore should alter the words you use to describe them. Two characters might have similar features, but based on their personality, you would describe them differently. 

For example, two characters might both be tall, but one would be described as “awkward and long” while the other is “towering.” In this case, the characters’ levels of confidence impact how they are perceived. For another example, think about two characters who both have light skin. You could describe one as looking like “porcelain” and describe the other one as “pasty,” depending on their other traits. Those two descriptions create very different perceptions from each other.   

Use the Point of View

If the character in question is being described from the first-person perspective of another character, then the protagonist’s opinions should sneak into the description. Your protagonist probably isn’t going to objectively evaluate the other person—they’re likely to rely on stereotypes, biases, and things they have heard from others about the character they’re looking at. Rely on that to make the description fit into the story more organically. 

Here are some examples: 

• She had no right to have such a disarming smile.
• His expression was empty—just like his head.
• His dark, tangled hair reminded me of a swamp.
• She didn’t even wear any makeup! But even more frustratingly, she didn’t really need it.
• They looked divine… like I wasn’t even worthy to look upon them. 
• He looked like the type of person to stare at his own reflection before getting in the shower. 
• They were short and stocky, but they could still probably beat me in a fight. 

Remember, your protagonist can make speculative judgments about the character they’re looking at. You’re telling the story as they experience it, so their judgments are part of the narrative!

“…he was greeted by the barista—a young teen who had not yet matured enough to be handsome. Once his soft cheeks hollowed and his jaw squared, and the childish optimism fled his eyes, then he would have the chance to smolder. That crooked smile would win over many hearts in the blink of an eye, but not just yet.”  – excerpt from a draft

Keep the Description Balanced

A good rule of thumb when describing characters (or anything else really) is to create a balance of concrete details and flowery imagery. You should alternate between those two, as well as general and more specific details, to make the description flow more naturally, and to make it more interesting to read. 

Imagine reading a description like: 

“His hair was red and curly. His eyes were large and green. He had freckles, but they weren’t that noticeable. He was tall but very thin.” 

That’s so dry, and it’s not fun to read. Compare that to a description that varies how the information is provided:

“His hair was like a massive red bush surrounding two wide, green eyes. Freckles faintly dotted his cheeks, but they were only really visible in the sunshine. His long, lanky body and large hair made him look a bit like a big red lollipop—which was only heightened by his tendency to blush often.”

Wasn’t that a lot more fun to read? Not only does it make the character description more interesting, but it also influences a reader’s perception of what the character is like. Certain words help readers to gauge what kind of person this character is. The first example gives no indication of personality, but the second one uses words like “sunshine” and “lollipop” to associate the character with lively, happy things. Additionally, using words like “lanky” and “blush” suggests that the character is awkward or shy, saving you the time of having to spell that out for readers. 

Give them Something Special

One helpful thing that I’ve learned over the years is that you should give your main character some distinctive feature that sets them apart from the other characters around them. Diverse descriptions are great, but it never hurts to make your main character a little more unique. This could be something like a distinctive scar, a tattoo, a weird eye color, a patch of silver or white hair, a missing or extra finger, a birthmark, or something else along those lines. That can make them stand out more, and it can be a really clear indicator that they are special. 

Although your story won’t suffer if you don’t give your main character a distinct feature like this, it is usually a good bet—especially if you think your story could ever conceivably be adapted into a visual medium, like a comic, animation, or film. That character could become iconic. People may just see your character somewhere and that alone could motivate them to read or watch the whole story. As another plus, it could give you a cool opportunity for your story’s cover. 

How to Describe a Character’s Face

When describing a character’s face, the easiest way to do that is to first break the face down into its essential parts: the eyes, the mouth, the nose, and the facial structure.

So let’s start with the eyes since they are the focal point of the face. Stay away from the descriptions you’ve heard a million times, like “piercing” or “doe-eyed.” The eyes are the window to the soul, and they can tell a reader a lot about a character. Instead of “piercing,” try “icy” or “sharp,” and instead of “doe-eyed,” try “wide,” “innocent,” or “full of wonder/awe.” The goal is to describe the character in a unique way to make it more interesting to read, while still creating a vivid image of that character. 

You can describe the shape, color, and depth of a character’s eyes, but you should be careful not to rely on insensitive generalizations. For example, instead of “Asian” eyes, use “almond-shaped” or “mono-lid.” Not all Asian people have mono-lids, so simply using the word “Asian” to describe the character’s eyes doesn’t actually narrow down what they look like. 

That goes for all the other features of the face, too. Though it is true that some features are more prominent in certain races, nothing is inherent. You shouldn’t rely on the character’s race or ethnic background alone to be the basis of your description. Saying that a character is Japanese or Jamaican without giving other details doesn’t do any more for the character’s description than saying they are European or white. Doing this only encourages your readers to stereotype your characters, even if that wasn’t your intention. 

With that said, don’t get too caught up in describing every detail of a character’s face. Give the most important information, such as the eyes, face shape, scars, and other notable details or imperfections, then move on. If a character has an exaggerated feature, such as a large nose or bushy eyebrows, then that’s important to mention too.

How to Describe a Character’s Hair

There are lots of different types of hair colors, textures, thicknesses, and shines, so try not to make all your characters have the same kind of hair—unless they’re related or part of a small, isolated community, of course. Hair can be curly and blond, sleek and black, coily and auburn, and even dyed wild colors. Making your characters’ hair more distinct will make them easier for readers to visualize, especially if you introduce many characters at one time. 

Beyond the basics, you can use words to describe a character’s hair that reflects who they are as a person. For example, describing a character’s hair as springy or bouncy could indicate the character is upbeat and moves excitedly. Slick, greasy, or wispy hair could suggest an untrustworthy or sneaky character. The words you use to describe the character’s hair will be subliminally applied to the character themself. 

How to Describe a Character’s Clothes

Clothing is an important element of self-expression, and what your character decides to wear can reflect a lot about them. However, unlike with the character’s face, you should not spend a lot of time describing their outfit. For one thing, they’re probably going to change their outfit at some point in the story—likely more than once. Secondly, readers just won’t care unless you give them a good reason to. 

If you want to describe what your character is wearing, make sure to keep it short. If it’s just a simple way of helping the reader visualize the character’s style, present the information objectively and in only a paragraph or two, such as: 

“She wore short-shorts and a denim jacket, and pink thigh-high socks that she had to keep pulling up because they always slipped down to her knees. Her tennis-shoes were white and bulky, as was the belt bag she wore off to one side. This free, laidback style was completed by the two messy buns her faded purple hair was pulled up into.”

However, there are a few times in which you can use clothing to explore more complex ideas in the story. For example:

• An article of clothing might have special significance to a character. It could have been handed down from a relative, it could be a favorite shirt, or it could be meaningful in other ways. That would merit drawing more attention to it. 
• An article of clothing might have special significance to the story. This could be a type of ceremonial outfit, a piece of magical armor, or something along those lines. That would require a more thorough in-depth description of the item. 
• An article of clothing may be unfamiliar to most of your readers, such as a specific cultural outfit or an unusual costume, in which case a descriptive explanation could help illustrate what it looks like. 
• A particular outfit could draw attention to a character, such as an attractive or surprising outfit, that could merit taking more time to describe it (and explain why it garners the character extra attention). 

How to Describe a Character’s Body

Describing a character’s body is fairly straightforward. Like with many other aspects of a character’s appearance, there are a few methods you can use to approach describing their body. You could take the objective approach, which would do just fine in most cases, or you could toy with your readers’ perceptions. 

I’ll start out with a word of caution. Too many times, I’ve seen unrealistic descriptions of characters’ bodies. Whether it’s a waist that’s impossibly thin or muscles like a bodybuilder on a teenager, people tend to push the boundaries of what the human body is even capable of. You need to keep your characters within the limits of what’s actually possible, unless you have a good reason for doing otherwise (genetically modified supersoldier, not actually human at all, etc). 

Now, as with some other aspects of the character’s appearance, you can get away with a simple, objective description, like “tall and muscular” or “short and curvy.” Honestly, that’s usually all you’ll need to do. However, bodies are commonly associated with physical attractiveness, and if attraction is the point of your description, you need to take a different approach. 

Writing about attraction is tough (which is why I go more in-depth about how to write about attraction in my other article, Romance 101: How to Write Characters Falling in Love ). You’ll want to highlight the positives of the character’s body—the elements of them that have caught your protagonist’s attention. Whether it’s biceps, legs, or a large chest, you’ll want to describe it in detail, as well as highlight what it is about them that has the protagonist so interested. Here’s an example:

“He was tall and sturdy, and even in this relaxed environment, his pose held power. The way his shirt stretched taut around his shoulders when he shifted snagged and held my attention—I couldn’t help but stare. Did he pick that shirt on purpose? He had to know the thin fabric clung close to his body, showing off every rippling muscle underneath…” 

How to Describe a Character’s Posture and Body Language

Body language is an often overlooked element of describing a character, but you should give it some thought even if you don’t intend to draw a lot of attention to it in the story. How does your character stand? How do they emote? Do they gesture when they speak? Do they fidget? Try to envision what they look like when they are waiting, actively engaged in a passionate conversation, and when they are uncomfortable. 

People move in different ways, even if they aren’t thinking about it. Come up with a list of movements and behaviors that are typical for the character, and utilize those movements to make dull scenes and conversations more interesting. Instead of just dialogue, you can give readers more to imagine as your character shifts their weight, runs their hand through their hair, or twists the hem of their shirt. This can also help to establish the tone of the conversation.  

A person’s body, personality, and mood will all influence how they move. If you establish a baseline for how the character stands and behaves when they are in a neutral mindset, this will help you keep them consistent over time by casually mentioning their body language throughout the story. As a bonus, it can also help you tip readers off if you want them to notice that something is bothering the character. If you have established that a character is pretty relaxed in most situations, readers will instantly notice if they exhibit anxious body language even if you don’t draw a lot of attention to it. 

How to Describe an Attractive Character

Describing an attractive character isn’t all that different from describing any other character. You still shouldn’t make them flawless, but you can put off mentioning their more negative qualities until later—especially if another character is looking at them through rose-colored glasses . 

One recommendation that I have for describing a character who is supposed to be extremely attractive is to keep their description vague. Beauty is subjective, so each reader is going to have a different idea of what “attractive” means. By all means, describe the basics of their appearance, such as hair color, eye color, skin tone, and whatnot, but don’t dive deep into the shape of their features. This will leave a little bit up to the reader’s imagination, and they will fill in the gaps in the character’s description with the traits that they find most attractive. 

Another helpful tip is to utilize the reactions of background characters to establish that the character is, in fact, attractive. Other people staring at the character or nudging and whispering to each other about them would help your reader understand that the character is good-looking, and alter their mental image of them accordingly. 

The Importance of Creating Vivid Visual Descriptions for your Characters

Creating vivid visual descriptions for your characters is incredibly important for a number of reasons. For one thing, being able to imagine the characters will help draw your readers into the story and immerse them in the world. Additionally, by giving your characters more distinct appearances, they will stand out more from each other, and from characters in other stories. The more complex and interesting the character, the more likely they are to stick in a reader’s mind for years after they finish reading the story. 

Good luck with writing your descriptions! I know you’ll write something great.

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Beyond Tall, Dark, and Handsome: How to Describe Your Characters

• May 26, 2021

The ability to describe is the key to great storytelling, but when it comes to depicting characters, our first impulse is often to go straight to the basics (height, hair color, clothing) and leave it at that. It’s not that those descriptions are bad, it’s just that they provide surface-level characterization rather than truly   characterizing .

Dwight Swain, in his book   Creating Characters , says, “When your wife says a woman is ‘loud and pushy,’ she defines her far more sharply for story purposes than any description of blue eyes, blonde hair, or pug nose.”

The reason “loud and pushy” is meaningful is because it tells us what is going on inside the character, not just what appears on the outside. And the description tells us not only what the woman is like, but reveals something about the wife who characterizes her so.

Which means when you describe your characters, your descriptions are deeply tied to who is doing the describing. A rambunctious kindergartener will be represented quite differently by a patient grade-school teacher than a cranky principal.

And this is true whether you’re writing a story narrated in first or third-person, because even in third-person we see the world through that character’s eyes.

Remember that the goal in creative writing isn’t to give your readers information, but to give them an experience. Here are some tips that will help you tap into what is significant in your characters so that you can evoke feelings in your readers and make the characters in your story come to life.

Tip 1: Choose a dominant impression

Take inventory of the traits of the character you’d like to describe. Are they lazy, sexy, insecure, irritable? Choose qualities that are particularly noteworthy about the character and actually relate to your story. Think about what the character is   like , as much as what they look like. Keep in mind that the earlier you get to these qualities in relation to the character’s appearance in the story, the better. 

In J. Ryan Stradal’s   Kitchens of the Great Midwest , the protagonist has been lamenting his sorry luck with women. On page four, through a third-person narrator, we get more of the character’s perception of himself:

“By this time, he was twenty-eight, growing a pale hairy inner tube around his waist, and already going bald.”

This isn’t an objective description. Stradal conveys the insecurities of the character through the way the character chooses to describe himself.

Tip 2: Convey the attitude of the describer

Pin down the current outlook or perspective of the character doing the describing. Zero in on their state of mind (lonely, curious, offended, prone-to-exaggeration, etc.) at this exact moment in the story. Now write your description through the filter of the consciousness of the character who is doing the describing. 

The male point-of-view character in Grace Paley’s short story “The Contest” is a bit of a player. Here’s how he describes his latest kind-of girlfriend:

“A medium girl, size twelve, a clay pot with handles—she could be grasped.”

Clay pot? Grasping? There’s one thing on this character’s mind and it isn’t a chaste afternoon at an ice cream social. In one short sentence we have insight into his sensibilities about women.

Tip 3: Lean into diction

Now’s the time to get picky with your word choices. The trick here is to pin down not only your character’s perception of other characters, but which words will best convey them. Think about how your character might verbalize the description, even if they aren’t speaking aloud. Choose words from their lexicon that will reveal them as a particular person.

Mattie Ross, the formal-speaking protagonist in Charles Portis’   True Grit , uses words like “beast” and “morn” in describing her father on his horse:

“He was a handsome sight and in my memory’s eye I can still see him mounted up there on Judy in his brown woolen coat and black Sunday hat and the both of them, man and beast, blowing little clouds of steam on that frosty morn.”

Portis could have left out the parenthetical “man and beast,” and of course he could have had Mattie say “morning.” But his attention to the particulars of diction allowed him to characterize this unforgettable fourteen-year-old girl.

Tip 4: Go for gesture or bodily movement

If you tend to use static descriptions when you describe your characters, think about putting them in motion so that the reader can see them doing something. Action adds another dimension to your descriptions. It allows you to take physical traits, which may be general, and incorporate them into specific behaviors.

In “The Lunch Lady and Her Three-Headed Dogs,” essayist Sonya Huber writes about her conflicted relationship with her upper arms and describes them like this:

“I raise my arms to write on the chalkboard, and the skin draped over bone and muscle swings in contrapuntal melody.”

Huber isn’t just present in her classroom setting, she’s active in it. And the boldness of putting that upper arm skin in motion takes the visual from good to great.

Tip 5: Try something figurative

This is a tricky one because a bad metaphor or simile can be cringe-worthy. But a good one will delight your reader. A simple comparison can clarify your image, allowing the reader to think,   Ah, I know exactly what you mean .

Paulette Jiles skillfully uses metaphor in her novel   News of the World   during a scene in which kindly Captain Kidd is first assessing the young girl who is to be his charge:

“Her eyes were blue and her skin that odd bright color that occurs when fair skin has been burned and weathered by the sun. She had no more expression than an egg.”

When you describe your characters, with just a little extra work, you might be surprised at how deeply you can get into the minds of your story people, and how much better your reader will connect to them. More than plot, it’s your characters who are going to sweep your readers away into the world of your story.

Written by  Kim Lozano

Kim Lozano is an editor and creative writing coach from St. Louis. Her work has been published in The Iowa Review North American Review DIY MFA CRAFT and many other publications. You can find out more about her classes and the writing resources she offers at kimlozano.com.

