fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #4327 ]

[ SECRET POST #4327 ]

⌈ Secret Post #4327 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

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02.

[Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers]

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03.

[Star Trek: The Next Generation, S02E10 "The Dauphin"]

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04.

[The Haunting of Hill House]

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05.

[Red Dead Redemption 2]

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06.

[Jamie & Jimmy's Food Fight Club]

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 07 secrets from Secret Submission Post #619.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

How do you feel about character descriptions in stories/books (fanfic too, I guess, although outside of OCs most people reading are going to know what the character looks like)?

Do you like the really in depth ones where it gives every tiny detail of the person's appearance (like "Joe was tall, skinny and pale with shoulder length dark brown hair and green eyes, high cheekbones and a pointy chin, he had nose and eyebrow piercings, a tattoo of a frog on his left forearm, he liked to wear sleeveless shirts, shorts and sandals and he painted his toenails purple, he frequently wore a necklace with a soup can charm, a turquoise ring on his left middle finger, a silver ring with an orange stone on his right ring finger and a braided bracelet in the Rastafarian colors on his left wrist, he has a scar on his right elbow" where it sounds like they're describing him to the police and they think they need to be as detailed as they possibly can), a more general description ("Bob was average height with a medium build, a dark tan, short brown hair and brown eyes") or just skip the description altogether? Also, how do you feel about describing characters' race? Should it just come right out and say "Sally's black", "Carol's Guatemalan", etc. or should they go with the more vague euphemistic "caramel/olive skintone" or whatever?

Lately I've been seeing lots of character descriptions that bug me, so I'm curious what you guys like/don't like.

I like the middle ground. Good writing can get these details across without doing it in one huge info dump.

I prefer things relatively short - a few basic details about their physical attributes, and then a little more information about like... their vibe, their way of carrying themselves, how they present themselves to the world.

I hate infodumps and prefer it if the writer describes the characters little by little during the story. When it comes to race, I'd rather have them just state it instead of using ambigious terms.

Out of curiousity, how would you state a character's race organically and not in an info-dump or a potentially disastrous sort of "Hey is your friend Chinese or Korean?" way?

So long as big stuff comes first. I was several pages into an original short story and suddenly the guy is black and his date Latino and there'd been zero hints about that at all until we're waxing lyrical over the dark skin and short curled hair. Then again the author referred to the black male love interest as the protagonist's Best Friend, Friend, and Closest Friend ad nauseum so not the best example. I get friends to lovers being complicated but jeez!

I’m not big on infodumping descriptive stuff about a character’s looks, especially all at once. Some description is fine, but honestly I start feeling like the narrator/writer or character doing the describing is a creep if it goes on for long, or self-absorbed as fuck if they’re describing themselves. If part of the plot involves characters having to disguise themselves or dress formally or something then detailed descriptions make more sense, but if they’re going out to buy groceries, not so much.

I like it to come to you gradually. I don't want to have to stop in the middle of the first few pages or whatever to get some huge list of stuff. Just tell me in bits and pieces as we go along.

I like a little description, but I prefer it when you learn about a character through what is going on/what they do/what they think/etc.

I don't mind authors being more explicit about race, but I'd prefer they did it in more subtle ways than "Sally's black" or "Carol's Guatemalan". Because if the description just comes out and lists characteristics like the ingredients in a recipe, then I'll stick with the euphemisms.

I'm very detail-oriented so while I do like detailed descriptions, there is such a thing as too much (like the first example you gave, for instance, it's good but a few things could be simplified, imo: "Joe was tall, thin, and pale with shoulder length dark hair and green eyes, high cheekbones and a pointy chin. He was fond of tattoos, piercings, and jewelry, and was usually dressed in casual, comfortable clothes. It wasn't unusual to see him with purple-polished toenails."). It really does sound like a police blotter description of there are too many details, plus it doesn't leave a lot to the imagination of the reader.

A big no to infodumps, but I love description because I like being able to visualize what the scene looks like and what the characters look like as if it's a movie playing inside my head. What works for me is when writers are selective about what details they share, and when. Just listing hair color, eye color, build, clothing, etc. is boring. I like it when writers share physical details that suggest more about the character's personality. How do they carry themselves, what are their hands like, what do they choose to wear when they're at home and comfortable, things like that. A good writer doesn't do this all at once, they blend it with a character's speech and actions to show you what kind of person you're dealing with.

Re: race - Similarly, I prefer a more subtle approach. I don't think of them as "euphemisms", but describing skin tone is good. I prefer it when writers are cautious about using food terms, because they're rather cliche and occasionally cringy. Please rethink describing POCs as chocolate, coffee or caramel. Describing a character like "Carol was Guatemalan, and she loved cats and rainy days" just sounds so awkward and clumsy, like an author is listing physical attributes again.

“as if it’s a movie playing inside my head”—I can’t do this, and can barely visualize anything at all. My mental images, even of people and things I see every day, are mostly fuzzy blobs. I’m so jealous of people who can clearly picture (or hear, I can’t do that either) stuff they read or imagine. And yet I love reading. Idk.

As I mentioned in another comment though, mention the big stuff. Maybe you've got Carol as a blonde for some reason - maybe she reminds you of someone you know or another character. And then she's dark skinned with dreadlocks out of nowhere. I don't see anything wrong with mentioning a character's race or ethnicity as long as it's part of the overall narrative.
Gaiman's Anasi Boys takes the approach of mentioning white skin because that's not the default; you get that idea immediately and start defaulting all characters as POC, so it depends on the story in question.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ SECRET POST #4327 ]

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