Character Development For Authors, Part Two: Appearance Details
Now that you've sorted out the appearance basics (see the first part of the tutorial here) you should have a vague picture of what your character looks like. It won't be too detailed yet; you have just a basic outline. But now it's time to start adding the details that give your character more life.
This is the part of the your character's development where their past and their personality start to come in and influence how they look. Clothing, for example, is one of the most obvious forms of self expression that exists. Tattoos speak of a past written in permanent ink, and motivations that you perhaps don't yet understand. Birthmarks are a reminder that this character, despite the fact that you're making him/her up, was, in fact, born.
Here is where your character's personality starts to form. That can make this aspect of development either a joy, or the most difficult thing you've done so far. The thing to keep in mind here is that the physical details remain consistent with whatever ideas you have for their personality. Again, these things may change, so unless you don't have a problem with fitting a character's personality to physical details, be prepared to alter them.
Clothing
As I said above, clothing is one of the most obvious forms of self-expression there is. This is something you need to keep in mind when dressing your character. Whatever bits and pieces you connected to this character's personality in the last part of the tutorial are things you need to be aware of now.
You need to keep in mind the location of your story, the time period, the culture, and the weather when dressing your character, as well as their age, their gender, and the face they choose to present to the world. A young woman, for example, in 2015, in the spring or autumn, might wear fitted skinny jeans, a hoodie, and sneakers. A young woman from the Victorian era, however, would wear no such thing.
And this doesn't take into account the many colors and patterns you could also choose. The number of combinations are endless, and the meanings you could apply to each one could bring depth to any story, as well as more knowledge of your character. As an example, maybe your character is a budding fashonista, but she also has a pair of ratty pajama bottoms patterned in yellow ducks. Perhaps she keeps those pajama bottoms because it was the last thing her father gave her before he died. Or maybe she has a secret love of ducklings, one that she developed as a youngster when she really, really wanted a pet duckling at the store but her mother said no.
Accessories
Much like clothing, accessories are a popular form of self-expression. Unlike clothing, however, most accessories can be worn every day, if their owner chooses to. This opens up the possibility of one specific accessory that your character is particularly attached to. Maybe your older male character wears a woman's ring on a chain around his neck, because it belonged to his high school sweetheart, who died before they had a chance to get married. Maybe your ten-year-old girl wears the same plastic ring every day because it's her favorite color, and she wants to wear a ring like her mother.
Maybe you have a character that's into piercings, and wears body jewelry every day. Perhaps they have so many piercings because physical pain is preferable to emotional pain. Or maybe it's because they feel closer to the earth when they wear ornaments of metal or wood through their flesh.
Conversely, you could have a character that eschews the very idea of accessorizing, and refuses to wear so much as a pair of earrings.
Voice
What does your character sound like when they're angry? Do the scream? Do they yell? Do they get so quiet you can barely hear them?
Do they sound like a big bear of a man, or a little girl?
There are many, many different things to wonder about how your character sounds. You can start with how their voice sounds when talking normally. Much like with the height and hair/eye colors on the last post, this is a chance to either present contrasts, or matches. If you have a young woman, you can make her sound like a young woman. Or, you can make her sound like a man. Perhaps you have a young man that has a rather feminine voice, but when he laughs it's a deep man-laugh. Or a woman with a deep voice who sings soprano.
Posture
The way your character holds themselves can present them as competent, frightened, bold, or any number of other things. A character that slouches can be seen as lazy, while a character that stands straight with shoulders back appears confident.
If you have a character that becomes, or has been in the past, a victim, a posture with head down and shoulders hunched may portray just that. The image presents the viewer with the idea that this person is afraid. Many attackers choose victims that already appear to be victims. Changes in default posture can include one shoulder being raised higher than the other as a result of carrying bags of heavy books or medical issues. A stressed man or woman may hold their shoulders higher due to the tension in the muscles.
Posture is, often, something unconscious. So while you may have a character that acts bold, confident, and in charge, you might decide to have their real feelings of inadequacy and fear show through their posture. Or you might have a character that really is bold and confident, but spends most of their time hunched over books or electronics, resulting in a hunch that causes other people to mistake them as being frightened. Maybe you have a character that has perfect posture, but that's the result of rigid discipline from parents, or some kind of physical training. Perhaps they walk straight because they're involved in martial arts and their instructors trained them to hold their shoulders back.
