CUT THIS from your character descriptions #writingtips #write #booktok #authortube #writingcommunity

[kaikalter]

Remember; there is a beauty in having the reader make the characters in their head.

[chalmersmathew]

One of the best descriptors I heard was from Luke Westaway from OutsideXbox during his game of Blades in the Dark. Describing a goon at a wedding that the party needs to confront, Luke says that he’s “wearing a suit that was clearly made for a court appearance many years ago” or something along those lines. I think it’s fantastic piece of description that was made possibly on the fly as it tells us that the goon isn’t really entwined with rich or fancy people, he’s possibly always the fall guy, and once put on the chopping block he’ll try his best to cover up.

[alexanderasher]

One of my favourite authors, Wildbow, actually adds another level to character descriptions. Basically he gives information about the character being described, but also about the point of view character by how they describe the appearances of other people. It's really interesting once you pick up on it. Especially because there IS. A noticeable difference in the way the same character will be described when viewed by different pov characters.

[headintheclouds]

Damn, 100, 000 copies! Great job! I’ve been watching you for coming up on 7 years now. Crazy how time flies

[Thelaretus]

My favourite descriptions are Tolkien's: every detail has an emotional impact. Wow, I love it.

[mathmusicandlooks]

This is the exact tip I use for describing NPCs in my TTRPG games, too. I like to give each character a distinct feature, like a unique scar, lazy eye, pronounced limp, missing ear, tattoo, or so. Sometimes I might give them a more stereotyped appearance but throw in one element that counters the stereotype. A dark, shadowy tiefling who runs a temple of mercy and aids the poor, or a powerful master vampire with a kind demeanor and an Irish accent.

[erfanmola]

watching you from 5-6 years ago, from the time we were being hyped for the new seasons of HTTYD RTTE, making theories about bewildredbeast, ow man, you have grown to a mature man (:❤, though I miss those days

[stormillion]

On the contrary! I love reading super detailed descriptions. Is the nose long and bill-like? Is it upturned or downturned? Any obvious wrinkles? Feed it to me!!

[Slobrojoe]

Hey Tim, I read your book of short stories and thought it was pretty good! I left a goodreads review (pretty much the same username) so I hope you continue writing fiction and make some money off of it.

[ChatookaMusic]

Thank you I really specifically needed this

[trikitrikitriki]

I tend to remember hair color, eye color, and skin color best, and sometimes hair length and height relative to another character. I'll remember that the character is fat or muscular only if the author talks about it a lot. Things beyond that like freckles, moles, I'm not gonna remember unless I've seen a lot of fanart of the character.

[HoopsAficionado]

Tim morphing into Lenin after moving to Europe.

[stephenmymomtoldmenottoput]

I usually give very minimal character descriptions unless that character isn't human. Then I try to give a general since of what that species looks like, and then default back to being vague.

[JtRiddell]

Tim, I need your help. I have a character who isn't prideful, isn't happy about who he is or where he comes from, and his debut is in a large box. Worse yet, he's written in first person.
How do I?

[cosmicriptid]

Well for starters they are a unicorn...


For real though this is great advice.

[TheScandinavianOne]

Someone who is exceptional at these descriptions is the late Terry Pratchett.

"a young man heading for the city with all the openness, sincerity and innocence of purpose of an iceberg drifting into a major shipping lane. The young man is called Carrot. This is not because of his hair, which his father has always clipped short for reasons of Hygiene. It is because of his shape. It is the kind of tapering shape a boy gets through clean living, healthy eating, and good mountain air in huge lungfuls. When he flexes his shoulder muscles, other muscles have to move out of the way first"

That's one example.

[DominoPivot]

Bringing these ideas to my D&D games for sure!

By the way, watching your videos convinced me to try taking a creative writing class... and when I realized the nearby university only offered such classes to students in a French Literature program, I didn't give up, I enrolled at the university without a program, took three classes in linguistics and philosophy, and begged them to make an exception for the creative writing class, and they just accepted! I'm about to be the black sheep of the classroom, haha 😁

[bebbization]

Anyone else who keeps a pile of books to read, but still buy more before finishing the pile? Had to buy this one of course as well

[Arohan]

One of my favorite bits I've written lately described a character as "thin of frame with firm, library eyes. Ones that spoke of a thousand tales carefully memorized. And offset by gentle wizened features that said if you asked he'd gladly teach you every single one."

[lukeyboy]

I’ve noticed this annoying thing where character descriptions get drip fed throughout the novels. Like I was imagining one of the main characters as being African American for 2/3 of the book and suddenly get hit with the most stereotypically Irish heritage possible. Buddy if you’re gonna give me those descriptions anyway at least front load it.