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Home / Book Writing / How to Write Amazing Character Descriptions (with Examples)

How to Write Amazing Character Descriptions (with Examples)

A good character description is walking a fine line between too much and too little information. Not only that, it's how you deliver the information to the reader that can make or break a good description. So whether you already have a vivid picture of your characters in mind or you don't know where to start, you've come to the right place. Read on to explore character description.

• What is a Good Character Description?
• Descriptions for Character Profiles
• Descriptions in Prose
• Character Description Examples
• Tips for Writing Character Descriptions for Profiles

Table of contents

• Description in Prose
• 1. Start With a List
• 2. Edit it Down
• 3. Get Creative With Surroundings and Movement
• 4. What Is and What Isn't
• 5. Adjectives Can Help or Hinder
• 6. Practice Makes Perfect
• 7. Description Can Help Reveal the Narrator

A good character description isn't just about describing how a given character looks. It's also about describing the character through the world around them and through their actions. When these factors come together, you can create a vivid description that not only tells the reader a lot about your character's personality but also sparks the reader's imagination. That, after all, is what reading is all about.

And while we'll mostly be discussing character description in prose, we'll also be discussing how character description is important when writing your character profiles. Since character profiles are best utilized before you write your novel, we'll start there.

Creating a character profile can help you when it comes time to write. It can ensure that you know your major characters intimately before you start writing. These profiles are about more than just character description, but for the purposes of this article, we'll focus on the physical attributes, as they're the building blocks for writing descriptive prose.

Think of a profile as a character sketch. You're not trying to get every single detail down, as it's always good to leave room for spontaneity when you're writing your novel . But when it comes to the basics of how the character looks, it can help to nail down the details.

This includes things like eye color, facial expression, height, weight, build, hair color, skin color, any disfigurements or scars, and things like tattoos or birthmarks. This should also include clothing and any other accessories, such as hats, watches, necklaces, and piercings.

You don't have to get fancy with the profile. Just get the information down so you can refer to it later. If you want to go the extra mile, you can write down some varying descriptions of your character as if you're writing the novel. It's often easiest to focus on one physical attribute at a time until you're comfortable. These practice descriptions can lend inspiration when you start writing in earnest.

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Description in your book is a bit different than in your profile. A good description can give the reader a glimpse at the character's personality traits as well as their appearance. There are many different ways to write a great character description, but they all have one thing in common: they're creative and anything but boilerplate.

Many new writers opt for the list-style of description, thinking that less is more. They often look like this:

“He had piercing green eyes, sandy blond hair, and stood a stocky and solid six-foot-two. He had a slight limp and the musculature of a man who works hard for his living.”

While this may be fine for a minor character, it falls a little flat for a major character that you want the audience to know intimately. So for ideas on how to write character descriptions, let's look at some examples from some masters of the craft.

“His present dog was a huge white brute, a mountain dog from the South. He had named it Halina, after his second wife, with whom it shared some personality traits. . . It weighed almost as much as he did and its coat was matted and filthy; it lifted its massive head and watched him with lunatic eyes.”

This description, from Dave Hutchinson's Europe in Autumn , is a great example of how to describe physical appearance. Neither the man nor his dog is a major character in the story, but the description tells you a little about the K9 and its owner in a few concise sentences.

“He did not look like anything special at all.”

This one-sentence description in Jonathan Safran Foer's Everything is Illuminated is an excellent example of “less is more.”

“When he did appear his eyes were as brown as I remembered, pupils flecked with gold like beach pebbles.”

This description is from Sub Rosa by Amber Dawn. It's a compelling use of simile to create a picture of a character's appearance in the reader's mind. Note that she doesn't use tired and worn-out similes such as “eyes as blue as the summer sky” or “hair as red as autumn leaves. Getting creative with figurative language can work out very well.

“He smiled understandingly — much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced — or seemed to face — the whole eternal world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor.”

This description, from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, focuses on the character's actions to tell the reader about him. Or, rather, on a single action: a smile. At the same time, the writer is telling the reader something about the POV character, giving insights into how the narrator sees the character while describing him.

Tips for Writing Character Descriptions in Prose

Most writing teachers and authors will tell you that if you want to write, you need to read. And the descriptions above should be shining examples of why that is sage advice. Reading how the authors you love write character description is key. But I've included some tips you can use when it comes time to write your own masterpiece!

This is where the character profile comes in handy. Not only does it keep you on track (there's nothing worse than realizing you switched a character's eye color halfway through a book) but it also allows you to keep a picture of your character fresh in your mind's eye.

So keep a list handy. Even if it's just the basics, like “black hair” or “brown eyes” and the like, it helps.

One of the most oft-quoted pieces of advice from Strunk & White's The Elements of Style is “Omit needless words.” For writers old and new, this advice is sound indeed for writing character descriptions. We've all read a book where the description of a character goes on for pages and pages and we find ourselves asking, “When will we get back to the story?”

This is something to avoid at all costs. So edit your descriptions down as much as possible. Don't use flowery language for its own sake. Instead, try to get your point across to the reader in as concise a manner as possible. You don't have to get into a character's backstory with the description if it will interrupt the flow of the story.

Remember that you want to create a vivid character in the reader's mind, but that doesn't mean that you want to take all of their imagination out of it. Leave something for the reader to interpret, if at all possible.

Description isn't all about a character's physicality. It's also about how the character interacts with the world around them. The way a man sits on a couch or a woman drives a car or a child eats an ice cream cone can all add to the character's description. A sentence about what a couple does while waiting in line at the movies can tell the reader more than a paragraph of straight description.

The way a character walks, the way they gesture when they talk, the way they squint when they're thinking. These are all great ways to add to a character's vividness and depth through description.

Describing a person, fictional or otherwise, can be done by looking at what is there and what isn't there. In fact, sharing what isn't there — what's missing — can be a great way of describing a person. As a writer, this can also help you develop your craft and keep your prose fresh. Whether this is a missing limb, a shirt pocket that has been torn off, or the lack of seeming intelligence on a vacant face, the absence of things can say a lot about a character.

As a rule in fiction, it's best to limit your use of adverbs. And the use of adjectives in character descriptions is no exception. Like adverbs, adjectives can become a crutch that holds back more concise and creative writing. This is not to say that you shouldn't use them on occasion. Sometimes an adjective is just the right kind of word for character description. Just keep in mind that overusing them can lead to reader fatigue and overly flowery language.

This should go without saying, but practicing your description will go a long way to becoming a better writer. When you consciously sit down to write a compelling character description, you can really think about what you want to say and how best to say it.

To do this, choose a character archetype and flesh that archetype out into a full-fledged person through descriptive language. Try writing several descriptions of the same character type, focusing on a few different tributes each time. You can try writing one where you focus on appearance. One on movement. One on how she/he interacts with the world around them. One on clothing. And one on what's missing (if anything). These practices can help you get your head around how best to describe a character in any given situation.

Description can also tell the reader about the POV character or narrator. And if your narrator is also your protagonist, this can be very important. This is because, short of having your character stand in front of a mirror and describe herself, there aren't many easy ways to describe your POV character without taking the reader out of the story. So, a great way to enlighten the reader is to use the way your narrator sees other characters. This can often be in the form of physical comparisons that the narrator makes or insights that they glean from watching/interacting with another character.

Not only does this add to the main character's believability, but it also provides an opportunity for character development as the story progresses. Perhaps your POV character has a bad habit of comparing himself to others he learns to break. Or perhaps he focuses too much on physical attributes to the detriment of seeing who other characters really are.

Whether you're writing a short story , novella, or a 1,000-page tome, you'll want to get familiar with character descriptions. The best way to start this is with a character profile. This will help you with your character analysis, which is great for fleshing out your main character, villain, and even secondary characters that need brief but compelling descriptions.

Once you have the basics of your character down, you can start experimenting with description. By focusing on one major character trait at first, you can develop your own style of description. Then you can incorporate more attributes, sharing only a couple at a time as your novel progresses.

Be concise, creative, and don't forget to look for what is and what isn't there. Use movement, interactions, and gestures to make vivid and crisp character descriptions. 

Dave Chesson

When I’m not sipping tea with princesses or lightsaber dueling with little Jedi, I’m a book marketing nut. Having consulted multiple publishing companies and NYT best-selling authors, I created Kindlepreneur to help authors sell more books. I’ve even been called “The Kindlepreneur” by Amazon publicly, and I’m here to help you with your author journey.

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A Guide to Descriptive Writing

by Melissa Donovan | Jan 7, 2021 | Creative Writing | 9 comments

What is descriptive writing?

Writing description is a necessary skill for most writers. Whether we’re writing an essay, a story, or a poem, we usually reach a point where we need to describe something. In fiction, we describe settings and characters. In poetry, we describe scenes, experiences, and emotions. In creative nonfiction, we describe reality. Descriptive writing is especially important for speculative fiction writers and poets. If you’ve created a fantasy world, then you’ll need to deftly describe it to readers; Lewis Carroll not only described Wonderland  (aff link); he also described the fantastical creatures that inhabited it.

But many writers are challenged by description writing, and many readers find it boring to read — when it’s not crafted skillfully.

However, I think it’s safe to say that technology has spoiled us. Thanks to photos and videos, we’ve become increasingly visual, which means it’s getting harder to use words to describe something, especially if it only exists in our imaginations.

What is Descriptive Writing?

One might say that descriptive writing is the art of painting a picture with words. But descriptive writing goes beyond visuals. Descriptive writing hits all the senses; we describe how things look, sound, smell, taste, and feel (their tactile quality).

The term descriptive writing can mean a few different things:

• The act of writing description ( I’m doing some descriptive writing ).
• A descriptive essay is short-form prose that is meant to describe something in detail; it can describe a person, place, event, object, or anything else.
• Description as part of a larger work: This is the most common kind of descriptive writing. It is usually a sentence or paragraph (sometimes multiple paragraphs) that provide description, usually to help the reader visualize what’s happening, where it’s happening, or how it’s happening. It’s most commonly used to describe a setting or a character. An example would be a section of text within a novel that establishes the setting by describing a room or a passage that introduces a character with a physical description.
• Writing that is descriptive (or vivid) — an author’s style: Some authors weave description throughout their prose and verse, interspersing it through the dialogue and action. It’s a style of writing that imparts description without using large blocks of text that are explicitly focused on description.
• Description is integral in poetry writing. Poetry emphasizes imagery, and imagery is rendered in writing via description, so descriptive writing is a crucial skill for most poets.

Depending on what you write, you’ve probably experimented with one of more of these types of descriptive writing, maybe all of them.

Can you think of any other types of descriptive writing that aren’t listed here?

How Much Description is Too Much?

Classic literature was dense with description whereas modern literature usually keeps description to a minimum.

Compare the elaborate descriptions in J.R.R. Tolkien’s  Lord of the Rings  trilogy  with the descriptions in J.K. Rowling’s  Harry Potter series  (aff links). Both series relied on description to help readers visualize an imagined, fantastical world, but Rowling did not use her precious writing space to describe standard settings whereas Tolkien frequently paused all action and spent pages describing a single landscape.

This isn’t unique to Tolkien and Rowling; if you compare most literature from the beginning of of the 20th century and earlier to today’s written works, you’ll see that we just don’t dedicate much time and space to description anymore.

I think this radical change in how we approach description is directly tied to the wide availability of film, television, and photography. Let’s say you were living in the 19th century, writing a story about a tropical island for an audience of northern, urban readers. You would be fairly certain that most of your readers had never seen such an island and had no idea what it looked like. To give your audience a full sense of your story’s setting, you’d need pages of detail describing the lush jungle, sandy beaches, and warm waters.

Nowadays, we all know what a tropical island looks like, thanks to the wide availability of media. Even if you’ve never been to such an island, surely you’ve seen one on TV. This might explain why few books on the craft of writing address descriptive writing. The focus is usually on other elements, like language, character, plot, theme, and structure.

For contemporary writers, the trick is to make the description as precise and detailed as possible while keeping it to a minimum. Most readers want characters and action with just enough description so that they can imagine the story as it’s unfolding.

If you’ve ever encountered a story that paused to provide head-to-toe descriptions along with detailed backstories of every character upon their introduction into the narrative, you know just how grating description can be when executed poorly.

However, it’s worth noting that a skilled writer can roll out descriptions that are riveting to read. Sometimes they’re riveting because they’re integrated seamlessly with the action and dialogue; other times, the description is deftly crafted and engaging on its own. In fact, an expert descriptive writer can keep readers glued through multiple pages of description.

Descriptive Writing Tips

I’ve encountered descriptive writing so smooth and seamless that I easily visualized what was happening without even noticing that I was reading description. Some authors craft descriptions that are so lovely, I do notice — but in a good way. Some of them are so compelling that I pause to read them again.

On the other hand, poorly crafted descriptions can really impede a reader’s experience. Description doesn’t work if it’s unclear, verbose, or bland. Most readers prefer action and dialogue to lengthy descriptions, so while a paragraph here and there can certainly help readers better visualize what’s happening, pages and pages of description can increase the risk that they’ll set your work aside and never pick it up again. There are exceptions to every rule, so the real trick is to know when lengthy descriptions are warranted and when they’re just boring.

Here are some general tips for descriptive writing:

• Use distinct descriptions that stand out and are memorable. For example, don’t write that a character is five foot two with brown hair and blue eyes. Give the reader something to remember. Say the character is short with mousy hair and sky-blue eyes.
• Make description active: Consider the following description of a room: There was a bookshelf in the corner. A desk sat under the window. The walls were beige, and the floor was tiled. That’s boring. Try something like this: A massive oak desk sat below a large picture window and beside a shelf overflowing with books. Hardcovers, paperbacks, and binders were piled on the dingy tiled floor in messy stacks.  In the second example, words like  overflowing  and  piled are active.
• Weave description through the narrative: Sometimes a character enters a room and looks around, so the narrative needs to pause to describe what the character sees. Other times, description can be threaded through the narrative. For example, instead of pausing to describe a character, engage that character in dialogue with another character. Use the characters’ thoughts and the dialogue tags to reveal description: He stared at her flowing, auburn curls, which reminded him of his mother’s hair. “Where were you?” he asked, shifting his green eyes across the restaurant to where a customer was hassling one of the servers.

Simple descriptions are surprisingly easy to execute. All you have to do is look at something (or imagine it) and write what you see. But well-crafted descriptions require writers to pay diligence to word choice, to describe only those elements that are most important, and to use engaging language to paint a picture in the reader’s mind. Instead of spending several sentences describing a character’s height, weight, age, hair color, eye color, and clothing, a few, choice details will often render a more vivid image for the reader: Red hair framed her round, freckled face like a spray of flames. This only reveals three descriptive details: red hair, a round face, and freckles. Yet it paints more vivid picture than a statistical head-to-toe rundown:  She was five foot three and no more than a hundred and ten pounds with red hair, blue eyes, and a round, freckled face.

10 descriptive writing practices.

How to Practice Writing Description

Here are some descriptive writing activities that will inspire you while providing opportunities to practice writing description. If you don’t have much experience with descriptive writing, you may find that your first few attempts are flat and boring. If you can’t keep readers engaged, they’ll wander off. Work at crafting descriptions that are compelling and mesmerizing.

• Go to one of your favorite spots and write a description of the setting: it could be your bedroom, a favorite coffee shop, or a local park. Leave people, dialogue, and action out of it. Just focus on explaining what the space looks like.
• Who is your favorite character from the movies? Describe the character from head to toe. Show the reader not only what the character looks like, but also how the character acts. Do this without including action or dialogue. Remember: description only!
• Forty years ago we didn’t have cell phones or the internet. Now we have cell phones that can access the internet. Think of a device or gadget that we’ll have forty years from now and describe it.
• Since modern fiction is light on description, many young and new writers often fail to include details, even when the reader needs them. Go through one of your writing projects and make sure elements that readers may not be familiar with are adequately described.
• Sometimes in a narrative, a little description provides respite from all the action and dialogue. Make a list of things from a story you’re working on (gadgets, characters, settings, etc.), and for each one, write a short description of no more than a hundred words.
• As mentioned, Tolkien often spent pages describing a single landscape. Choose one of your favorite pieces of classic literature, find a long passage of description, and rewrite it. Try to cut the descriptive word count in half.
• When you read a book, use a highlighter to mark sentences and paragraphs that contain description. Don’t highlight every adjective and adverb. Look for longer passages that are dedicated to description.
• Write a description for a child. Choose something reasonably difficult, like the solar system. How do you describe it in such a way that a child understands how he or she fits into it?
• Most writers dream of someday writing a book. Describe your book cover.
• Write a one-page description of yourself.

