Comments on: Is the Devil in the Details?

By: PatriciaW

PatriciaW — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 17:49:04 +0000

I like them too but only as long as they’re given to me through the POV character, rather than as a commercial break.

By: Lori Benton

Lori Benton — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 17:34:47 +0000

I do like descriptions, and I certainly want to have at least a close idea of the ages of each character. One of my favorite writers, Ellis Peters/Edith Pargeter writes character descriptions in such a way that you know a great deal about the character’s personality and mindset in just a few lines, as well as their clothes, station in life, and physical appearance. Check out one of her Brother Cadfael medieval mysteries, for an example. It helps that Cafael, her POV character, is a natural close observer of his fellow man, so these descriptions aren’t intrusive. They’re what Cadfael would be noticing, and no more.

So it comes down to your POV character. What would she/he notice? Let the description be more than static reporting. Let it say something about the one who is noticing and describing (what catches her eye? what’s important to her? what does she obsess about? Hair, shoes, eyes, the tightness of her mistress’s lips?), or let it say something about the one being noticed. Preferably, both.

By: Georgiana Daniels

Georgiana Daniels — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 16:29:32 +0000

I like it sparse, unless it’s important to the story. The part of reading I enjoy is using my imagination, so if the author gives a description of the character that isn’t compatible with how I’ve already “seen” this person, it throws me every time it’s mentioned. Plus, if there’s a ton of physical description, I spend too much time trying to see it the author’s way and it pulls me from the story. I think for me, a few well-placed descriptions is plenty. You’re right about the subtlties of age, etc., to influence the subconscious.

By: Erica Vetsch

Erica Vetsch — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 15:25:35 +0000

As long as the description is organic to the story and doesn’t stand out like a police dossier, I like to know how old people are and a little about what they’re wearing and what it says about the character.