Movement
Like posture, movement is usually something unconscious that was developed due to outside factors. A dancer may have a certain grace that others lack. A martial artist may walk faster, taking larger steps or moving with more purpose and power. An artist may walk slowly, savoring the sights around them for later use in artwork. A thief may scuttle around much like a mouse, afraid of being caught. A successful businessman, for whom people getting out of the way is an assumed perk, may move fast through a crowd, not pausing to worry about people between him and his destination.
The way your character moves can bring attention to new aspects of their backstory, pieces that can cause or resolve conflict, or explain the actions of a character. Maybe the dancer from above is currently out of work, but the reader doesn't know what her past job was. Her graceful movements can be used to introduce the reader to her past as a dancer at a theater that went out of business, or tell them that she lost her job at a theater because of an injury.
A woman might walk down the street with her hips swinging because she's confident and feels sexy, or has a desire for male attention. A man may strut for the same reasons. A young girl may have jerky movements because of a growth spurt, and an older man might move slowly because he has problems with his balance.
This is another aspect of your character that brings them to life. If you need to, you can visualize how they walk down the street. This can be very important if you need to show, for example, a woman who is considered very attractive and knows it, without telling your readers that in so many words. You can simply set her on the street, describe how she walks, and then how the men who see her react.
Markings
This would include things like freckles, birthmarks, tattoos and scars. These things give more depth to your character, as well as presenting the reader with evidence of a backstory. The presence of a scar could be used to start a conversation between your character and someone else, during which your character explains how they got it. This can move a plot forward, or shed light on the character's motivation.
A tattoo is usually representative of something important that happened in the life of a character. Simply giving your character a tattoo can give you a way to add backstory. Because tattoos are permanent, either your character didn't think it through and now will have this tattoo annoying them for a long time, or they thought it through carefully. Either way, it's a piece of their past that can be placed in the story as a way of letting readers get to know the character.
Perhaps your male character got in a knife fight when he was young, and he has the scars the prove it. Maybe he was involved in a rough crowd, and the fight is the reason he's now a businessman instead. Maybe your female character hates her freckles because she was teased about them in school, and that's why she uses so much makeup to cover them up. Maybe your older male character has a tattoo on his wrist from his time in the army, the initials of his best friend who was killed. Maybe that female character has stretch marks on her belly from being pregnant with twins, or that little kid was born with a birthmark on his forehead.
Physical markings give you a way to let your character interact in their world and show their past without you having to tell it.
Physical Imperfections
This can be a previously broken nose that set crooked, teeth that are chipped, a problem with acne, broken or black nails, a limp - the possibilities are endless. These things, like the markings, can be used to give your character ways of interacting with the world around them. It also gives you a way to bring up their motivations for actions, the cause of personality traits, and move the plot forward.
Many writers hear "show, don't tell" a lot. Physical imperfections are a way to do that. Instead of telling your readers that your character had a broken nose, describe his face as having a crooked nose, and have another character ask them about it. A problem with acne can be used to tell your readers that they're dealing with a pubescent teenager. Perhaps those chipped teeth are a result of a family not being able to afford a dentist. Maybe that limp is from a bad knee that needs surgery.
Let your character's appearance tell you, and your readers, about them.
Scent
This can refer to perfume or cologne, as well as the general scent of a person. A man who works outdoors may, for instance, smell of grass and earth, while one who works in an office might smell like paper or ink. The kind of other scents, like deodorant, perfume, cologne - all tell you about the character's preferences. Perhaps that female character is allergic to cherry blossoms, so she avoids perfumes with that scent. Maybe that male character finds floral fragrances too strong, so his wife wears vanilla perfume. Maybe that character dreams of a vacation in Hawaii, so they use tropical scented deodorant and perfume or cologne. Maybe they grew up with a mother who used a lavender soap, and they miss her, so they use the same soap.
Defining a scent for your characters also enhances your description of them, and allows you to describe them using a sense besides sight, in addition to making them seem more real.
Mannerisms
In Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire (the movie, this didn't happen in the book - beware spoilers, those who haven't seen the movie or read the book!) Barty Crouch guessed that Mad-Eye Moody was really his son, Barty Crouch Jr. after the way he licked his lips. This was a mannerism that revealed him for who he was. Mannerisms are another way to give your character more life. One of my characters, for example, would rub the back of his neck when he got anxious or nervous.
This also gives your character a physical habit to do through the book that remains constant, and can be a connecting thread through the plot.
You could have a woman that compulsively crosses and uncrosses her legs when she's nervous, or a man that runs his fingers through his hair when he's excited. Maybe you have a character with an eye twitch, or one that clenches their hands when they're angry.