If you have any descriptive writing practices to add to this list, feel free to share them in the comments.

Descriptive Writing

Does descriptive writing come easily to you, or do you struggle with it? Do you put much thought into how you write description? What types of descriptive writing have you tackled — descriptive essays, blocks of description within larger texts, or descriptions woven throughout a narrative? Share your tips for descriptive writing by leaving a comment, and keep writing!

Further Reading: Abolish the Adverbs , Making the Right Word Choices for Better Writing , and Writing Description in Fiction .

I find descriptions easier when first beginning a scene. Other ones I struggle with. Yes, intertwining them with dialogue does help a lot.

I have the opposite experience. I tend to dive right into action and dialogue when I first start a scene.

I came across this article at just the right time. I am just starting to write a short story. This will change the way I describe characters in my story.

Thank you for this. R.G. Ramsey

You’re welcome!

Great tips and how to practise and improve our descriptive writing skills. Thank you for sharing.

You’re welcome, Bella.

Hello Melissa

I have read many of your articles about different aspects of writing and have enjoyed all of them. What you said here, I agree with, with the exception of #7. That is one point that I dispute and don’t understand the reason why anyone would do this, though I’ve seen books that had things like that done to them.

To me, a book is something to be treasured, loved and taken care of. It deserves my respect because I’m sure the author poured their heart and soul into its creation. Marking it up that way is nothing short of defacing it. A book or story is a form of art, so should a person mark over a picture by Rembrandt or any other famous painter? You’re a very talented author, so why would you want someone to mark through the words you had spent considerable time and effort agonizing over, while searching for the best words to convey your thoughts?

If I want to remember some section or point the author is making, then I’ll take a pen and paper and record the page number and perhaps the first few words of that particular section. I’ve found that writing a note this way helps me remember it better. This is then placed inside the cover for future reference. If someone did what you’ve suggested to a book of mine, I’d be madder than a ‘wet hen’, and that person would certainly be told what I thought of them.

In any of the previous articles you’ve written, you’ve brought up some excellent points which I’ve tried to incorporate in my writing. Keep up the good work as I know your efforts have helped me, and I’m sure other authors as well.

Hi Stanley. Thanks so much for sharing your point of view. I appreciate and value it.

Marking up a book is a common practice, especially in academia. Putting notes in margins, underlining, highlighting, and tagging pages with bookmarks is standard. Personally, I mark up nonfiction paperbacks, but I never mark up fiction paperbacks or any hardcovers (not since college).

I completely respect your right to keep your books in pristine condition. And years ago, when I started college, I felt exactly the same way. I was horrified that people (instructors and professors!) would fill their books with ugly yellow highlighting and other markips. But I quickly realized that this was shortsighted.

Consider an old paperback that is worn and dog-eared. With one look, you know this book has been read many times and it’s probably loved. It’s like the Velveteen Rabbit of books. I see markups as the same — that someone was engaging with the book and trying to understand it on a deeper level, which is not disrespectful. It’s something to be celebrated.

Sometimes we place too much value on the book as a physical object rather than what’s inside. I appreciate a beautiful book as much as anyone but what really matters to me is the information or experience that it contains. I often read on a Kindle. Sometimes I listen to audio books. There is no physical book. The experience is not lessened.

I understand where you’re coming from. I used to feel the same way, but my mind was changed. I’m not trying to change yours, but I hope you’ll understand.

You’ve provided some great information and advice. One thing I might add–it is helpful to consider the POV character. For example, what will they notice in a restaurant? A police officer may notice the placement of the exits, the tattooed man carrying a side-arm, the security cameras on the ceiling, etc. The descriptive items he would notice would be very different from those of an elderly grandmother or a fifteen-year-old teenaged girl.

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The Gigantic List of Character Descriptions (70+ examples)

The vast majority of character descriptions are simply lazy.

They recycle typical ideas about hair, eye color, and build, giving you more information about the character’s fitting for a dress or suit than the type of information you need to know them intimately.

The first thing you should do when describing a character is to pick a category that isn’t so overused. Such as trying to describe: 

Describing your character in an innovative way will help retain the reader’s interest. You want your reader to be asking questions about this character, to not only learn something about them but to create mystery. What made them like this? How long have they been this way? Is there someone currently after them or is this paranoia because of a past experience?  Questions like these are what keeps the reader reading. 

Not only physical descriptions are needed. Consider: “How is this person viewed by another character?” Do they seem dangerous, alluring, secretive, suspicious? The way another character views someone else gives insight about them as well. Are they attracted? Repulsed? Curious? 

Another thing to take notice of is the type of person they are, despite their appearance.

• How do they think?
• What do they feel?
• How do they view/react to certain situations compared to how others would?
• What is their mental state?

Here is a list of examples of brilliant character descriptions to give you an idea and help you come up with your own:

3 Categories: Modern Literary, Literature, Popular

Modern Literary

1. vladimir nabokov, lolita.

” … Her skin glistening in the neon light coming from the paved court through the slits in the blind, her soot-black lashes matted, her grave gray eyes more vacant than ever.”

2. Marilynne Robinson, Housekeeping

” … in the last years she continued to settle and began to shrink. Her mouth bowed forward and her brow sloped back, and her skull shone pink and speckled within a mere haze of hair, which hovered about her head like the remembered shape of an altered thing. She looked as if the nimbus of humanity were fading away and she were turning monkey. Tendrils grew from her eyebrows and coarse white hairs sprouted on her lip and chin. When she put on an old dress the bosom hung empty and the hem swept the floor. Old hats fell down over her eyes. Sometimes she put her hand over her mouth and laughed, her eyes closed and her shoulder shaking.” 

3. Jeffrey Eugenides, The Marriage Plot

“Phyllida’s hair was where her power resided. It was expensively set into a smooth dome, like a band shell for the presentation of that long-running act, her face.”

4. China Miéville, This Census-Taker

“His hand was over his eyes. He looked like a failed soldier. Dirt seemed so worked into him that the lines of his face were like writing.”

5. Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita

“And then the hot air congealed in front of him, and out of it materialized a transparent man of most bizarre appearance. A small head with a jockey cap, a skimpy little checked jacket that was made out of air … The man was seven feet tall, but very narrow in the shoulders, incredibly thin, and his face, please note, had a jeering look about it.”

6. Barbara Kingsolver, The Poisonwood Bible

“Mama BekwaTataba stood watching us—a little jet-black woman. Her elbows stuck out like wings, and a huge white enameled tub occupied the space above her head, somewhat miraculously holding steady while her head moved in quick jerks to the right and left.”

7. John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces

“A green hunting cap squeezed the top of the fleshy balloon of a head. The green earflaps, full of large ears and uncut hair and the fine bristles that grew in the ears themselves, stuck out on either side like turn signals indicating two directions at once. Full, pursed lips protruded beneath the bushy black moustache and, at their corners, sank into little folds filled with disapproval and potato chip crumbs. In the shadow under the green visor of the cap Ignatius J. Reilly’s supercilious blue and yellow eyes looked down upon the other people waiting under the clock at the D.H. Holmes department store, studying the crowd of people for signs of bad taste in dress. Several of the outfits, Ignatius noticed, were new enough and expensive enough to be properly considered offenses against taste and decency. Possession of anything new or expensive only reflected a person’s lack of theology and geometry; it could even cast doubts upon one’s soul.”

8. A.S. Byatt, Possession

“He was a compact, clearcut man, with precise features, a lot of very soft black hair, and thoughtful dark brown eyes. He had a look of wariness, which could change when he felt relaxed or happy, which was not often in these difficult days, into a smile of amused friendliness and pleasure which aroused feelings of warmth, and something more, in many women.”

9. Jonathan Safran Foer, Everything is Illuminated

“He did not look like anything special at all.”

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10. Henry Lawson, The Bush Girl

“ Grey eyes that grow sadder than sunset or rain, f ond heart that is ever more true F irm faith that grows firmer for watching in vain —  She’ll wait by the sliprails for you.”

11. Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man

“I am an invisible man. 
No I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allen Poe: 
Nor am I one of your Hollywood movie ectoplasms.
 I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids -
- and I might even be said to possess a mind. 
I am invisible, simply because people refuse to see me.”

12. F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

“He smiled understandingly-much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced–or seemed to face–the whole eternal world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor.”

13. Thomas Wolfe, Look Homeward, Angel

“My brother Ben’s face, thought Eugene, is like a piece of slightly yellow ivory; his high white head is knotted fiercely by his old man’s scowl; his mouth is like a knife, his smile the flicker of light across a blade. His face is like a blade, and a knife, and a flicker of light: it is delicate and fierce, and scowls beautifully forever, and when he fastens his hard white fingers and his scowling eyes upon a thing he wants to fix, he sniffs with sharp and private concentration through his long, pointed nose…his hair shines like that of a young boy—it is crinkled and crisp as lettuce.”

14. Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Books

“A black shadow dropped down into the circle. It was Bagheera the Black Panther, inky black all over, but with the panther markings showing up in certain lights like the pattern of watered silk. Everybody knew Bagheera, and nobody cared to cross his path, for he was as cunning as Tabaqui, as bold as the wild buffalo, and as reckless as the wounded elephant. But he had a voice as soft as wild honey dripping from a tree, and a skin softer than down.”

15. Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

“[Miss Havisham] had shut out infinitely more; that, in seclusion, she had secluded herself from a thousand natural and healing influences; that, her mind, brooding solitary, had grown diseased, as all minds do and must and will that reverse the appointed order of their Maker…”

16. John Knowles, A Separate Peace

“For such and extraordinary athlete—even as a Lower Middler Phineas had been the best athlete in the school—he was not spectacularly built. He was my height—five feet eight and a half inches…He weighed a hundred and fifty pounds, a galling ten pounds more than I did, which flowed from his legs to torso around shoulders to arms and full strong neck in an uninterrupted, unemphatic unity of strength.”

17. Ambrose Bierce, Chickamauga

“-the dead body of a woman—the white face turned upward, the hands thrown out and clutched full of grass, the clothing deranged, the long dark hair in tangles and full of clotted blood. The greater part of the forehead was torn away, and from the jagged hole the brain protruded, overflowing the temple, a frothy mass of gray, crowned with clusters of crimson bubbles—the work of a shell.”

18. Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

“…your manners, impressing me with the fullest belief of your arrogance, your conceit, and your selfish disdain of the feelings of others, were such as to form the groundwork of disapprobation on which succeeding events have built so immovable a dislike; and I had not known you a month before I felt that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry.”

19. Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

“He was most fifty, and he looked it. His hair was long and tangled and greasy, and hung down, and you could see his eyes shining through like he was behind vines. It was all black, no gray; so was his long, mixed-up whiskers. There warn’t no color in his face, where his face showed; it was white; not like another man’s white, but a white to make a body sick, a white to make a body’s flesh crawl – a tree-toad white, a fish-belly white. As for his clothes – just rags, that was all. He had one ankle resting on t’other knee; the boot on that foot was busted, and two of his toes stuck through, and he worked them now and then. His hat was laying on the floor – an old black slouch with the top caved in, like a lid.”  

20. William Golding, Lord of the Flies

“Inside the floating cloak he was tall, thin, and bony; and his hair was red beneath the black cap. His face was crumpled and freckled, and ugly without silliness.”

21. Jane Austen, Persuasion

“Vanity was the beginning and end of Sir Walter Elliot’s character: vanity of person and of situation. He had been remarkably handsome in his youth, and at fifty-four was still a very fine man. . . .”

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22. Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book

“When the old king saw this he foamed with rage, stared wildly about, flung himself on the ground and died.”

23. Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

“He was commonplace in complexion, in feature, in manners, and in voice. He was of middle size and of ordinary build. His eyes, of the usual blue, were perhaps remarkably cold, and he certainly could make his glance fall on one as trenchant and heavy as an axe… Otherwise there was only an indefinable, faint expression of his lips, something stealthy — a smile — not a smile — I remember it, but I can’t explain.” 

24. Anne Bronte, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

“His heart was like a sensitive plant, that opens for a moment in the sunshine, but curls up and shrinks into itself at the slightest touch of the finger, or the lightest breath of wind.”

25. Max Beerbohm, Zuleika Dobson

“He followed with his eyes her long slender figure as she threaded her way in and out of the crowd, sinuously, confidingly, producing a penny from one lad’s elbow, a threepenny-bit from between another’s neck and collar, half a crown from another’s hair, and always repeating in that flute-like voice of hers: “Well, this is rather queer!””

26. Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

“He had a long chin and big rather prominent teeth, just covered, when he was not talking, by his full, floridly curved lips. Old, young? Thirty? Fifty? Fifty-five? It was hard to say.”  

27. Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

“Her skin was a rich black that would have peeled like a plum if snagged, but then no one would have thought of getting close enough to Mrs. Flowers to ruffle her dress, let alone snag her skin. She didn’t encourage familiarity. She wore gloves too.  I don’t think I ever saw Mrs. Flowers laugh, but she smiled often. A slow widening of her thin black lips to show even, small white teeth, then the slow effortless closing. When she chose to smile on me, I always wanted to thank her.”

28. D.H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterley’s Lover

“But her will had left her. A strange weight was on her limbs. She was giving way. She was giving up…”

29. Henry James, The Aspern Papers

“Her face was not young, but it was simple; it was not fresh, but it was mild. She had large eyes which were not bright, and a great deal of hair which was not ‘dressed,’ and long fine hands which were–possibly–not clean.”   

30. Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Zanoni Book One: The Musician

“She is the spoiled sultana of the boards. To spoil her acting may be easy enough,—shall they spoil her nature? No, I think not. There, at home, she is still good and simple; and there, under the awning by the doorway,—there she still sits, divinely musing. How often, crook-trunked tree, she looks to thy green boughs; how often, like thee, in her dreams, and fancies, does she struggle for the light,—not the light of the stage-lamps.”

31. Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary

“Living among those white-faced women with their rosaries and copper crosses…” 

32. Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

“Though every vestige of her dress was burnt, as they told me, she still had something of her old ghastly bridal appearance; for, they had covered her to the throat with white cotton-wool, and as she lay with a white sheet loosely overlying that, the phantom air of something that had been and was changed, was still upon her.” 

33. Rudyard Kipling, Many Inventions

“He wrapped himself in quotations – as a beggar would enfold himself in the purple of Emperors.”

34. Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

“He was sunshine most always-I mean he made it seem like good weather.” 

35. Hugh Lofting, The Story of Doctor Dolittle

“For a long time he said nothing. He kept as still as a stone. He hardly seemed to be breathing at all. When at last he began to speak, it sounded almost as though he were singing, sadly, in a dream.”

36. Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

“I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be.”

37. Edwin A. Abbott, Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions

“He is himself his own World, his own Universe; of any other than himself he can form no conception; he knows not Length, nor Breadth, nor Height, for he has had no experience of them; he has no cognizance even of the number Two; nor has he a thought of Plurality, for he is himself his One and All, being really Nothing.”

38. Jamie McGuire, Beautiful Oblivion

“Her long platinum blond hair fell in loose waves past her shoulders, with a few black peekaboo strands. She wore a black minidress and combat boots.”

39. N.K. Jemisin, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

“His long, long hair wafted around him like black smoke, its tendrils curling and moving of their own volition. His cloak — or perhaps that was his hair too — shifted as if in an unfelt wind.” 

40. M.L. LeGette, The Orphan and the Thief

“A creature–a frightfully, awful creature–was mere feet from her. Its eyes were enormous, the size of goose eggs and milky white. Its gray, slippery skin was stretched taut upon its face. Its mouth was wide and full of needle teeth. Its hands rested on the rock, hands that were webbed and huge with each finger ending in a sharp, curved nail. It was as tall as a human man, yet oddly shrunken and hunched.”  

 41. Amber Dawn, Sub Rosa

“When he did appear his eyes were as brown as I remembered, pupils flecked with gold like beach pebbles.” 

 42. Julia Stuart, The Tower, The Zoo, and The Tortoise

“His hair had been grown to counteract its unequivocal retreat from the top of his head, and was fashioned into a mean, frail ponytail that hung limply down his back. Blooms of acne highlighted his vampire-white skin.” 

