Today, in Caithness, the sun is shining and the air is clear. I'm sure it will come as no surprise to anyone reading this blog that, certain weathers and certain times of the year ignite certain music in me. And, on late winter days which are filled with sunshine, I am usually to be found singing the songs of The Spinners . Inevitably, I start humming different ones of their songs (and of course adapting them to be about Orlando and Jess) as I go around doing different things. But I remember almost all the words to them. I haven't heard a lot of them in years, but they are all there, rooted in my memory. It is truly fascinating to think about how these songs have passed through history. They are part of my own nostalgia, which is why crisp sunny mornings make me incapable of ignoring the temptation to sing them, but they are part of something much bigger. There are songs amongst them which are a newer step in the folk music movement. Songs like Silver in the Stubble are amongs...
Saturday 2nd November 2019 – Characters: Part
One – Appearance
This is a tricky one!
To make your characters entirely believable, your reader wants to see
beyond the physical exterior. But, all
the same, you as the writer need to consider what your characters look
like. It can be slightly awkward when a
character’s hair colour suddenly changes, or they mysteriously grow a foot
taller in two weeks.
 |
| Photo by Tayla Walsh, Pexels |
Not many of us notice the colour of someone’s eyes the first
time we meet them. Instead, we usually
see their face as a whole and associate a certain emotion with them. People might have strict, pointy features,
or perhaps a sullen frown or laughing eyes. These descriptions are a lot closer to what
we experience when we meet someone, a sense you want your readers to have. They don’t want to imagine they're looking at a
photograph, they want to encounter your characters as an equal.
There are, of course, obvious exceptions to this. In some genres, the colour of someone’s eyes
may be significant. If you have a family
of characters, you might want to highlight a physical feature which make them
all look alike (for example, we have a “Temperton nose” in our family, which is
a very distinct shape).
So, here are a few things to think about:
- Know how tall your characters are. You don’t have to announce their height to the reader, but perhaps they are so tall they have to duck under lintels, or they’re short enough to fit under a table. Also – and this is a biggie! – know how tall they are compared to your other characters.
- What do they wear? You can tell a lot about a character based on their clothes and their jewellery. Do they have a wedding ring? Do they wear a suit? Do they have a logo on their t-shirt?
- Faces are animate objects. When one part of them moves, other features tend to take the strain. Example: when you frown, your forehead creases. So, you don’t have to constantly be writing about the shape of someone’s mouth, you can vary the way of detailing expression.
- Think of something your character is like. If someone is well-built, they might be as wide as an ox, or if they are light on their feet, they could be as graceful as a swan. There are hundreds of animals you can personify, and instantly your reader sees an added dimension to the character.
- All these things being said, think carefully about clichés in descriptions. Sometimes, clichés are so well used because they work, sometimes they just help lazy writing!
Virginia Crow
www.crowvus.com
Comments
Post a Comment