Monday, April 3, 2017

Note to Self



A long, long time ago I wrote a post about the appearance of characters, and by that I mean their physical appearance. I get so busy with other details when I’m writing that I sometimes forget how much appearance can define a character.

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Sometime back I watched a vintage movie (1932) titled Penguin Pool Murder, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. So many times the acting in old movies is corny, not at all what we’re used to seeing now, but this one turned out to be quite a surprise. The heroine in this story is a prim school teacher named Miss Hildegarde Withers, and she’s quite a character.

I discovered, to my surprise, that this movie was based on a series written in the thirties about Miss Withers and written by Stuart Palmer. So I ordered a couple of the books to read because I wanted to see if they were as good as the movie. They’re even better, but that’s not where I’m headed.
 
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 In reading Murder on the Blackboard (also by Stuart Palmer), I discovered that I’m going to have to rethink my descriptions of characters in my books.  Let me give you a few examples of why Mr. Palmer made me feel derelict in my writing.

In describing one of the characters, he wrote, “He was a man of medium size, with a thick head of colorless hair and a face that was seamed and wrinkled as a potato left too long in a damp, dark place.” Colorless hair or not, that was a colorful description. I think this type of writing makes the characters come to life for the reader.

Miss Withers isn’t approximately forty, but she’s in “the neighborhood of forty – the close neighborhood…” Her face has “most of the characteristics of a well-bred horse.” Excellent!

Too many times I don’t go into enough detail about the appearance of characters. That’s coming to a screeching halt (I hope). So what if one female character is short with red hair? Who cares if a man has a small scar at the corner of his mouth. And so what if Sandi has longish light brown hair? Surely the redhead has something like freckles that form a smile on her arm to distinguish her. Maybe she has skin as pale as the full moon in the midnight blue sky. Maybe the man with the scar has eyes that dance from object to object but never really look at anything, and they’re draped by eyebrows that a lawn mower couldn’t help. Does Sandi’s brown hair have highlights that leap out at you in the sunlight? She must have some distinguishing features that set
her apart from every other woman.

So from here on out, I’m going to work on my descriptions a little more. They don’t have to be lengthy, just memorable. I have one character that I really like, and I described her this way: “The door opened again and a very short gnome-like woman with a slightly hunched back pulled the door wide, inviting me in.  She had scraggly short white hair, huge dark brown eyes, a bulbous nose that was too large for her face, and she looked around eighty. Her ears, slightly protruding, were also a bit big for her face.  She hugged a housecoat around her middle.” I might have pulled this description off, although I was off the mark by not having her look like a Mrs. Potato Head.

Writers need to read the books of others because sometimes it opens our eyes. Maybe no one else would have read Murder on the Blackboard and had the epiphany I did, but in this case it just might have been the reminder I need to write more outstanding characters (at least in appearance).

Let’s see. “He had the ears of a fighter. What do they call those? Oh, yeah, cauliflower ears. He’d been punched too many times. His nose resembled a volcano after an eruption.” No, that needs more work.

Do you ever find that reading someone else’s work makes you take a second look at your own? Thank you, Mr. Palmer, for reminding me that there’s more to a story than just the storyline.

Until next time, have a great week and think about the people you see around you. How would you describe them?

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12 comments:

  1. Do I learn from reading the books of other authors? Every day. As far as physical descriptions are concerned, I try not to go overboard. I want to give readers enough basic information to visualize my characters, to let their imaginations fill in the blanks. Because that's what I like to do when I read.

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    1. Your characters are memorable, Pat, and your descriptions are good. They help the reader to picture the character and still add their own ideas about "seeing" them. Thank you so much for commenting!

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  2. I kind of run both ways--certainly not as wonderful descriptions as you wrote here, but I do try to give somewhat of a word picture in the readers minds of what the characters look like.

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    1. You do an excellent job, Marilyn. Your characters are memorable, both in personality and physical attributes. Thank you so much for commenting!

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  3. I think in my Tiger Sister series, I give very detailed descriptions, both physical and personality. Not sure about my other series. However, the mention of the word "forty" above reminded me how male authors used to consider a "forty-ish" woman as "over the hill". Nowadays women in their 40s and older look fabulous and as attractive as ever.

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    1. Good point, Pat. It's all in the perception, both then and now. Your characterizations are quite well done. Thank you so much for commenting!

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  4. I think the hardest part is describing your protagonist without having her/him look in a mirror, or in a shop window.

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    1. I agree, Evelyn. I've had Sandi run her hands through her light brown hair so often that I'm surprised she isn't bald. Thank you so much for commenting!

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  5. My character describes her eyes by saying that her ex once held a dollar bill up to them and declared a perfect match!

    I love the way Raymond Chandler describes characters and settings.

    Good post, Marja!

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    1. Thank you, Maggie, and you made me visualize the color of your character's eyes. Good job! It doesn't always need to be a lengthy description. Thank you so much for commenting!

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  6. Excellent post! I think it's a balancing act--describing enough about your character so a reader can formulate a picture in their mind from their own life and experiences and not creating a "picture" they can't visualize or identify with. Hard, and one my "cherished" challenges. I've been able to "see" all your characters--so not to worry!

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    1. Thank you, Madeline! I just started a new book and I have one character in particular who has an unusual look. He's going to be fun to work with because his appearance suits his personality. Thank you so much for commenting!

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