43. James Lee Burke, The Neon Rain

“His khaki sleeves were rolled over his sunburned arms, and he had the flat green eyes and heavy facial features of north Louisiana hill people. He smelled faintly of dried sweat, Red Man, and talcum powder.” 

44. Stephenie Meyer, Twilight

“I vividly remembered the flat black color of his eyes the last time he glared at me – the color was striking against the background of his pale skin and his auburn hair. Today, his eyes were a completely different color: a strange ocher, darker than butterscotch, but with the same golden tone.” 

45. Brian Malloy, Twelve Long Months 

“Whith her hair dyed bright red, she looks like Ronald McDonald’s post-menopausal sister. Who has let herself go.”     (This is one of my favorites, because I find it ridiculously funny)

46. Joan Johnston, No Longer A Stranger

“Actually, Reb had the same flawless complexion as her sister– except for the freckles. Her straight, boyishly cut hair fell onto her brow haphazardly and hid beautiful arched brows that framed her large, expressive eyes. She had a delicate, aquiline nose, but a stubborn mouth and chin.” 

47. Brian Morton, Breakable You

“Without her glasses Vivian did look a little frightening. She had tight sinewy strappy muscles and a face that was hardened and almost brutal – a face that might have been chiseled by a sculptor who had fallen out of love with the idea of beauty.”

48. Anne Rice, The Vampire Armand

“I saw my Master had adorned himself in a thick tunic and beautiful dark blue doublet which I’d hardly noticed before. He wore soft sleek dark blue gloves over his hands, gloves which perfectly cleaved to his fingers, and legs were covered by thick soft cashmere stockings all the way to his beautiful pointed shoes.” 

49. Becca Fitzpatrick, Black Ice

“His brown hair was cropped, and it showed off the striking s ymmetry of his face. With the sun at his back, shadows marked the depressions beneath his cheekbones. I couldn’t tell the color of his eyes, but I hoped they were brown…The guy had straight, sculptured shoulders that made me think swimmer …” 

50. E.C. Sheedy, Killing Bliss

“He stood, which put him eye to eye with the dark-haired woman whose brilliant, burning gaze poured into his worthless soul like boiling tar, whose mouth frothed with fury–and whose hand now curled, knuckles white, around a steak knife.”  (The author gives a lot of details about the characters emotions, but there is not one specific detail about neither of their appearances. Use this as an example of how physical appearances aren’t always the most important thing.)

51. James Lee Burke, The Neon Rain

“His wiry gray and black hair was dripping with sweat, and his face was the color and texture of old paper. He looked up at me from where he was seated on his bunk, and his eyes were hot and bright and moisture was beaded across his upper lip. He held a Camel cigarette between his yellowed fingers, and the floor around his feet was covered with cigarette butts.”  

52. Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

“She has bright, dark eyes and satiny brown skin and stands tilted up on her toes with arms slightly extended to her sides, as if ready to take wing at the slightest sound.”

53. Becca Fitzpatrick, Hush, Hush

“He was abominable…and the most alluring, tortured soul I’d ever met.”   (This isn’t describing him physically, but it is giving insight to how the main character views him)

54. J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

“A giant of a man was standing in the doorway. His face was almost completely hidden by  a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes,  glinting like black beetles under all the hair.” 

55. Anne Rice, Violin

“I deliberately thought of him, my violinist, point by point, that with his long narrow nose and such deep-set eyes he might have been less seductive to someone else–perhaps. But then perhaps to no one. What a well-formed mouth he had, and how the narrow eyes, the detailed deepened lids gave him such a range of expression, to open his gaze wide, or sink in cunning street.”

56. Kevin Brooks, Lucas

“As I’ve already said, the memory of Lucas’s walk brings a smile to my face. It’s an incredibly vivid memory, and if I close my eyes I can see it now. An easygoing lope. Nice and steady. Not too fast and not too slow, Fast enough to get somewhere, but not too fast to miss anything. Bouncy, alert, resolute, without any concern and without vanity. A walk that both belonged to and was remote from everything around it.” 

57. Anne Rice, Violin

“And she looked the way he had always hated her–dreamy and sloppy, and sweet, with glasses falling down, smoking a cigarette, with ashes on her coat, but full of love, her body heavy and shapeless with age.” 

58. Kevin Brooks, Lucas

“As we drew closer, the figure became clearer, It was a young man, or a boy, dressed loosely in a drab green T-shirt and baggy green trousers. He had a green army jacket tied around his waist and a green canvas bag slung over his shoulder. The only non-green thing about him was the pair of scruffy black walking boots on his feet. Although he was on the small side, he wasn’t as slight as I first thought. He wasn’t exactly muscular, but he wasn’t weedy-looking either…there was an air of hidden strength about him, a graceful strength that showed in his balance, the way he held himself, the way he walked….” 

59. Iris Johansen, The Face of Deception

“Kinky tousled curls, only a minimum of makeup, large brown eyes behind round wire-rimmed glasses. There was a world of character in that face, more than enough to make her fascinating-looking instead of just attractive.” 

60. Dennis Lehane, A Drink Before the War

“Brian Paulson was rake thin, with smooth hair the color of tin and a wet fleshy handshake…. His greeting was a nod and a blink, befitting someone who’d stepped out of the shadows only momentarily.” 

61. Gena Showalter, The Darkest Night

“Pale hair fell in waves to his shoulders, framing a face mortal females considered a sensual feast. They didn’t know the man was actually a devil in angel’s skin. They should have, though. He practically glowed with irreverence, and there was an unholy gleam in his green eyes that proclaimed he would laugh in your face while cutting out your heat. Or laugh in your face while you cut out his heart.”

62. Sam Byers, Idiopathy 

“Now here he was: sartorially, facially and interpersonally sharpened; every inch the beatific boffin.”

63. Maggie Stiefvater, The Raven Boys

“As always, there was an all-American war hero look to him, coded in his tousled brown hair, his summer-narrowed hazel eyes, the straight nose that ancient Anglo-Saxons had graciously passed on to him. Everything about him suggested valor and power and a firm handshake.” 

64. J.R.R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

“The face of Elrond was ageless, neither old nor young, though in it was written the memory of many things both glad and sorrowful. His hair was dark as the shadows of twilight, and upon it was set a circlet of silver; his eyes were grey as a clear evening, and in them was a light like the light of stars.” 

65. Fredrik Backman, A Man Called Ove

“People said Ove saw the world in black and white. But she was color. All the color he had.”  

66. Frank Herbert, Dune

“…a girl-child who appeared to be about four years old. She wore a black aba, the hood thrown back to reveal the attachments of a stillsuit hanging free at her throat. Her eyes were Fremen blue, staring out of a soft, round face. She appeared completely unafraid and there was a look to her stare that made the Baron feel uneasy for no reason he could explain.” 

67. Orson Scott Card, Ender’s Game

“Ender did not see Peter as the beautiful ten-year-old boy that grown-ups saw, with dark, tousled hair and a face that could have belonged to Alexander the Great. Ender looked at Peter only to detect anger or boredom, the dangerous moods that almost always led to pain.”

68. Caitlin Moran, How to Build a Girl

“He had his head in his hands, and his tie looked like it had been put on by an enemy, and was strangling him.”

69. Graham Joyce, Some Kind of Fairy Tale

“Peter was a gentle, red-haired bear of a man. Standing at six-four in his socks, he moved everywhere with a slight and nautical sway, but even though he was broad across the chest there was something centered and reassuring about him, like an old ship’s mast cut from a single timber.”

70. Brad Parks, The Girl Next Door

“…in addition to being fun, smart, and quick-witted—in a feisty way that always kept me honest—she’s quite easy to look at, with never-ending legs, toned arms, curly brown hair, and eyes that tease and smile and glint all at the same time.” 

71. Dennis Lehane, A Drink Before the War

“Sterling Mulkern was a florid, beefy man, the kind who carried weight like a weapon, not a liability. He had a shock of stiff white hair you could land a DC-10 on and a handshake that stopped just short of inducing paralysis.”

72. Philip Pullman, The Golden Compass

“Lord Asriel was a tall man with powerful shoulders, a fierce dark face, and eyes that seemed to flash and glitter with savage laughter. It was a face to be dominated by, or to fight: never a face to patronize or pity. All his movements were large and perfectly balanced, like those of a wild animal, and when he appeared in a room like this, he seemed a wild animal held in a cage too small for it.”

73. Sherman Alexie, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven

“I thought she was so beautiful. I figured she was the kind of woman who could make buffalo walk on up to her and give up their lives. She wouldn’t have needed to hunt. Every time we went walking, birds would follow us around. Hell, tumbleweeds would follow us around.”

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29 comments

woowwwwwwwwie

Love the compilation. Thank you for doing this

This is a great compilation! My students are working on writing characters right now, so I’m having them look through your list to see examples of a job well done 🙂 Thanks!

Thanks I’m using these for students to make character drawings from

This is really helpful ! Love it !

Do you have a way, where you could put the characters physical traits in this website?

Thank you for the awesome list. You should add this one; it’s from Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: “Mr. Utterson, the lawyer, was a man of rugged countenance, that was never lightened by a smile; cold, scanty and embarrassed in discourse; backward in sentiment; lean, long, dusty, dreary, and yet somehow lovable.” There’s more after, but I thought this was a good description.

And this one: “Mr. Hyde was pale and dwarfish, he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation, he had a displeasing smile, he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness, and he spoke with a husky, whispering, and somewhat broken voice: all these were points against him, but all of them together could not describe the hitherto unknown disgust, loathing, and fear with which Mr. Utterson regarded him.”

The quote that stood out to me the most was the quote from ‘The Census Taker’. That quote captured the characters feelings so well. The author was able to compare in self worth by saying it was as dirt, so much so that the dirt was written in his skin. I have never seen self worth and failure described as part of a person’s face.

Thank you. I echo Chris’s comment Wowwwwww and add a few!!!!

Wonderful! Reading these enabled me to rewrite the descriptions for my two leading characters.

Thank you for this, very helpful! I don’t know if this is really related, but I’m writing a story including a mean girl who bullies the main character (also a girl). I’m struggling to write what the mean girl uses to bully the main character – what I end up coming up with is way too mean or unreal, etc.

Blinded by tears, she could hear the haze of pink shout, “See, poor baby cries. Great actress, dear. Why do you waste your talent on us, here?”

great great any book for description of physical appearance in narrative

Great list. And I have one to add. It’s from Michael Moorcock, riding the new wave of British sci-fi back in the 1960s. He’s been a favorite of mine for decades. The passage is from “Elric of Melniboné:”

“It is the colour of a bleached skull, his flesh; and the long hair which flows below his shoulders is milk-white. From the tapering, beautiful head stare two slanting eyes, crimson and moody, and from the loose sleeves of his yellow gown emerge two slender hands, also the colour of bone, resting on each arm of a seat which has been carved from a single, massive ruby.”

Thanks for this – very useful compilation for teaching – makes life so much easier! And helps in my writing, to look at expressions and word arrangements… I notice how some writers seem so good in visual description, and some others seem to be much better at character expressions..

wowzers!!! this is so cool!

I planned to just read a few, but I couldn’t stop reading. These are awesome! Thank you.

“Character Description” on The John Fox’s blog is a treasure trove of valuable tips and techniques for crafting compelling characters. The blog explores the art of painting vivid and multi-dimensional personas, adding depth to storytelling. Aspiring writers will find this guide indispensable for creating memorable characters that resonate with readers.

holy MOLY, thank you!

I liked them

wow thanks you have really helped me but can you put something to describe a character that is a tyrant please? that would really help

Absolutely remarkable. So very helpful in every since of the word.

OH HELLL YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

A killer set of fine examples! Thanks for compiling it!

Please, add sentences that can apply to more characters.

Love it but should be more single sentences

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This character writing guide is a one-stop resource for creating types of characters in fiction. Learn key characterization terms, how to develop characters, how to write stronger character descriptions, and more. Use the links to jump to the character writing subtopic you want to explore now.

Character terms: Key concepts

Read useful character definitions plus a concise explanation of important concepts in character writing.

To develop characters to cast your story, it helps to understand what is:

A figure in a book, play, film or video game or other media. They may be human (e.g. Anna Karenina), animal (e.g. Beatrix Potter), hybrid, alien, or an anthropomorphic object (e.g. Mr Potato Head in Toy Story ).

We also use the word to describe the qualities and traits that create personality or persona. For example, we say a very giving or altruistic person has a ‘selfless character’.

Characterization

The way a character is built through narration and other dramatic and narrative devices (such as voice, action, reaction, habits, strengths, flaws and other details).

Character development

Often used synonymously with characterization – the way a character grows and changes (’round’ characters develop whereas ‘flat’ characters like Jessica Fletcher in Murder She Wrote don’t and are more static).

For a detailed look at how to write and use flat characters read our comprehensive post.

Short for ‘goal, motivation and conflict’ this term (popularized by Debra Dixon in GMC: Goal, Motivation and Conflict ) refers to core elements of character development.

Goals are what characters want, motivations why they want then, and conflict the obstacles (internal or external) that complicate the path to success.

Character arc

The change process a character undergoes in a story due to its events. Character arcs include the rising and falling action (or peaks and valleys) of setback and disaster (valley) or progress and triumph (peak).

Many arcs are archetypal and common to many stories, such as ‘rags to riches’ (e.g. the character arc of ‘Cinderella’).

Character background that informs who your character already is when your story picks up (it may be alluded to, shown in flashbacks, or not shown but used by the author to inform a character’s personality and actions and reactions).

Recommended reading

• Direct vs indirect characterization: How to show and tell
• Character background: 7 tips to write better backstory
• Characters of personality: 7 concepts for richer stories

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Nothing shows a man’s character more than what he laughs at. Goethe

Organize and outline character ideas

Use Now Novel’s story dashboard to brainstorm character ideas and get help from a caring critique community.

Character types: Roles and parts in stories

There are many character types, archetypes, and sometimes even stereotypes. Specific kinds of characters go with specific genres (for example, an amateur sleuth belongs in a cozy mystery).

Read a brief overview of character types plus find helpful articles exploring classes of character (and how to write them) in depth:

Overview of common character types

Archetypes are universal types of characters that recur in fiction and mythology.

The Swiss psychoanalytic theorist Carl Jung was instrumental in developing this concept, particularly in The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious .

Key character archetypes and what each values:

• Caregiver – values service
• Ruler – values control
• Artist – values creativity/innovation
• Innocent – values safety
• Explorer – values freedom
• Everyman – values belonging
• Jester – values pleasure
• Lover – values intimacy
• Hero – values mastery
• Magician – values power
• Outlaw – values liberation
• Sage – values knowledge

Learn more about archetypes below and in our detailed look at the 12 Jungian archetypes:

Character archetypes: How to enrich your novel’s cast

Learn about archetypal characters and using this concept to finesse goals.

Types of stories: 7 archetypes (and ways to use them)

Learn about story archetypes such as ‘Rags to Riches’ and ways to use them.

Stereotypes

Stereotypes are clichés that may be harmful or offensive to people with specific identities or histories in how they tend to ignore, oversimplify or ‘flatten’ human complexity. They are often used for ‘edgy’ or politically incorrect humor.

Often they have complex political or even propagandistic undertones. For example, the trope of the ‘angry black woman’ is often criticized for falsely representing BIPOC women as inherently aggressive in a way that dismisses history or the nuances and responsibilities of representation.

Another stereotype that is that sometimes found in writing is that which is concerned with LGBTIQ+ characters . Avoid tropes such as the ‘sissy villain’ or ‘gay best friend’, for instance.

Learn more about avoiding simplistic stock character types: Character tropes: 5 tips to avoid stock types .

Round vs flat characters

‘Round’ or three-dimensional characters are often compared to ‘flat’ characters who don’t have as much change or development.

‘Pip’, the hero of Dickens’ Great Expectations is an example of the round type. He changes as his fortunes and personal wealth change, from a scared orphan crying in a graveyard at the story’s start to a ‘new money’ young man in fancy clothes thanks to a mysterious benefactor.

This character type is typical of a bildungsroman or coming-of-age story like Dickens’ novel. A flat character like Sherlock Holmes may go through diverse story scenarios but tends not to change or develop much in persona. They may have catchphrases they always say, such as ‘elementary, my dear Watson’, or stock phrases such as James Bond’s martini order.

