McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
Describing the Main Character
LeeringCorpse:
Thank you for the insights Mr. Shortt. It is funny you should mention the mirror. It is one of the few things I know to be “poo poo” in writing, so I was going to tease the reader a bit with it. I was going to have the character move to a washstand and mirror. At that point I’m sure the reader will groan and say, “Oh no, not the trite ‘character gazes into a mirror and describes herself’ scene”, but in the next moment I would describe the mirror, a pounded, round copper plate, being tarnished and useless as a mirror due to neglect.
Like before, I was planning to stick with descriptions that relate to what she is doing and leave out things that a person might not contemplate during the act of washing. For example, I’m going to leave out the shape of her eyes, but put in that the character feels her long nose, overly long in her mind, gets in the way and makes the act of washing her face more of a chore. Stuff like that. So it will not be a full reveal, just a more complete one.
Your comments on flow, Mr. Shortt, have also gotten me thinking. Flow is very important in the visual arts as well and something I almost neglected when thinking out the length and delivery of the scene I am talking about. Thank you for mentioning it. My knowledge of creative writing is laughable, so I really do appreciate what everyone has said to me, or will say to me. So again, thank you all for your comments.
Wordmaker:
No problem :)
And hey, I use the mirror thing myself in my second book, so just as guilty of it as anybody else. Though I suppose since this is the sequel, it's a little better since it's not the first time the reader gets to find out what Nathan looks like.
Sir Huron Stone:
The way i wrote it in one of the (many) stories i wrote (and never finished), was give little bits and pieces, then about three chapters in, the character got arrested and the interrogator went through his very long rap sheet and did the whole physical description. Probably not gonna work in most stories, but it fit pretty well in mine.
LeeringCorpse:
--- Quote from: Wordmaker on June 24, 2013, 03:33:01 PM ---And hey, I use the mirror thing myself in my second book, so just as guilty of it as anybody else. Though I suppose since this is the sequel, it's a little better since it's not the first time the reader gets to find out what Nathan looks like.
--- End quote ---
There are always exceptions. I guess it might be said that the hard and fast rule is to never include something in your story for the ease of it? I'm sure the mirror thing is an easy way to get a character's physical description into the story, but one that --unless mandated by the circumstances-- is ultimately lacking in feeling and individuality, two things you don't want a story to have.
Wordmaker:
Exactly. In Silent Oath, the reason I used the mirror was because I wanted to highlight how Nathan has changed as a person. Where once his hands used to shake after being in a fight, he now regards the scars on his body as hard-learned lessons from past mistakes. It also gave me the chance to remind the reader of a particularly important scar from an injury at a pivotal series of events in the first book.
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