Skip to main content

Windows to the Soul

-Hannah-

Today we look at character descriptions.

What do appearances say about a character's personality?

Quite a lot, actually. Authors use descriptions as an easy way of giving the reader a first impression of a character without having to go into any particular effort.

Cicero once said that "the face is a picture of the mind," and this can be true, especially in books or movies. Authors generally want to give you as much information as possible about their characters (unless they're deliberately hiding things) and will use the opportunity to describe their character's appearance to their advantage.

Look at this extract from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone, where Hagrid is described:

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.

This is J.K.Rowling's opportunity to give the reader a first impression of Hagrid, and she does it by giving the reader an image of the character.

  • "A giant of a man," suggests perhaps there is something paranormal about him. Perhaps his size is intimidating.
  • "Shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard," show that he is quite rough and wild.
  • Eyes "glinting like black beetles," connotate animals, which are later revealed as his passion.
So a lot is learned from character description. But how do you use this as an author?
Let's look at eyes for a start, with anime as a guide.


  • The angle of the eyeline conveys how firm/gentle the character is.
  • Eyes shaped like (> <) tend to hint at aggressive, cynical personality, whereas eyes like (< >) show nativity and empty-headedness.
  • Thin eyebrows tend to show a quieter, more gentle disposition than those with thick eyebrows.
  • The positioning of the eye also affects what the reader thinks of the character. The lower down the face they eyes are, the more childlike the character looks.
  • Eyes with larger pupils are generally more "innocent."

Color can vary, but certain eye colors have certain connotations.
  • Red - evil or passionate (e.g. Ultron, the Avengers)
  • Green - magical or evil (e.g. Harry Potter, Harry Potter)
  • Brown - trustworthy (e.g. Margo, Despicable Me)
  • Light blue/gray - a bit creepy, like they can see through your soul, serious (e.g. Athena, PJO)
  • Yellow - sneaky, probably a werewolf (e.g. Tykebomb, Discworld)
  • Purple - magic, possibly darker, rare (e.g. Zanna, The Last Dragon Chronicles) 
How do you apply this in your story? Obviously not by writing "Dave had thin eyebrows and downwards slanting eyes low down his face. His irises were dark blue."
Use your description skills. Insinuate your image of the character. Don't write, "He had grey eyes."
Write,
"his eyes were grey as a clear evening, and in them was a light like the light of stars",
-Tolkein, LOTR, a description of Elrond

Add atmosphere. Use your descriptions as an opportunity for the readers to get the feel of the character as well as their appearance.

There's a lot more to cover when it comes to character description, but I hope this has taught you something about either inferring from what you read or describing your own characters.

-Hannah-


Comment below!

Did you enjoy this post?

Any examples of awesome character descriptions?

Describe your own eyes!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

3 Tips On Writing Songs in Stories

- Germaine - So you want to write songs in stories, but have no idea where to start? Unfortunately for you, I have no idea how to write songs, too. But before you begin to despair, here are a few tips I've learned from reading a few books. 1. Songs DO NOT need to rhyme I see this a lot. It's a little annoying when it's overused in the same book, especially when the author seems to run out of rhymes. I'm not saying, "don't rhyme your songs at all." Some songs that rhyme are actually quite good. I'm saying, "think about it." If the song you're writing fits well with your story, go for it. But if it seems out of place, you might want to consider rewriting it. The worst case scenario would be to delete it entirely and erase all traces of it from your story. 2. Write songs like you're writing poetry Songs are poems, after all. So wouldn't it be fun to just throw out some deep, meaningful figurative language? Of c...
Post a Comment
Read more

Can't You See the Shapes

I can see the shapes But my hands can't form them right They're trapped in my mind Why can’t I see the light? Dancing and soaring I forget what's around me Electric body Won’t you do what I do? Come sit in the shade Let the arid world fly by Luscious, dark gray shade Take my hand, come and fly Can’t you see the shapes Our fingers form them right Trapped in our minds Can’t you see the bright light? ~a poem by Gemaine~ ~based on a series of haikus by Hannah~
Post a Comment
Read more

Spoiler-Free Book Review - The Squire's Tales (Gerald Morris)

Okay, so it's technically an entire series, but that's irrelevant. I am reviewing books and it is therefore a book review.  The Squire's Tales , by Gerald Morris, is a series of novels that retell in hilarious fashion the lesser known tales of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. Don't worry, you won't have to hear about the sword in the stone again or anything at all about Arthur's childhood. Because this is where the best part comes in: these stories are told from the perspectives of those that other renditions tend to gloss over, mock or forget entirely. These characters are a squire, (as the title would imply) a page, three women and a knight who is objectively terrible at being a knight. He sings and plays music instead. His name's Dinadan. He's wonderful. Over the ten books in the series, you get seven different characters from whose points of view the stories are told (plus a couple extra in the last book, but that's a spec...
Post a Comment
Read more