Flat characters are often the comforting constant in a sea of change.

Protagonists

Protagonists or main/primary characters are the primary decision-makers in a story who propel its action.

Stories may have one or more protagonists, and they are often discussed alongside antagonists . A protagonist may be a hero (in that they pursue the greater good or uphold values that are societal norms) or antihero (for example, a protagonist who commits murder like Rodion Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment ).

Learn more about writing strong protagonists:

Protagonist examples: Creating memorable main characters

Learn what makes main characters memorable and how to write protagonists.

• Main character writing: 6 ideas for a strong key cast

Learn how to write a main characters with tips to ensure a strong key cast.

Antagonists

Antagonists are primary opponents whose desires compete with or oppose the protagonist’s own.

For example, the stepmother with her jealousy and poison apple in Snow White .

Learn more about writing antagonists:

Antagonist examples: How to write great adversaries

Learn from antagonists in novels and what they teach us.

Main antagonists: How to write real opponents

How do you write an opponent who seems real? Find out.

Secondary characters

These are peripheral or important characters who may fulfil important roles to main characters such as:

• Friend/confidant
• Mentor/guardian
• Sidekick/henchman (depending on whether allied to the protagonist or antagonist)
• Love interest (though this may also be a protagonist, especially if they are a primary viewpoint narrator during the story – more on this below)

The above types of secondary characters are involved secondary characters because they take part in the action.

Non-involved secondary characters include extras (for example the crowd in a stadium, maybe briefly described) and walk-ons (characters who pass through the story and fulfil a set purpose, for example the ‘friendly innkeeper’ type).

Learn more about the uses of background characters: Writing background characters: 5 uses

Genre-specific character types

In addition to the broad types above, there are character types specific to different genres (though not all the types below necessarily appear, for example, a hero might not have a sidekick):

• Romance: Romantic leads, friends, rivals
• Comedy: ‘Straight man’ or foil (the serious character who contrasts a comedic part or goof )
• Fantasy: Hero/heroine, villain, sidekick, guardian/mentor
• Crime thriller: Detective, police officer, victim/survivor, witness, suspect
• Mystery: Sleuth/detective (pro or amateur), suspect, lead
• Science fiction: Scientist, (space) explorer, cyber expert, inventor
• Action: Hero/heroine, villain, adversary, sidekick, love interest

The treatment of these different character types is often guided by genre. For example, a love interest in an action story may simply provide the protagonist something (or someone) to fight for, to risk losing.

In romance, by contrast, the unfolding romantic relationship is at the center of the story – the action overall revolves around the relationship (and not necessarily beating ‘the bad guys’).

• Writing a heroic journey: 8 tips for epic arcs
• Types of antagonists: Creating riveting opponents
• Creating dynamic characters and static types: 7 ideas

The main question in drama, the way I was taught, is always, ‘What does the protagonist want?’ David Mamet

Character ideas: Ways to come up with your cast

Finding character ideas for a story is a lot easier once you have a central idea, your story’s premise or scenario.

Use the ‘Central Idea’ prompt process in Now Novel’s story dashboard to brainstorm and finesse a story idea to start.

Once you have your story idea, to find character ideas and finesse them:

Create character profiles

Think of a character profile like an ID that tells way more than age, gender, birthdate and birthplace.

You could create a PDF for each character and save these to Google Drive and create a spreadsheet with links to each document (our downloadable story PDF grows as your ideas do, with pagination and clear sections for each character).

Organize your character research and brainstorming so that you can refresh your memory on what you’ve already established for your characters easily. This is especially useful if you’re writing a series or epic with a large or revolving cast of characters.

‘Reverse cast’ your story

Look at Pinterest boards or use AI image creation tools like This Person Does Not Exist to find inspiration for the look, feel and style of a character.

Build characters from your scenario

Read through your story idea summary and brainstorm characters whose goals, motivations and conflicts align to your idea (keep reading for more on GMC and how to use it to develop characters).

• Novel characters: 15 top character creation tips
• How to write character profiles: 10 tips and a template
• Character profiles: 5 questions for a detailed cast

When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature. Ernest Hemingway

Character development: Creating characters who change

In great stories, who, what, why, where and when change in meaningful ways.

Developing characters ensures your reader will go on a journey with emotional highs and lows.

Learn about core drivers of character development – goal, motivation and conflict – as well as how to create character arcs with structure and satisfying shape in this section.

Character goals: What the cast of your story wants

Goals in developing characters are crucial. Your characters may have several types of goals as your story progresses. For example:

• Initial goals: The first steps your characters must take, what they need to achieve in the opening scene of your story
• Surprise goals: Spur-of-the-moment decisions characters make, new plans that arise out of setbacks, conflicts, and unexpected events
• End goals: Your characters’ ultimate objectives (such as Frodo destroying the One Ring).

Learn more about characters and desire in storytelling:

Character development: 9 tips for arcs with depth

Learn how to give your character arcs dimension and depth.

How to develop a character: 7 simple steps

Read seven steps to ensure your characters develop in your story.

Motivations: Why characters want what they do

Motivations are crucial to creating a character and their goals. Why people desire things is intrinsically linked to their broader story, beliefs and emotions.

A despotic king, for example, might demand total obedience because he fears rebellion and wants to stay in power.

Your characters’ motivations might arise from one or more of the following:

• Beliefs, whether true or false (for example, an archetypal caregiver such as a nurse in WWII may believe in the good of caring for the injured)
• Backstory and formative experiences (a person may work doubly hard for success or self-sabotage due to what they’ve been through)
• Basic necessity such as the need for sustenance, freedom, shelter, love, etc – Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
• Personality and values For example the ‘Explorer’ archetype might seek out wild adventure for the thrill of the unknown

Learn more about creating characters with compelling motivations:

Character motivations: 6 questions

Read questions on what drives characters.

100 character development questions

Find character questionnaires to flesh out arcs.

Conflicts between characters (and within)

Conflict is equally crucial to developing characters in stories. In Greek mythology, Hercules becomes the hero precisely through completing tough tasks that test his ingenuity and resolve.

In this part of this guide, we’ll explore types of conflict that drive character development.

Two conflict types in fiction: Internal and external

There are two broad categories of conflict in stories: Internal conflict, and external conflict.

Internal conflict

Internal conflict is your character’s inner struggle . It may arise from:

• Contradictory desires (such as ‘being the hero’ versus ‘staying safe’)
• Flaws or wounds (for example, a dancer who had a bad experience with a teacher may be hesitant to keep pursuing their passion)
• Beliefs or doubts that impede action (for example, someone who is given a quest or task who does not yet believe in their own ability)

External conflict

External conflict refers to conflict between characters (or between a character and their environment, society, or other external sources). It arises from many sources including:

• Conflicting desires between characters (for example, a relationship where one spouse wants to emigrate but the other does not)
• Conflicting goals (for example, a hero must destroy an object that is the antagonist’s only hope of returning to power)
• Hostility of environment or society (for example, a woman in a patriarchy struggles against the narrow or oppressive gender roles prescribed, like in The Handmaid’s Tale )

How does conflict develop characters?

Conflict develops characters because it:

• Supplies stakes or ‘worst case scenarios’ should your character fail (for example, an out-of-work character being evicted if they can’t find a job)
• Makes characters’ path toward victory more uncertain (and thus often requires personal change or mastery)
• Makes action necessary for resolution: Conflict is unsustainable, forcing characters to act if they are to find peace, shelter, safety or harmony

Learn more about internal and external conflict and character development:

• External and internal conflict: Examples and tips
• How to use central conflict and drama to drive your novel
• Creating villain motivations: Writing real adversaries
• Writing character backstory that feels real: 5 tips
• Development of characters: 6 intriguing ways we change
• Character arc template: 5 steps to strong character arcs
• How do you write character growth? 7 tips

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Characters and conflict: Driving change and stakes

We examined the two main types of conflict between characters above. In this section learn about types of conflict that could drive your story’s action.

Key types of conflict between characters include:

• A struggle with self (often called ‘man vs self’). Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a classic example of this kind (a legal practitioner investigates a man with a dangerous, urge-compelled alter ego).
• Person vs person conflict (also known as ‘man vs man’). This is a very common type of conflict in epic fantasy in which a hero faces off against a powerful magician or tyrant (e.g. Frodo vs Sauron in Tolkien’s famous fantasy cycle).
• Person vs nature is a classic type of conflict common in survival and adventure stories (such as, for example, The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss, or the survival drama 127 Hours ).
• Person vs society Some characters face not just a single foe but a society in opposition to fundamental desires or needs. A classic example of this is the ostracized Hester Prynne in Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter .

Learn more about types of conflict, external and internal, and how to use them to create interesting adversity in stories:

Using conflicts in a story: 6 helpful conflict examples

Read about 6 core types of conflict in fiction.

Making external conflict compelling: 6 ideas

Learn ways to make external conflicts in stories engaging.

Learn more about types of conflict your characters may encounter:

• Person vs society: 6 types of story conflict
• 6 intriguing conflict types in fiction: Man vs nature
• 6 conflict types in fiction: Man vs self

This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal. Toni Morrison

Describing characters: Bringing fictive people to life

Character description is intertwined with character development. The stories of our lives and experiences are written on our bodies and in our speech. In this section of this guide, learn how to create vivid, varied character descriptions.

Ways to describe characters

There are almost infinitely varied ways to describe your characters, including:

• Physical features such as faces, bodies, the clothing your characters wear, the personal ways different characters might style the same outfit
• Movement and gesture such as posture, gait, habitual poses and expressions
• Voice including your characters’ vocal timbre and pitch, diction (how formally or informally they speak), accent and dialect. Written characters differ from film because narration provides voice too, not only spoken dialogue (or the occasional voiceover)
• Actions your characters’ actions describe their personality because they reveal personality traits (such as loving drama or being loyal, valuing others’ trust or deceiving whoever they can to get ahead)

See how to describe characters in varied ways with the help of these resources:

How to describe to immerse readers (complete guide)

Read a complete guide to writing description with examples from varied genres.

How to describe a person vividly: 8 ways

Learn how to write descriptions that build personality and more.

Physical description

• How to describe eyes in a story: 7 simple tips
• Character posture: How to describe characters’ bearing
• How to describe hands: 6 ways to make characters real
• How to describe clothing in a story (with examples)
• Describing characters: How to describe faces imaginatively
• Character mannerisms: Describing character quirks and tics

How to describe voice and speech

• Realistic dialogue: Creating characters’ speech patterns
• Character voices: How to write persona using voice
• How to write accents and dialects: 6 tips

How to create characters’ personalities

• What are good character traits? 7 helpful attributes
• Character flaw list: 30 intriguing character flaws

General characterization

• How do you write good character description? 5 techniques
• Direct characterization: 6 tips for precise description
• Indirect characterization: Revealing characters subtly
• How to create a believable character: 8 tactics
• How to introduce characters: 6 ways to be memorable
• Characterization examples: 5 ways to reveal characters

GET YOUR FREE GUIDE TO SCENE STRUCTURE

Read a guide to writing scenes with purpose that move your story forward.

Narration and POV: Who tells your story?

The narrator is the person or voice telling the story.

If your narrator is an involved character (and not a neutral narrating fly-on-the-wall voice), we say the story has an involved narrator . When you have an involved narrator, how your narrator tells the story (their language, voice, tone) builds characterization, too .

Point of view and types of narrator

Point of view (abbreviated to POV) refers to both whose point of view the story is told from, and the person used (for example, first-person narration using ‘I’, ‘me’ and ‘my’ versus third person using ‘he’, ‘she’, plural ‘they’ or gender neutral).

The point of view you choose for your story has specific character effects.

For example, if you use a first-person narrator, you can only tell the reader what that character knows, assumes, or makes up, while they are the viewpoint narrator (the person currently telling the story). Unlike an omniscient narrator , the first-person narrator cannot share other people’s private thoughts (unless they are a mind-reader).

How to create characterization via narration:

• Think about worldview or outlook: What is your narrator’s personality, politics, value system? How does this affect what they share?
• Bring in backstory or vocation: A visual artist may be more specific than others when describing colors, for example, or may use more metaphors borrowed from visual art
• Think about demographics: Where is your character from, and what is their age, class position, gender identity? Are any other demographic details significant? These may inflect their narrative voice ( or their narrative voice might not immediately give away one or more of these details)

Learn more about ways to build characterization via narration:

• How to write deep POV: 8 tips and examples
• How to write multiple points of view in a novel: 8 tips
• Point of view: Complete guide to POV in stories
• Building a bold narrator’s voice: 5 methods
• The unreliable narrator: Creating surprise in your story

In a portrait, you have room to have a point of view and to be conceptual with a picture. The image may not be literally what’s going on, but it’s representative. Annie Leibovitz

Character questions: Prompts to populate your story

Character questions and questionnaires provide a useful way to delve deeper into your characters.

In our writing webinars, Now Novel writing coach Romy Sommer compares what you include about your character in your story to the tip of an iceberg. What the reader sees might not be everything you’ve dreamed and invented. Yet beneath the surface, there’s that depth, that anchoring.

Character questionnaire example

The first version of Now Novel’s story dashboard (revised 2018) included 15 categories of character questions to flesh out ideas for your cast:

• Demographics : E.g. ‘How old is this character?’
• Appearance : E.g. ‘In what style do they wear their hair?’
• Character specific : E.g. ‘Why is this character dissatisfied?’
• Work: E.g. ‘What do they do for a living?’
• Relaxation: E.g. ‘What are this character’s hobbies?’
• Food: E.g. ‘What kind of food do they like eating?
• Stuff: E.g. ‘What would they grab if their home were on fire?’
• Home: E.g. ‘Describe their living space’
• Family: E.g. ‘Are their parents still alive?’
• Childhood: E.g. ‘Did they have a happy or unhappy childhood? Explain.’
• Friends: E.g. ‘Who is their best friend?’
• Relationships: E.g. ‘What is the thing they argue about most in relationships?’
• Money: E.g. ‘What is their relationship to money like?’
• Fears: E.g. ‘What is their greatest fear?’
• Demeanor/personality: E.g. ‘On a scale of 1 to 10, how annoying do others find them?’

Not all of the above questions will be relevant for your character. Yet filling in questionnaires such as the above is a great way to get to know your characters as though they are real (and avoid the caricatures Hemingway warns about).

Read more questions to develop your characters:

• Character development questions: Building character arcs
• 6 creative writing exercises for rich character
• 50 creative writing prompts to enrich your craft

What is a character writing question you’ve been thinking about? Share it in the comments. Start brainstorming characters now and outline and draft scenes with your character outlines in a helpful sidebar in the Now Novel Writing Pad or in Google Docs with our Docs add-on .

Now Novel is a great platform for all writers to check out – especially for plotting, brainstorming, characterisation and even world building. Their customer service is top notch and I highly recommend NN! – MJ

Related Posts:

• Writing fantasy: Creating a spellbinding story…
• Character archetypes: How to enrich your novel's cast
• Tags character development , how to create characters

Jordan is a writer, editor, community manager and product developer. He received his BA Honours in English Literature and his undergraduate in English Literature and Music from the University of Cape Town.

11 replies on “Character writing: Complete guide to creating your cast”

Many thanks. Had I read this post before writing my competition entry, i would have known better how to write a vivid description of a person.

It’s a pleasure, Ohita. Sorry for the delayed response – Disqus’ notification system is a little erratic. Glad you enjoyed it.

You should write a book about writing a book:))

That was gooooooooooooooooood!

yeah, I totally agree with @Mari@mariefeierabend:disqus , you gotta make a book about it!

btw recently seen this one too https://youtu.be/agSqtI9GICI actually couldn’t resist the temptation to share ahahahha I liked it so much too)

[…] and particular. Instead of describing a character who ‘loves freedom’, for example, describe a character’s actions and experiences that demonstrate this love of freedom. This gives readers a more visual and empathetic […]

Do or have any advice for characters who are based off of a real person?

Hi Katie, thank you for your question. It’s quite a broad one but I would say:

• Do your research: What can you find out about the person that may surprise readers?
• Be careful with living people – if the person is still living, you could run into issues around privacy/defamation (if the character does anything unsavory, for example). If necessary, change enough details (particularly the name) to make the identity of the person more ambiguous.
• Make a list of features or a character profile as though they were a fictional character. Think about their greatest strengths and flaws, their backstory and what their core goals, motivations and conflicts may be leading into your story.