Once your character has one of these, this also gives you a default reaction for them when the situation is appropriate; if they flail their arms when angry, you know how to show they're angry. Flail their arms. This enables you to use body language and show, rather than tell.
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This is the part of the your character's development where their past and their personality start to come in and influence how they look. Clothing, for example, is one of the most obvious forms of self expression that exists. Tattoos speak of a past written in permanent ink, and motivations that you perhaps don't yet understand. Birthmarks are a reminder that this character, despite the fact that you're making him/her up, was, in fact, born.
Here is where your character's personality starts to form. That can make this aspect of development either a joy, or the most difficult thing you've done so far. The thing to keep in mind here is that the physical details remain consistent with whatever ideas you have for their personality. Again, these things may change, so unless you don't have a problem with fitting a character's personality to physical details, be prepared to alter them.
Clothing
As I said above, clothing is one of the most obvious forms of self-expression there is. This is something you need to keep in mind when dressing your character. Whatever bits and pieces you connected to this character's personality in the last part of the tutorial are things you need to be aware of now.
You need to keep in mind the location of your story, the time period, the culture, and the weather when dressing your character, as well as their age, their gender, and the face they choose to present to the world. A young woman, for example, in 2015, in the spring or autumn, might wear fitted skinny jeans, a hoodie, and sneakers. A young woman from the Victorian era, however, would wear no such thing.
And this doesn't take into account the many colors and patterns you could also choose. The number of combinations are endless, and the meanings you could apply to each one could bring depth to any story, as well as more knowledge of your character. As an example, maybe your character is a budding fashonista, but she also has a pair of ratty pajama bottoms patterned in yellow ducks. Perhaps she keeps those pajama bottoms because it was the last thing her father gave her before he died. Or maybe she has a secret love of ducklings, one that she developed as a youngster when she really, really wanted a pet duckling at the store but her mother said no.
Accessories
Much like clothing, accessories are a popular form of self-expression. Unlike clothing, however, most accessories can be worn every day, if their owner chooses to. This opens up the possibility of one specific accessory that your character is particularly attached to. Maybe your older male character wears a woman's ring on a chain around his neck, because it belonged to his high school sweetheart, who died before they had a chance to get married. Maybe your ten-year-old girl wears the same plastic ring every day because it's her favorite color, and she wants to wear a ring like her mother.
Maybe you have a character that's into piercings, and wears body jewelry every day. Perhaps they have so many piercings because physical pain is preferable to emotional pain. Or maybe it's because they feel closer to the earth when they wear ornaments of metal or wood through their flesh.
Conversely, you could have a character that eschews the very idea of accessorizing, and refuses to wear so much as a pair of earrings.
Voice
What does your character sound like when they're angry? Do the scream? Do they yell? Do they get so quiet you can barely hear them?
Do they sound like a big bear of a man, or a little girl?
There are many, many different things to wonder about how your character sounds. You can start with how their voice sounds when talking normally. Much like with the height and hair/eye colors on the last post, this is a chance to either present contrasts, or matches. If you have a young woman, you can make her sound like a young woman. Or, you can make her sound like a man. Perhaps you have a young man that has a rather feminine voice, but when he laughs it's a deep man-laugh. Or a woman with a deep voice who sings soprano.
Posture
The way your character holds themselves can present them as competent, frightened, bold, or any number of other things. A character that slouches can be seen as lazy, while a character that stands straight with shoulders back appears confident.
If you have a character that becomes, or has been in the past, a victim, a posture with head down and shoulders hunched may portray just that. The image presents the viewer with the idea that this person is afraid. Many attackers choose victims that already appear to be victims. Changes in default posture can include one shoulder being raised higher than the other as a result of carrying bags of heavy books or medical issues. A stressed man or woman may hold their shoulders higher due to the tension in the muscles.
Posture is, often, something unconscious. So while you may have a character that acts bold, confident, and in charge, you might decide to have their real feelings of inadequacy and fear show through their posture. Or you might have a character that really is bold and confident, but spends most of their time hunched over books or electronics, resulting in a hunch that causes other people to mistake them as being frightened. Maybe you have a character that has perfect posture, but that's the result of rigid discipline from parents, or some kind of physical training. Perhaps they walk straight because they're involved in martial arts and their instructors trained them to hold their shoulders back.
Movement
Like posture, movement is usually something unconscious that was developed due to outside factors. A dancer may have a certain grace that others lack. A martial artist may walk faster, taking larger steps or moving with more purpose and power. An artist may walk slowly, savoring the sights around them for later use in artwork. A thief may scuttle around much like a mouse, afraid of being caught. A successful businessman, for whom people getting out of the way is an assumed perk, may move fast through a crowd, not pausing to worry about people between him and his destination.
