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Hellooo, everybody! Today we're talking about the human body. Sort of.
Today we're talking about physical descriptions. Now physical descriptions are probably the only
descriptions I really enjoy writing. Well, that and violence, I do enjoy describing violence. But
let's not pretend I'm not batshit crazy just for a second, all right. My favorite part of writing is
creating characters and that includes painting a picture of what they look like. And over the
years, I've learned a thing or two about what makes a good character description, and what makes
a crappy character description and I'm here to share the knowledge. These are my dos and don'ts
for writing physical descriptions. All of these dos and don'ts are based off of my own personal
preferences, as well as feedback I've received from beta readers and other writers. So let's get
to it shall we. Do describe your characters. This piece of advice is open to debate. Some writers
think that physical descriptions are completely unnecessary. They'd rather let the audience create
their own image of the character in their mind. And to some degree, I understand this mentality.
People tend to envision a character the way they want to envision them. They see them in
a way that's familiar and comfortable to them, but still, as a reader, I like to be told what
a character looks like. If I'm reading a book and I don't get a physical description, Imma be
pissed. Until I get a physical description, that character is just an invisible blob in my mind. I
am waiting for that description, and it's really hard to connect with a character that you can't
even visualize. So while this piece of advice is a judgment call, I say do it. Describe your
damn characters. I personally like to give my most important characters, a very detailed description,
and then the supporting characters get maybe a couple of sentences. I also think it's good to
describe the characters as soon as possible. For the protagonist, the description should
be somewhere in the first chapter, and for the supporting characters, it should be somewhere in
their introduction. Don't overload the reader with metaphors. ‘His eyes were as blue as the ocean.
Her lips were red luscious pillows, His yellow gaze was as piercing as a tiger.’ Seriously? Look,
an analogy or a metaphor is fine here and there, but keep it under control,
okay. Because this shit can get real cheesy, real fast. How many times have you heard the phrase:
as blue is the ocean. Alot. It's not pretty or romantic, it's trite. Crystal blue eyes, red
pillory lips, and piercing amber gaze work just fine. And if you must use an analogy, at least try
to think of something unique. ‘Her hair was black as the night, as a raven’ - that’s all been done
before. Maybe her hair can be as black as ink. Maybe it can be as black as Jenna Moreci’s soul,
I don't think anyone's used that last one yet, so feel free. But just try to remember that metaphors
in large doses are recipes for eye rolls and facepalmage. Do focus on important features. Most
readers are gonna forget half the descriptions you layout for them, so make sure you focus on
the important stuff. Things to potentially think about: eye color and shape, hair color length and
texture, lips, facial structure including jaw, chin and cheekbones, the shape of their nose,
the color of their skin. Then we get below the neck. What's your general body type? Are they
tall, are they short, muscular, thin, curvy? Give us the goods. You also wanna think about physical
quirks. If the characters have any defining features that separate them from every other Joe
Blow in the book, mention it. I'm talking about scars, tattoos, a unique hairstyle or facial hair,
heterochromia, freckles, I could go on. Even if someone has a crooked nose or really big boobs,
that's memorable. Certainly the boobs are. Now I'm not saying you need to list all these things. In
fact, you really, really shouldn't. Like, really. Tone it down. But these are the things you should
be thinking about when you're describing them. Choose the handful of descriptors that you think
are the most important and memorable and go with them. Don't compare them to a celebrity. This is
cheating. It's cheap, and it's cheating. ‘She was the spitting image of Angelina Jolie. He
looked just like hunky Chris Hemsworth.’ You, my friend, are lazy. This doesn't work for a
few reasons. One, you want the character to stand on their own. They should feel like a real person,
not a fake person being played by an actor. If you want the character to look like Chris Hemsworth,
describe Chris Hemsworth. Maybe the reader will imagine Chris Hemsworth in their mind. Maybe
they won't. It really doesn't matter because by the time the book is in their hands, it's their
fantasy and they get to imagine him however they want. Two, comparing your character to
a celebrity and immediately dates the book. What if someone reads your book forty years from now,
and they're like “Angelina Jolie, but she's a little old lady. I mean, I find it hard to
believe that little old Angelina can participate in all these acrobatic sex scenes, but all right,
if you insist. She must be doing a lot of water fitness after bingo.” It's okay to base
a character's appearance after a celebrity. It's okay to imagine the character as that celebrity in
your mind. But refusing to write the description and just slapping the celebrity into the book is
bad form. Do pay attention to your protagonist’s relationship with the character. In my opinion,
the depth of the description you give to the character, directly depends on the relationship
to the protagonist. Likewise, the way the protagonist interacts with the character also
determines how they're going to be described. For example, if you give a super sexualized
description to the protagonist’s mom, that's gross. Unless your book is about banging your mom,
this is a mistake. Although a book about banging your mom might be a mistake all on its own,
but I digress. It's okay if you want the reader to know that the protagonist's mom is beautiful,
but keep in mind that the protagonist doesn't find her sexy. Most people, no matter how hot their mom
is, will never see her as having the perfect figure or amazing breasts. You can communicate
the hotness without grossing the reader out. Now paying attention to the protagonist's relationship
to the character is especially relevant if the character is the love interest. If the protagonist
meets the love interest and is instantly attracted to them, then right from the get go,
you can give that person a lengthy, uber-fine description. But if your character’s just
casually meeting the person and thinks nothing of it, a brief description will do. Later on,
once the feeling arises and the attraction builds, then it'll be a lot more relevant to get into the
sexy details. It would be sort of weird if your protagonist had zero opinion on the guy and yet
the author found it necessary to describe just how chiseled his abs are. Descriptions like this feel
out of place because they're not authentic to the moment. If the protagonist doesn't care about the
dude's abs, why are you describing them? Don't say they're hot. It's okay if the protagonist thinks
they're hot, but you can't just say ‘He had green eyes, blonde hair and was drop dead gorgeous.’
This is a copout. More importantly, it tells your reader that you don't trust your own ability to
describe the person correctly. You don't think you can make it clear through the description alone
that this character is hot. So you're just gonna flat out say it. Trust me when I say, you can do
it. Describe the hotness you see in your mind. Large green eyes, defined jaw, broad shoulders,
full lips, sounds hot to me. And really what's gonna make them hot to the reader, is how they
behave, the things they say, the way they interact with their love interest. That’s what sells the
hotness. So while it's perfectly fine to include a line of dialogue, where your protagonist says,
‘Wow, that boy is fine.’ Or they say, ‘Oh, she's beautiful.’ You don't need to rely on that and you
certainly don't need to nix the description for a blanket hot statement. Describe what you've seen
in your mind. If you think it's hot, chances are other people will too. So that's it for today.
Get out there and describe the shit out of your characters. Make ‘em pretty, make ‘em ugly. I
don't care, it's your book. A quick announcement. I just wanted to thank everyone for making the
release of my book Eve: The Awakening such a huge success. I really did not expect it to be as big
as it was. And the reviews, holy shit, they are so good! So thank you so much for checking out Eve,
and for all of your kind words. I've been reading all of your messages. You guys have been so nice.
You've been loving the story, and you just cannot imagine how much that means to me.
You guys make my mechanical heart swell. On that note, don't forget to subscribe to my channel,
I post new videos on Wednesdays. Buy Eve: The Awakening, it's available on Amazon in ebook
and paperback right now. Huzzah! And if you have any questions or if there's something you'd like
me to talk about in my next video you can leave me a comment or tweet me @JennaMoreci! Bye!