[…] Read advice on how to write better characters. […]

I like to make characters

how can you make a character. thank you ms. yanezz

Hi Stephanie, thank you for your question. Is there a specific aspect of character creation you’re finding challenging? One way to find character ideas Now Novel writing coach Romy suggested in a webinar was to create a Pinterest board and pin images of interesting faces and people as character inspirations, and to use these images as starting points for brainstorming personality details, goals, motivations, etc.

You can find all of our character-writing articles here .

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How to Describe a Character's Looks Well

Last Updated: May 30, 2023 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Grant Faulkner, MA and by wikiHow staff writer, Danielle Blinka, MA, MPA . Grant Faulkner is the Executive Director of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and the co-founder of 100 Word Story, a literary magazine. Grant has published two books on writing and has been published in The New York Times and Writer’s Digest. He co-hosts Write-minded, a weekly podcast on writing and publishing, and has a M.A. in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University.  There are 7 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 1,021,526 times.

Dynamic, well-rounded characters hook readers and drive the plot of your story. However, describing your character well can be a challenge. With a little extra work, you can ensure your descriptions will engage your reader. Start by getting to know your character, then consider how their character traits might impact their description. Next, pull out the best details about your character to write your description.

Writing Help

Getting to Know Your Character

• You can create your own character sheet or use a template, which you can find online.
• Start with the basics, such as height, build, hair color, and eye color. Then, determine other physical details, such as how they stand or what unique features they have. Next, consider how their background, interests, and lifestyle impact their description. [1] X Research source
• For your main characters, provide as much detail as possible on your character sheet. Although you won’t include all of this information in your story, it’s important to know your characters well.

Grant Faulkner, MA

Consider their deeper motivations. As the author, you want to know what's driving your character. Your character really isn't just a compilation of character descriptions or physical descriptions; your character is a soul moving through the world. What does that character want and why can't he or she get it? Describe the obstacles blocking your character from reaching what they desire.

• This is a more freeform way to develop your character.
• It’s okay to use more than one technique. You might find it helpful to make a sketch of your character and then also create a character sheet.

• If you use reference photos, collect them in a file, either in digital or hard copy form.

• For example, your character might have a mole shaped like a heart, a large tooth gap, or a noticeable limp.
• Quirks help make your main characters more relatable, and you can also use quirks to quickly characterize side characters.

• A diamond tattoo below his lash line distracted from his aquamarine eyes.
• Her legs wobbled like stilts.
• When the wind blows, her hair engulfs her face like a flame.

• For instance, the most common cliche for introducing a character’s description is the “mirror technique,” which is when you have your character describe themself in a mirror.
• Examples of description cliches include “red as a rose,” “cold as ice,” or “blind as a bat.”

Incorporating Character Traits in Your Description

• For example, a character who shuffles will look and act differently from a character who saunters or strides.
• Maybe your character fidgets or texts a lot. Perhaps they pace around while they talk to people or walk with their head down so they aren’t noticed. Include these types of movement.

• For instance, a spiky pink mohawk might signify your character is a rebel, while a salon blowout might indicate your character is a queen bee type.
• You might also use hair style to show your character has different sides to their personality. For example, your main character might be a successful CEO with a sophisticated bob, but they might have a hidden purple streak dyed into their hair or a side undercut that lets them switch their style from board room to rebel.

• A serious character might wear business attire.
• An artist might wear paint-splattered clothes.
• Your rock star might wear a leather jacket.
• A side character who’s a jock might wear sports attire.

Writing Your Description

• For instance, literary writers usually give less description of their characters. They might tell the reader just enough information for them to get an idea about what the character looks like. For example, "A gruff voice sounded from somewhere inside the ragged beard."
• On the other hand, genre writers often include more details. For example, a fantasy or sci fi writer would likely give a full description of a character who is non-human, such as a cyborg or elf. You might write, "A metal plate covered half her head, exposing the wires beneath it whenever her jaw moved. A blue eye stared out from the right socket, but her left eye swarmed and zoomed like a camera lens. A long nose pointed down like an arrow over her thin, robotic lips."

• “Thick black roots contrasted with the platinum blond shade of her curls.” - This tells the reader that the character dyes her hair but hasn’t been able to keep up with the style.
• “He wore a sweatshirt advertising a pizza joint that closed three years back. It hung on his lanky frame like a coat hangs on a rack.” - This shows that the character is wearing outdated clothes that don’t fit him, probably because he can’t afford new clothes.

• For example, you don’t want to say, “Claire has long, brown hair and brown eyes.” Instead, you might write, “Dark curls fell over Claire’s face, masking her amber eyes.”
• Metaphors and similes both compare two seemingly unlike things, but similes use “like” or “as” to make the comparisons more obvious.
• Personification gives human characteristics to a non-human animal or thing. For example, “her eyes dodged his questions.”

• Use as few words as possible to get the job done.
• For example, it's okay to write, "She dyed her hair the color of ink because it made her feel like an artist." You don't need to over-explain like this: "Her inky hair shadowed her pale skin like an oil slick on water. Whenever she looked in the mirror, she saw a romantic poet caught in a different time, making her feel like the artist she always wanted to be."

• Synecdoche is especially useful for side characters!
• Think about the strong traits that easily identify your character, such as a pink mohawk, a pointy chin, a hunched back, a distinct walk, a unique smell, etc. This trait can be positive or negative, depending on the character. Use this trait when referring to the character.
• For example, "When I saw the pink mohawk glide past my window, I knew my neighbor was arriving home."

• Appeal to the sense of smell by mentioning how your character smells. For instance, “Mrs. Hamilton always smelled like fresh baked cookies.”
• Include the sense of touch by mentioning the texture of your character’s scar, or the silky softness of their skin.
• Activate the sense of sound by relating the sound of your character’s voice to a chirping bird or the growl of an engine.
• Appeal to their sense of sight by describing your character's clothing and hairstyle.
• Whenever you can, appeal to the reader's sense of taste. For example, when two characters kiss.

• For example, "The word that best describes Luna is long. She has a long face, long arms, and long legs that look like stilts."

• For example, you might describe your character over the course of a scene rather than all at once.

Community Q&A

• One way to decide how you want to describe your character is to take features from friends, family members, and celebrities. Simply find features that suggest traits to you and create an amalgamation. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0
• Consider sketching your character before describing him or her. This might help you figure out how to best describe the person. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 1
• Don’t over-describe your characters or do it all at once. It’s best to pepper your description across several paragraphs. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 1

• You might use a thesaurus to find a better word to say what you want to say. However, use your thesaurus sparingly. It’s best to give your descriptions using words you'd normally use. Thanks Helpful 5 Not Helpful 0
• Two notable exceptions to this rule is using the words "olive" and "peach".

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• ↑ https://writershelpingwriters.net/2010/04/the-writers-bane-describing-a-characters-physical-appearance/
• ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/oct/20/how-to-write-premliminary-outline-day-one
• ↑ https://writingcooperative.com/the-right-way-to-write-character-appearance-6c43f4cf012b
• ↑ https://penandthepad.com/describe-way-character-looks-story-21613.html
• ↑ https://www.carvezine.com/from-the-editor/10-tips-for-writing-physical-descriptions-of-your-characters.html
• ↑ https://thewritepractice.com/purple-prose/
• ↑ https://www.grammarly.com/blog/beautiful-literary-terms/

About This Article

To describe a character's looks well, start by making a rough sketch of what the character looks like in your mind. Then, develop a list of a few important details that you want to include in your description. When you're ready to write about your character, focus on aspects that help to add detail about the character, like old, ratty clothes on a peasant, or battle scars on a knight. Utilize figurative language to help your description flow, and avoid giving too much detail by focusing on 3-4 main physical traits. For tips on using a synecdoche to describe a character, scroll down! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Character Development: How to Create Fan-Favorite Characters in 5 Steps

In fiction, character development is the process of writing a character who feels as complex and real as a person. This means sketching the character’s inner world 一 their wants and needs, strengths and weaknesses 一 as well as their outer appearance and behavior. It also means showing how the character changes throughout the course of the story 一 their character arc .

In this article, we will guide you through a step-by-step process to create multi-faceted characters that readers will care to read about. You can also download our free character development template to start crafting your own protagonist. 

How to develop a fictional character:

1. Give the characters wants and needs

2. identify their strengths and flaws, 3. sketch out their antagonists, 4. develop their look and behavior, 5. research their trade and culture.

FREE RESOURCE

Reedsy’s Character Development Template

A story is only as strong as its characters. Fill this out to develop yours.

First, it’s important to point out that your main character will be inextricably linked to your book’s plot . As author Tom Bromley teaches in his course on writing novels , “the protagonist should shape the plot, and the plot should shape the protagonist.”  

In this regard, the most important character building blocks are their Wants and Needs. As Bromley explains, a Want is what the character thinks will make them happy, a goal they are motivated to pursue, that propels them on an inner and outer journey. 

A character’s Need, on the other hand, is something deeper, more fundamental. It’s a truth they must learn about themselves or the world around them. Most of the time, a character’s internal story arc sees them realizing that their Want was fuelled by a lie they told themselves — and coming to understand a new truth (their Need) that is the secret to unlocking their success:

• A character might want to be famous, but what they need is to be heard. 
• They might want to get married, but what they need is love.

For an example, think of Joy in Pixar’s Inside Out : 

• Want : Joy wants to ensure that Riley is always happy and only experiences positive emotions. This is because she believes that emotions like sadness and anger are harmful and unnecessary.
• Need : Joy needs to realize that all emotions have their place and are important for Riley’s psychological development and a healthy emotional life. 

Or take Jay Gatsby (who actually doesn’t learn what he needs, and has a negative arc ): 

• Want : Gatsby wants to be reunited with Daisy, his long-lost love. He believes that by attaining wealth and status, he can win her back.
• Need : Gatsby must learn that happiness cannot be bought and that living in the past or for another's affection is self-destructive.

Now it’s your turn..

📝 Exercise:

• What does your character think they want?
• What do they actually need in order to feel fulfilled?

Mapping your character’s wants and needs 一 two key components of their character arc 一 will help you figure out what psychological space they’re in at the beginning of the story and in what direction they should move as the plot progresses. But to figure out whether they’ll have a smooth ride or not and what type of obstacles they might encounter, we have to know their strengths and weaknesses.

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Much of the intrigue in your story will stem from how your character responds to the external and internal conflicts they face in the pursuit of their Goal. Every type of character — from superheroes to lovelorn accountants — will need both strengths to draw upon and flaws that threaten to drag them down.

If in The Lord of The Rings Frodo walked up to Mount Doom unbothered, dropped the ring in the lava, and made it back in time for a second breakfast, he’d be a dull protagonist. It’s the obstacles he faces — Sauron’s army of orcs and the ring’s power over his spirit, to name a couple — that force him to make decisions and evolve as a character .

The iconic characters we know and love tend to have a nuanced mix of positive and negative traits. Consider Woody from Toy Story : he's a charismatic figure and a natural leader among the toys, known for his loyalty to Andy. However, he can be vain and petty, so the arrival of Buzz Lightyear causes him to feel jealous and insecure. 

While Woody’s charisma is admirable, it's his flaws that make him relatable. We may not all relate to being the leader of the pack, but we all know the fear of being overshadowed and replaced, as well as feeling jealous and insecure. 

So many of the challenges Woody faces are meant to test his strengths and flaws, from his face on the wall and bed cover being replaced with Buzz’s, to the other toys questioning his leadership and morals when he kicks him out of the window. Ultimately, he has to overcome his jealousy, cooperate with Buzz, and learn that they can both have a place in Andy's heart.

Some other common examples of character strengths are courage, intelligence, resilience, integrity, perseverance, and creativity, whereas character flaws are qualities like bitterness, arrogance, greed, selfishness, deceitfulness, and pessimism.  

• What are your character’s best qualities?
• What are some of their negative traits?

Pick a mix of both to give your readers something to root for. Your character should be plausibly able to overcome the challenges the plot throws at them, whether that’s destroying the ring or saving the wizarding world. At the same time, there should be a real risk that your character will fail — whether they fall prey to the ring’s power at the very edge of Mt. Doom, or die in a burst of green light from the Dark Lord’s wand. 

This brings us to another key piece of character development, which is sketching out your hero’s main antagonist. 

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An important point to make is that you can’t create a character in a vacuum. You need to define them in relation to other people and the world they inhabit. As John Truby writes in The Anatomy of Story , “[to] create great characters, think of all your characters as part of a web in which each helps define the others. To put it another way, a character is often defined by who he is not.” 

Of particular importance, according to Truby, is your primary antagonist . “The relationship between the hero and the opponent is the single most important relationship in the story. In working out the struggle between these two characters, the larger issues and themes of the story unfold.”

It bears noting that the main antagonist doesn’t have to be another character (or even have evil intent). As we explain in our post on types of conflict , your hero might be up against nature, technology, society at large, or other forces that keep them from achieving what they want. Regardless of the form your story’s opposing force will take, Truby reminds us that it’s crucial to develop their morals or logic in parallel to your hero’s. 

“The main opponent is the one person in the world best able to attack the great weakness of the hero. And he should attack it relentlessly. The necessary opponent either forces the hero to overcome his weakness or destroys him. Put another way, the necessary opponent makes it possible for the hero to grow.” 

Think of Voldemort: an orphan and a brilliant wizard, he deeply understands Harry. He also knows his main weakness 一 the death of his parents 一 because he’s responsible for it. And he keeps putting his finger in the wound: from (indirectly) killing Sirius Black and other people he loves, to pervading his mind with fear, to literally trying to kill him. Ultimately, it’s his evil competence that forces Harry to grow into the wise and selfless man he needs to become. 

• Who is your hero’s antagonist? 
• What is their background? What are their motivations?
• How do they relentlessly attack the hero?

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And other secondary characters

While the antagonist is the most important other character in the story, you can also craft your hero by sketching out secondary characters 一 other enemies or allies who contrasts with the hero in order to highlight some qualities of their personality. 

In Tarantino’s Django Unchained for example, both Django and Stephen display high intelligence and adaptability in dealing with enslavement. But their paths couldn’t be further from each other. Django uses his wit and skills to free himself and others, while Stephen embraces racism and even participates in its practices in order to gain protection and comfort for himself. The juxtaposition between Django's quest for freedom and justice and Stephen's acquiescence to the status quo of slavery sharpens Django's resolve and moral stance. 

For another quick example, think of Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird : despite his flat arc , his steadfast belief in justice allows Scout to evolve from an innocent child into a girl with a strong sense of right and wrong.

As Truby explains, each secondary character can make the hero confront the central moral problem of the story, either by providing support and new perspectives or throwing obstacles at them trying to tear him down. 

• Who are the allies your hero will need on their path to achieve their goal?
• Which other enemies (or false enemies) can force them to grow?

Alright, after mapping the inner life of our main characters, it’s now time to look outwards.. 

Yes, the internal goals and motivations are the "heart" of a character. But that doesn't mean that their external characteristics should just be an afterthought. Sure, the fact that your protagonist has blonde hair may not impact the plot — but it might color how other characters respond to them. So, early in your character development, put a bit of time into sketching out your protagonist's physical features.

• Appearance : What do they look like? Does their look play a role in the story?
• Voice: What do they sound like? Does their voice match their look?

Remember that people’s looks don’t always match who they are inside. Some of the most compelling characters are baby-faced killers and brutes with a heart of gold. So try and play around with interesting contradictions.

Reedsy’s Character Profile Template

Physical traits don’t end with eye color and voice type. To make your brown-eyed alto stand out from similar characters in the literary canon, you’ll want to round out that physical profile with some distinctive mannerisms . 

After all, a character’s physicality takes so much more than describing their static body in isolation. It’s about how they move through space — and about how they interact with everything around them, from objects to other characters. By focusing on their mannerisms, you take a step towards showing instead of telling: big, bold movements imply confidence so you don’t have to spell it out, whereas frantically moving or fidgeting suggests a nervous nature.

To achieve this, you’ll want to reflect on how your character consciously and subconsciously responds to the world around them.