The way your character moves can bring attention to new aspects of their backstory, pieces that can cause or resolve conflict, or explain the actions of a character. Maybe the dancer from above is currently out of work, but the reader doesn't know what her past job was. Her graceful movements can be used to introduce the reader to her past as a dancer at a theater that went out of business, or tell them that she lost her job at a theater because of an injury.
A woman might walk down the street with her hips swinging because she's confident and feels sexy, or has a desire for male attention. A man may strut for the same reasons. A young girl may have jerky movements because of a growth spurt, and an older man might move slowly because he has problems with his balance.
This is another aspect of your character that brings them to life. If you need to, you can visualize how they walk down the street. This can be very important if you need to show, for example, a woman who is considered very attractive and knows it, without telling your readers that in so many words. You can simply set her on the street, describe how she walks, and then how the men who see her react.
Markings
This would include things like freckles, birthmarks, tattoos and scars. These things give more depth to your character, as well as presenting the reader with evidence of a backstory. The presence of a scar could be used to start a conversation between your character and someone else, during which your character explains how they got it. This can move a plot forward, or shed light on the character's motivation.
A tattoo is usually representative of something important that happened in the life of a character. Simply giving your character a tattoo can give you a way to add backstory. Because tattoos are permanent, either your character didn't think it through and now will have this tattoo annoying them for a long time, or they thought it through carefully. Either way, it's a piece of their past that can be placed in the story as a way of letting readers get to know the character.
Perhaps your male character got in a knife fight when he was young, and he has the scars the prove it. Maybe he was involved in a rough crowd, and the fight is the reason he's now a businessman instead. Maybe your female character hates her freckles because she was teased about them in school, and that's why she uses so much makeup to cover them up. Maybe your older male character has a tattoo on his wrist from his time in the army, the initials of his best friend who was killed. Maybe that female character has stretch marks on her belly from being pregnant with twins, or that little kid was born with a birthmark on his forehead.
Physical markings give you a way to let your character interact in their world and show their past without you having to tell it.
Physical Imperfections
This can be a previously broken nose that set crooked, teeth that are chipped, a problem with acne, broken or black nails, a limp - the possibilities are endless. These things, like the markings, can be used to give your character ways of interacting with the world around them. It also gives you a way to bring up their motivations for actions, the cause of personality traits, and move the plot forward.
Many writers hear "show, don't tell" a lot. Physical imperfections are a way to do that. Instead of telling your readers that your character had a broken nose, describe his face as having a crooked nose, and have another character ask them about it. A problem with acne can be used to tell your readers that they're dealing with a pubescent teenager. Perhaps those chipped teeth are a result of a family not being able to afford a dentist. Maybe that limp is from a bad knee that needs surgery.
Let your character's appearance tell you, and your readers, about them.
Scent
This can refer to perfume or cologne, as well as the general scent of a person. A man who works outdoors may, for instance, smell of grass and earth, while one who works in an office might smell like paper or ink. The kind of other scents, like deodorant, perfume, cologne - all tell you about the character's preferences. Perhaps that female character is allergic to cherry blossoms, so she avoids perfumes with that scent. Maybe that male character finds floral fragrances too strong, so his wife wears vanilla perfume. Maybe that character dreams of a vacation in Hawaii, so they use tropical scented deodorant and perfume or cologne. Maybe they grew up with a mother who used a lavender soap, and they miss her, so they use the same soap.
Defining a scent for your characters also enhances your description of them, and allows you to describe them using a sense besides sight, in addition to making them seem more real.
Mannerisms
In Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire (the movie, this didn't happen in the book - beware spoilers, those who haven't seen the movie or read the book!) Barty Crouch guessed that Mad-Eye Moody was really his son, Barty Crouch Jr. after the way he licked his lips. This was a mannerism that revealed him for who he was. Mannerisms are another way to give your character more life. One of my characters, for example, would rub the back of his neck when he got anxious or nervous.
This also gives your character a physical habit to do through the book that remains constant, and can be a connecting thread through the plot.
You could have a woman that compulsively crosses and uncrosses her legs when she's nervous, or a man that runs his fingers through his hair when he's excited. Maybe you have a character with an eye twitch, or one that clenches their hands when they're angry.
Once your character has one of these, this also gives you a default reaction for them when the situation is appropriate; if they flail their arms when angry, you know how to show they're angry. Flail their arms. This enables you to use body language and show, rather than tell.
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