• Communication style : How do they engage in dialogue ? How does that shape their relationships? Does their speech have any idiosyncrasies or quirks ?
• Gait : How do they make their way around their environment, and how does this impact how they’re treated?
• Tics and tells : What do they do when they’re nervous, uncertain of how to proceed, or telling lies?

Reedsy’s Character Questionnaire

40 questions to help you develop memorable characters.

Some character mannerisms will be situationally dependent and can serve as a shorthand for describing a character’s emotional state. For example, Nynaeve from the Wheel of Time series tugs on her braid when she's agitated, and Bond villain Le Chiffre bleeds from his eye when under intense pressure.

Other mannerisms, however, are part of a character’s default state — as essential to our view of them as their coloring. Just think of Draco Malfoy’s permanent sneer: it’s as much a part of him as his pale blond hair.

To make your character truly memorable, you’ll want to consider adding both these types of mannerisms to their behavioral repertoire. Anger shouldn’t look the same on everyone: someone might flare up like an inferno, going red in the face, while others turn icily polite, smiling insincerely. 

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When it comes to character development, imagination will only take you so far. Unless you’re intimately familiar with your protagonist’s world, you’ll need to work to get the details right. 

If your hero is a NASA astronaut or a veteran of the Vietnam war, there are readily available resources that will let you find out what their life might be like. You might uncover small details that are key to bringing them to life — perhaps some slang they used back in the seventies, or some unusual morning routine astronauts go through. 

The research doesn’t stop at your character’s main trade, but it can include everything else about their culture 一 their ethnicity, social class, political and spiritual views, education, interests, and language. 

Say you’re writing a British character when you’ve never set foot outside of Florida, you’ll want to do a bit of research when scripting his dialogue . For example, you could search “croydon slang” on YouTube or watch a British-made TV show set in the character’s hometown. 

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By now, you will have chiseled away at the blank marble and uncovered enough about your character to have a good sense of them. You can now work on the fine details — those subtle psychological touches — by putting them through these eight character development exercises or by getting character feedback from groups such as CharacterHub . 

If you’re not sure how your characters might be received by people from different backgrounds consider engaging the services of a sensitivity reader . Think of them as research assistants, committed to making your character development as authentic and nuanced as possible. 

Be patient with yourself. Character development is hard. It will take a little time (and a lot of refining) before you’ll create a protagonist as complex and real as a person, but when you do — you’ll know it and your readers will thank you for it. With a fully developed character by your side, your story will almost start writing itself.

2 responses

Diane says:

07/06/2018 – 09:01

Indeed Indeed Indeed. Brilliant article. Everything is simple and difficult in the same time. But with this tips it is easier to create your full tutoriage character.

16/04/2020 – 19:50

clearly the writers of star wars episodes 7, 8, and 9 never read this article.

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A blog about writing.

Writing About Hair: The Thick and Thin of Descriptions

You all are getting another peek into my magic notebook. This time we're taking a page out of my 17 page section that covers hair, wigs and every description of body hair you can imagine (and probably some of you can't). Now that I've scared you, we're going to talk about the hair on your character's heads - the color, the length, the style . . . We're covering it all. But there are a few very important points we should chat about first.

The #1 thing about hair descriptions is Do Not overuse them . You do not want to be known as "hair girl "or "hair boy!"

#2 on the essential List: Hair descriptions are a part of the character so make them work harder by using them to describe the person “inside,” not just what the person looks like outside.

•  A tomboy might have a very short, non-nonsense haircut. Then again, she might hide long tresses under a ball cap, because secretly she’d like to be noticed as the girl she really is.
• A man who works as an executive might conform to a short, and very tailored look. Or, he wears expensive suits but he wears his hair a little too long because on the weekends he caters to his passion and joins his buddies for motorcycle road trips.

Okay, because I have so many descriptions and definitions, I’m going to cut to the chase.

Alternative Generic Names For Head Hair

Coiffure Curls Down Fringe Fuzz Locks Mane Mop Ringlets Shock Strands Tresses Tufts Wig Wool

Descriptive Hair Phrases

Bangs obscured her eyes like a sheepdog Flaked with snowy dandruff Bleached, bottle baby Braid like a thick black rope Bundled at the nape Bun resembled a cow patty Cascading down her back Chemically damaged Coiled in a top-knot Crowning glory Cupie curls Curls foamed luxuriously Tendrils danced on the breeze Disheveled Downy bond hair sprinkled her arms Dramatic widow’s peak Elaborately dressed with ribbons Electrified Smelled like burnt chicken feathers Snow drifts of dandruff Veiled her expression with Greased into a ducktail Flaming locks fluttered to the floor Fluffy Frizz job, bad perm Glossy locks lifted on the wind Grew like a thatch of straw on a roof Grizzled, gray hair Hair drooped around pale cheeks Hair like Rapunzel Hairy as a dog Hung like a dark river Kinky perm Knotted Left unbound to tumble Like a clown wig, artificial red, plastic shine and fuzzy Like a thatched roof Like she put her finger in a light socket Limp and lifeless Long, shaggy hippy look Lustrous as onyx stone Marcelled into fingerwaves Matted to the scalp Perm fried Prematurely gray Puffed like a bubble around her head Ragged bangs Rat’s nest Ringlets Shock of hair stood straight up Slapped her face like wet worms Sleek and chic Smooth honey dripped over her shoulders Spiky Mohawk style of a punk rocker Spilled out of the hat Spread like feathers on a pillow Standing on end Stiff in front like a cockatoo Straight as a wire Streaked, highlighted Stuck to her sweaty nape Tangled mane Tousled pixie Two-toned dye job Unconquered curls sprang loose Unruly swirl Old-lady blue rinsed hair Vibrant color and shine Wet with sweat White Pigeon Wings at temples Wispy ringlets Wondered what rubble lay beneath that mess Wreathed her face

Hair Texture Phrases

Baby fuzz Bleached hair like mushy wet works Blue feather hair of old lady Bristle top Broom chopped Cat-fur fine Cotton candy hair, fine Cottony Dandelion fuzz Down Gummy Horsetail coarse Moldy hay Short-cropped and stiff Soft and lush Soft curls and waves Yellow straw

Descriptive Hair Color Words & Phrases

Coal Crows wing Ebony Jet Indian Ink Midnight Obsidian Onyx Raven

Grays and Whites

Battleship gray, dull gray Blue dandelion fuzz Blue rinse gray Faded glory Flint Grizzled (gray) Gunmetal Maltese gray (blue gray) Mineral Mousy (gray) Pewter Salt and Pepper Shale Silver cloud Smoke Snowy white Swan’s wing Steel Wood ashes

Amber (reddish) Ash brown Auburn (reddish) Baked Clay Bison Brunette Burnished Camel Caramel Chestnut Cinnamon Clove Dark beer Dark Earth Dark toffee Dirt Fudge cycle Glazed ginger Maple Sugar Mink Mousy Muddy Nutmeg Pecan Rawhide, dark reddish Root beer Russet Tobacco Tortoise Shell Walnut

Auburn Berry Brassy Brightest Burgundy Burnished copper Carrot top Cinnabar Clown wig red Cognac Dull brick Flame Garish brass Orange Russet Scarlet Strawberry Wine

Professional Hair Color Descriptions

  Ash blond -- Lacks red or gold highlights (verges on green tones); light mousy blond, medium and dark blond, dishwater, beige

Ash brown -- Browns lacking warm/red tones tones; light mousy brown, medium and dark brown

Black -- Different shades of black vary according to the amount of highlighting or pigmentation shadings present in the hair; black lacking all highlighting will be duller, ash shade; black containing a lot of red may appear as deep burgundy

Red -- Warm shades; berry, russet, strawberry (red-blonde), rusty orange, wine, carrot top, etc.

Towhead -- Whitish blond; usually an ash blond lacking warm tones but not always

Warm blond -- Blond with touch of gold and red; whiskey, wheat, honey, strawberry, brassy, golden etc.

Warm brown -- Brunette, dark or light brown that contains red or gold tones; varies from light to nearly black; reddish brown, chestnut, dark amber, auburn etc.

Hair Styles Modern And Historical

It’s impossible to name all the hairstyles but the selection here should be a good start. Many listed here also are known by other names.

[See of some these hairstyles here .]

Afro -- Unisex style borrowed from the African Americans; short and very curly, forming a bowl shaped profile; a pick is used to pull the hair away from the head and shape it

Asymmetric -- Hair is cut long on side of the head and short on the other.

Bedhead -- Popularized in 1990s by starlet Meg Ryan; short to mid-length shaggy cut worn jelled or moussed in tossed fashion

Beehive   -- A 60’s French twist coiled at the back of the head and rising above it to form a cone shape (see upsweep)

Bob -- Introduced in 1915 this short cropped hair style was popular during the 1920’s; also called the shingle bob, the shingle, the Eaton crop. It is often cropped at the jawline and aligned close to the face.

Bouffant -- Puffy hair style’ hair is backcombed or ratted then barely smoothed, resulting in a bubble affect

Bowl -- Most commonly worn by young boys. The bang area cut straight cross the forehead as if measured by turning a bowl upside down on the head. The top layers are longer and cut along the this bowl line around the head.

Braid -- Plaited hair

Bubble -- 60’s hairstyle, short to mid-length, ratted/backcombed to appear like a football helmet or bubble surrounding the head

Butch/flattop/crewcut -- A man’s style; usually cut with electric shears; very short and stands on end at the front of the head and his shaved close to the head on the sides; sometimes called a GI cut.

Buzz -  Modern slang for a hair shaved close to the head

Chignon -- Bun, usually at the nape or top of head; topknot

Conk -- African American textured hair that is straightened

Cornrows -- Small tightly braided rows of hair that hug the scalp; most often worn by African Americans

Duck tail -- 50’s style worn by girls and boys alike; hair on either side of nape combed toward the center of the head; reminiscent of Elvis Presley, Fabian, Doris Day, Debbie Reynolds etc.

Farraha Fawcett -- Long layered hair flipped or feathered back off the face with a bang that feathers or rolls off the face as well; made popular by the TV star of the same name; late 70’s and early 80’s

Finger waved -- Usually short haircut in which a stylist uses lotion and her fingers to create deep waves that circle the head. Popular in the 1920s and 30s.

Flip -- Feminine hair style of the 50’s and 60’s; long hair usually shoulder length turned up at the ends, sometimes in a roll.

Fontange -- Worn 1690’s to 1710; a towering fountain of frills and complex, lacy intertwining shaped around a wire frame and considered the height of fashion; nicknamed by disdaining men, the “tower and the comet”

French twist/seam -- Hair swept back from both sides the head (front to back) and rolled down the center of the head into a roll or tucked to make a seam

Fringe -- Curly bangs worn in the 1880’s; in 1900’s worn straight; alternate name for bangs

Kiss curls -- Seen immediately after Civil War; ringlets of curls on the cheeks or forehead

London Cut -- Short female cut popular during the 1960s and early 70s. The hair was cut over the ears, leaving a fringe in front of the ears, often brushed toward the face or straight down. The nape hair was cut along the hairline like a boys but more rounded instead of squared off like a man’s neckline.

Mohawk -- Shaved head with a strip of hair growth down the center of the head from forehead to the nape

Pads -- Late 1830’s long coiled curls over the ears (looked like ear muffs); at the back of the head they were called a Grecian knot or psyche knot

Pageboy -- Introduced in late 1930s early 40’s; long, hair turned under, usually just touching the shoulders

Pigtails -- Same as pony tail only the hair is parted down middle and each section is cinched into its own tail above or below the ear

Pixie -- Female short cut; feathered around profile of face and onto cheek, short at the nape line; usually with full bang and combed forward onto face; also called an Italian cut; permed version called a poodle cut

Pompadour -- Style of wearing the hair high over the forehead usually in some type of rolled affect; in 1940’s women used rats (nylon mash) to roll the hair off the forehead and puff it; a version of this also worn during the 1700’s and early 1800’s by most and women; name comes from a lady of this era called Madame Pompadour

Ponytail -- Hair gathered together and cinched with a rubber band or barrette to make a tail at the back of the head; worn high or low; worn low it’s sometimes called a George (referring to George Washington) or a Paul Revere

Poodle cut -- Short, curly haircut

Powdered hair/wigs -- Unisex style worn from about 1760’s to 1820; after 1740 men were wearing shorter, simpler wigs and began to powder their own hair

Punk -- Usually short on top and styled with lotion to stand up off the head; often a mohawk fashion from forehead to nape; sometimes dyed bright neon colors of pink, purple, blue, orange etc.

Queue -- Pigtail, esp. that of a Chinese. (Chinese queue was braided) Men of Colonial America wore these as well, usually tied back with a ribbon and in some cases men wore a periwig styled with a queue

Roach -- Hair brushed into a roll

Sausage curl -- Long tube-like coils of hair; popular in early 1800’s; in the early 1970’s these were piled on top of the head in a cluster, esp. for formal dress for teens.

Shag -- Like a pixie, only long at the nape. Lengths vary from short to long layered cut; popular during the early 70’s

Skin heads -- Group of radical racist youths, men and women alike, who shaved their heads

Spaniel’s curls -- Late 1840’s into the 50’s; long thick curls worn by the ear (as worn by Elizabeth Barrette Browning)

Spit curls -- First seen in 1831; flat curls on women in front of the ear

Tonsure -- Shaven part of a monk or cleric’s head

Updo/upsweep -- Generic term for long hair styled high on top of head; hair might petaled (layered curls), barrel curled, arranged in a chignon, backcombed into a beehive or styled in French roll etc.

Wedge cut -- Also called Dorothy Hamill cut; short cut worn mostly by women; sides feathered off the face, back cut longer from the drown to the occipital bone, where its layered into a wedge; nape is trimmed close the head and short; a late ‘70’s and early 80’s style.

Sharla has published three historical romances and her fourth, How to Fell a Timberman, is impatiently waiting to be formatted for Kindle.

When she’s not writing and researching ways to bedevil her book characters, Sharla enjoys collecting authentically costumed dolls from all over the world, traveling (to seek more dolls!), and reading tons of books. You can find Sharla here at Writers In The Storm, on Twitter at @SharlaWrites or on Facebook .

25 comments on “Writing About Hair: The Thick and Thin of Descriptions”

Thanks for sharing this wonderful list, along with the great pic!

Thank "you" for dropping by Erin.

Sharla, once more I must say ... you are amazing. How in the world do you do this ?? Reading your posts is like having our own personal writing coach. Each element of each writing technique in such amazing detail, that I need a workbook for your posts only.

Thanks ... everything I ever wanted to know about hair 🙂

Thanks for such a great compliment! Glad you enjoy my lists.

Goodie, another list of descriptions to add to my personal long list. Thanks so much for posting this - you save all of us a lot of long hours researching those perfect terms/descriptions for our manuscripts. Always, V

Glad you like the list Virgina. I wasn't kidding when I said I could only post a section of my hair list. But I figured you guys would be most interested in this one. 🙂

You've done it again, Sharla. The descriptive range you provide for such everyday characteristics is beyond impressive. Thanks.

Wow, you just made my top of the list for awesome. Thank you for all the work, and sharing.

Thank you ladies for stopping by. I'm happy to share. That's the best thing about being a romance writer. We share. 🙂

Wow! I'll never look at hair the same again.

Thanks Janie and thanks for stopping by WITS today.

Sharla, Thanks for the detailed description of HAIR that all writers can use in their stories.

what a helpful library you've created for hair. thank you

Thanks for posting such a useful resource! I made my own reference table, leaving a space for blonde and bald 🙂

My characters will never have a "bad hair day again!" Unless it furthers my plot, of course. 🙂

Thanks for taking so much time to compile these lists for us. It's so appreciated.

You are all welcome ladies. Now I wonder if I should tell my daughter, I used her punk hair style for my blog today. 🙂

What a great collection of facts! Thanks, Sharla! One of my characters, a Las Vegas showgirl, wears her hair in a "bob." Now I know what to call it.

Thanks for opening up your magic notebook, Sharla. I tend to get in a rut with hair and eye descriptions.

Thank you, wonderful descriptions. In Australia we also have (or had, it's a bit retro), a men's style called "short back and sides", like a crew cut but not as short. It was a conservative style that was the socially acceptable opposite of long hippy hair in the nineteen sixties. Hair styles carry a strong social message.

I love this regional information. Every country is different and sometimes even states here in the US. Thanks for sharing.

Very informative and fun, Sharla! I write stories set in the 15th century, and you included descriptions that I can use, also. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks. I write American historicals so I wanted to include styles from the past. Also I think sometimes it's fun to refer to old styles even for contemporary stories as they make great descriptions themselves.

This will save time I would have spent googling--thank you!

Your welcome Toni. You can find pictures of many hairstyles at the link I included above if that helps.

I must admit I only skimmed this, but I pinned it. It's an excellent resource. Thank you!

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Master List of Ways to Describe Fear

People have been asking me for this list for such a long time! If you write horror, suspense, mystery, or any kind of fiction with a scary scenes, you need to know how to describe fear.

This list can get you started. It’s a lot of phrases describing fear, including physical reactions, physical sensations, facial expressions, and other words you can use in your novel or in other creative writing.

I’ve included some that can work for uneasiness or anxiety, but most of these are for real terror. You can alter them to fit your sentence or your story, and they’ll likely inspire you to come up with your own descriptions.

Bookmark or pin this page for your reference—it might save you a lot of time in the future. I’ll probably add to it now and again!

fear paralyzed him

his terror mounted with every step

she fought a rising panic

fear tormented her

her heart was uneasy

her heart leaped into her throat

his heart hammered in his chest

his heart pounded

terror stabbed his heart

his heart jumped

her heart lurched

a fear that almost unmanned him

his body shook with fear

she trembled inside

he suppressed a shiver

panic surged through him

her fear spiked

he was in a complete state of panic

she could feel nothing but blind terror

his legs were wobbly with fear

she sweated with fear

his hands were cold and clammy

she was weighed down by dread

dread twisted in her gut

his stomach clenched

fear fluttered in her stomach

her belly cramped

he felt like he might throw up

she was sick with fear

she was frightened down to the soles of her shoes

he was icy with panic

her body went cold with dread

raw panic was in her voice

her voice was thick with fear

his voice was edged with fear

terror thundered down on him

fear caught her in its jaws

fear clawed up her throat

terror sealed her throat

fear gripped her throat

his throat tightened

then she knew real terror was

he was frantic with fear

she was half mad with terror

the color drained from her face

his face was ashen

she blanched

dread gnawed at his insides

dread had been growing in him all day

fresh terror reared up within her

fear choked him

terror stole her words

he was mute with horror

her voice was numb with shock

his voice was shrill with terror

her defiant words masked her fear

her body felt numb

his blood froze in his veins

terror coursed through her veins

fear throbbed inside her

his panic fueled him

adrenaline pumped through his body

adrenaline crashed through her

fear pulsed through him

her scalp prickled

the hairs on the back of her neck stood up

his mouth went dry

his bones turned to jelly

her bones turned to water

she froze with horror

he didn’t dare to move

terror struck her

he was too frightened to lift her head

she was too frightened to scream

his mouth was open in a silent scream

he cringed with fear

she cowered

he shrank back in fear

she flinched

a bolt of panic hit her

terror streaked through him

her terror swelled

his panic increased

anxiety eclipsed his thoughts

panic flared in her eyes

his eyes were wild with terror

her eyes darted from left to right

she feared to close her eyes

he lay awake in a haze of fear

she walked on in a fog of fear

his eyes widened with alarm

she tried to hide her fear

he struggled to conceal his shock

fear crept up her spine

fear trickled down her spine

panic seized his brain

she felt a flash of terror

fear took hold of him

fear flooded through her being

she ordered a drink to drown the panic

he arranged and re-arranged the items on his desk

a nameless dread engulfed him

I bet you came up with other ideas as you were reading!

For more writing lists, check out my book Master Lists for Writers , if you don’t have it yet! A lot of writers use it to make writing go faster, especially when it comes to descriptions.

And if you’re not following the blog already, sign up below—I share lots of writing resources. Thanks so much for reading, and happy writing!

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30 thoughts on “ master list of ways to describe fear ”.

Thank you, Bryn. I can certainly use this list as I go through and clean up my novel. There are some places that need a stronger element of fear.

Hi Bonnie! So glad this was coming at the right time! 🙂

Love the book and the above list! Thank you for taking the time to compile all of it. So appreciated!

Oh thank you! I’m so glad you like it!

I just love your lists. I often refer to them when I’m stuck. That book is right next to the dictionary and thesaurus when I write.

I’m so glad you like them, Erin! I’m honored. 🙂

I was searching for the perfect list to describe fear. I stumbled across your blog and I am glad that I did, you literally saved my butt out there!!? I got an A* because of you ! Thankyou!!❤❤

Aww, I’m so glad to hear this! 🙂

Thanks for compiling this list. Much needed.

Aw thanks, Ezekiel! So glad you like it!

What a terrifying, fantastical list. Thank you, Bryn

Haha, thanks, Bryan! When I read back over it, I did feel a little creeped out. 🙂

I have a scene coming up that this will be perfect for. Thank you for sharing. Bookmarking now!

Hi Sarah! So glad it’ll be useful! Sounds like you have an exciting scene coming up 🙂

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This is a great list! Thank you, Bryn.

Wow! When I read it, I was SO / COMPLETELY creeped out!???

Ha! You know what, when I make these lists, I always start feeling the emotions, too!

I’m thankful for your help. It is great to see these lists. Many blessings ❤️

I have been a bibliophile since long, but never before did I read so many blogs in a sequence. I am really amazed to have found them.Thanks a ton . Superb work .

You saved my life ! Thank you a lot ???

So glad to hear that! Happy writing 🙂

Thanks… It’s good to know tath someone is making life easier for those interested in writing.

ohhh ,how grateful i am for this list it will come in handy so thankyou

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Thank you so much for this list! It is exactly what I was looking for. I ordered the book 🙂

Thanks for ordering the book, Laila. I hope you like it! And glad this list worked for you!

This is an amazing list. I saw in your other comment that you have a book…?

I wanted to tell you that I often return to this page when I am stumped coming up with a way to write some specific reaction. Sometimes I just use one of the ideas you offer directly, and other times something here gives me an idea I riff off of to create something new. Thank you so much for compiling this list!

I riffed this time (last line): “Still feeling the sadness of Manzoa’s fate and wondering what this place was and why he was here, Goff cautiously walked over to the desk. A quill still wet with thick black ink rested next to a sheet of parchment filled with writing in a language he couldn’t read. Crude drawings made with heavy strokes were set within the words. Some of them were disturbing — a bleeding hand cut open with a knife and a person floating lifeless below a ghoul with black eyes poised to attack. He stared at the words, hoping that just like when he traveled back in time to Monstraxen, he would be able to understand them. As he stared, the ink on the page disappeared like water soaking into a sponge. A spider of panic crawled up his spine.”

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Describing Breathing in Creative Writing

By: Author Paul Jenkins

Posted on April 7, 2022

Categories Writing , Creativity , Storytelling

When writers talk about how they infuse their work with sensory detail, it’s usually about describing the color of something or what a character’s hair looks like. Let’s face it: breathing is one of the things we take for granted as humans. We do it so unconsciously that most people don’t even realize when or why they’re breathing. Our breathing rate changes with our emotions – it can be fast and shallow when we’re anxious, and deep and calm when we’re relaxed. As a creative writer, you can make your descriptive writing more vivid by incorporating more sensory information into your novel or story.

What’s in a Breath?

When thinking about how to describe breathing in your novel, ask yourself what you want to convey. Word choice matters.

If your character is having a panic attack, she takes short, shallow breaths.

A character preparing for a fight will have more controlled breathing; their breaths will be slow and steady and then become faster and shallower as the adrenaline kicks in.

Shallow breathing can also indicate stress or panic, as the fight starts to go badly, for example.

At a lull in the fight, the character might start heavy breathing, to get enough wind to continue.

During or after the fight, pain can come through the breath.

Just as the reader can get information about a character through their actions, they can also find out who they are by the way they breathe.

This technique is useful when you’re writing a suspenseful scene and building tension or fear.

If there’s something sinister under the bed and your protagonist’s heart is racing, you should express it through her breathing: “heart-pounding,” “breath coming in short gasps.” When you describe their breathing in this way, the reader senses that something is wrong because it deviates from normal behavior.

Take a Deep Breath

That was a deep breath, and you’re still reading. Good!

Now let’s go over the basics of describing breathing in creative writing:

• Sensory details can tell you a lot about a person’s state of mind. For example, when you take a deep breath through your nose before speaking in public, what does it smell like?
• What does it sound like as the person exhales?
• Describing breathing in terms of sensory input is an effective way to convey the main character’s thoughts to readers and help them understand why the character does or doesn’t feel prepared for the challenge that awaits them.
• As with any literary device like an allusion or a metaphor (and yes – breathing is a literary device), don’t overdo it. A character who takes a deep breath more than once per scene may be perceived by readers as weak-willed or indecisive, and that’s not always what you want them to think of your main character; again, use this technique judiciously unless that’s exactly the aspect of his or her personality you want to emphasize!

In the context of creative writing, holding your breath means that tension is rising. As we’ll see in the last example, you can achieve this effect by describing exactly how long someone held his or her breath.

But what else happens when someone holds their breath? How do they feel? What’s going on inside him or her?

• The first thing that happens, of course, is that they stop breathing. The need to breathe becomes stronger and stronger as the oxygen level in the blood decreases. This causes blood pressure to rise and pulse rate to increase. Over time, the body compensates for the lack of air supply by increasing the carbon dioxide content in the body; it’s easier to keep the blood pumping with an increased CO2 content than with low oxygen content.
• Soon this leads to headaches, dizziness, and disorientation (which can make breathing difficult).
• After a few minutes of not breathing, your heart starts beating irregularly due to the low oxygen level in the blood: fast or irregularly at first, then slower and slower until it stops completely – and when your heart stops beating, you’re dead.

There may be scenes where you can use physiology to increase tension, but be careful not to overdo it. Emphasize the characters’ reactions, not their physical reactions.

Breathing on Other Characters

Another approach is to describe how one character’s breath affects another character. You might focus on how another person’s breath affects your narrator: “The scent of her perfume filled my nostrils as she approached me, and a hot breath came from her lips as she spoke.”

You could also write about how your narrator’s breath affects another character, “His eyes widened as he smelled the alcohol on my breath. When I sighed, he froze and stared at me. My sighs quickened as I watched him for a reaction that didn’t come.”

Some more examples:

• The warmth of her breath sent shivers up and down my spine.
• His words hit me like blows to the stomach, each one robbing me of breath.
• A breath of warm air tickled the back of my neck, making me tense in anticipation before relaxing again with a sigh.

Let It Out Slowly

Once you take a deep breath, how should you exhale it? Here are a few ways:

• Through the mouth. This could be an expression of relief, frustration, or exasperation. It could also show that the person is trying to maintain control. A controlled breath can be indicated by exhaling through pursed lips like a whistle.
• Through the nose. This is often described as a snort of derision or disbelief and is used to show that your person finds something ridiculous or silly.
• The actual sound of breathing can also be described as a sigh, laugh, sob, groan, gasp, sharp breath, or even a scream or laugh (we’ll get to that later).

Where the Breath Happens

It’s most natural to inhale through your mouth. If your character needs a deep, restorative breath or a soothing sigh, mouth breathing will probably suffice.

Nose Breathing

If you want to fine-tune your character’s breathing, you can have them breathe in or out through their nose. Nasal breathing can bring smells into the character’s awareness and draw attention to sensory details in the text.

Exhaling through the nose lends a sense of sophistication and refinement to characters who otherwise lack such qualities (e.g., snobby professors and refined criminals).

Pursed Lip Breathing

Pursed lip breathing is an interesting technique because it evokes certain emotions such as frustration, anger, annoyance, and sadness…

When you’re forced to breathe this way, certain emotions are naturally evoked, making your text more organic without having to tell you exactly what’s happening on an emotional level in every scene.

Breathing Is Automatic and Easy to Forget About, but It’s Important to Life and Your Writing

Breathing is a reflex action that’s automatically controlled by the central nervous system. That means you don’t have to consciously think or make an effort to perform it. It’s basically as important to life as water and food.

On average, a person breathes in and out between 12 and 20 times a minute when at rest. Whether you’re running, sleeping, or sitting down to read this article, your body is constantly taking in oxygen and releasing carbon dioxide.

Respiration is a reflex that’s constantly going on in the background, keeping us alive as we go about our daily activities – it’s easy to forget about it and only notice it when something goes wrong.

Breathing can be considered an involuntary activity, meaning it happens without us having to make the conscious decision to breathe.

However, since breathing has both a voluntary and an involuntary component (you’ve to decide when to speak or sing), there are some ways your character can control breathing.

It’s Used as a Literary Device in Fiction

As you may recall, literary devices are the tools fiction writers use to create meaning, emotion, and imagery.

Examples include:

• Similes and metaphors.
• Onomatopoeia and alliteration.
• Personification is also included. Personification involves ascribing human characteristics to an object or idea.

Authors may use a short breath to show tension or nervousness: “She could barely catch her breath.” The author uses this phrase to convey how tense and frightened the character is.

A long breath can also be used to express relaxation: “Her breathing was slow and deep.” In this case, it’s not so important what the character is feeling, but where their thoughts are.

When someone says that their heart is beating or pounding in their chest, we understand that he or she’s nervous or excited about something. If a character in your story breathes loudly, it means he or she’s worried or anxious-or that he or she may even be looking forward to something.

Reveal a Lot About Their Emotional State, Physical Condition, Health Status, and More

You can use breathing in any piece of writing that features a character. For example, if you are writing a novel, short story, or play, you could consider showing the reader how a character is feeling by describing their breathing.

This will not only tell the reader what your character is experiencing but also reveal different things about their emotional state, physical condition, and health.

Your character may experience several different reactions throughout your writing and the quality of their breathing will change depending on these experiences.

• “The nurse held the stethoscope to his chest and listened carefully as he breathed in and out.”
• “The man had been following her for blocks now, and she could feel his breath on the back of her neck.”

Of course, you can use breathing as more than just an indicator of emotion and health. It’s a great metaphor for lots of things: life or death situations, taking on too much work at once, or even being afraid to take chances on love.

• Think about the bigger picture. Should you describe your character’s breathing at all? Will it help the reader know what your character is feeling?
• Consider how much information to give the reader. Do you want to give more information or less?
• Decide which perspective to use (first person, second person, or third person) and decide whether to use multiple perspectives in one piece of writing.

Showing how a character reacts can be very useful for readers as well as for showing a sense of time and place. In creative writing, this often means describing a moment that shows us something about a character like her nerves, her anxiety, or her excitement.

Describing Breathing Creatively

A compelling description in your story can be the difference between an otherwise forgettable scene and an engaging one.

The best way to do this is to keep a few things in mind.

• When characters breathe in creative writing, try to avoid using “breathe” repeatedly by simply replacing it with synonyms like “gasp.” Start by opening a thesaurus
• Use action verbs to make your character’s breathing sound more like a natural part of their surroundings.
• Use descriptive adjectives to describe the feeling of exhaling. Describe the rate and rhythm of the breathing. For example, someone might be “panting” or taking “shallow breaths.”
• Don’t be afraid to use metaphor or simile when describing breathing in creative writing-it will add life and color! You could also use similes to create an analogy, like comparing someone’s breath to steam on a cold morning. You could also compare it to waves lapping on the beach or butterflies fluttering. But keep it within the realms of your genre and context!
• The more creative you are with your description of breathing, the more effective your writing will be at bringing your reader into the scene!

Make Readers Feel What Your Characters Are Feeling

I hope some of these suggestions will help you add excitement to your description of breathing and make readers feel what your characters are feeling.

In general, it should be used to draw attention to a character’s emotional state or when the character is excited or stressed. It’s one of those writing skills worth developing.

A few more options include:

• Describe how far apart breathing becomes. When people are nervous, their heart races and they take rapid breaths. This is a simple way to show that a person is anxious without having to write out their inner thoughts.
• Does someone’s age affect their breath? An older person might become short of breath with strenuous activity, whereas a younger person could be fine with the same amount of exertion.
• Don’t forget body language combined with breathing as a way to depict character or situation.
• How about using other senses in combination with breathing? If someone has just eaten spicy food and needs water, describe how every time they try to breathe, the scent of hot peppers wafts into their nose.

Breathing Sounds and Words for Creative Writing

• Hyperventilate