creative writing describing a man

Subscription Box
Shop by Category
Shop Subscription Boxes
Shop Past Boxes
Writing Passports
The Scribbler Blog
Giving Back

New User? Register Now

Beyond Tall, Dark, and Handsome: How to Describe Your Characters

May 26, 2021

The ability to describe is the key to great storytelling, but when it comes to depicting characters, our first impulse is often to go straight to the basics (height, hair color, clothing) and leave it at that. It’s not that those descriptions are bad, it’s just that they provide surface-level characterization rather than truly characterizing .

Dwight Swain, in his book Creating Characters , says, “When your wife says a woman is ‘loud and pushy,’ she defines her far more sharply for story purposes than any description of blue eyes, blonde hair, or pug nose.”

The reason “loud and pushy” is meaningful is because it tells us what is going on inside the character, not just what appears on the outside. And the description tells us not only what the woman is like, but reveals something about the wife who characterizes her so.

Which means when you describe your characters, your descriptions are deeply tied to who is doing the describing. A rambunctious kindergartener will be represented quite differently by a patient grade-school teacher than a cranky principal.

And this is true whether you’re writing a story narrated in first or third-person, because even in third-person we see the world through that character’s eyes.

Remember that the goal in creative writing isn’t to give your readers information, but to give them an experience. Here are some tips that will help you tap into what is significant in your characters so that you can evoke feelings in your readers and make the characters in your story come to life.

Tip 1: Choose a dominant impression

Take inventory of the traits of the character you’d like to describe. Are they lazy, sexy, insecure, irritable? Choose qualities that are particularly noteworthy about the character and actually relate to your story. Think about what the character is like , as much as what they look like. Keep in mind that the earlier you get to these qualities in relation to the character’s appearance in the story, the better.

In J. Ryan Stradal’s Kitchens of the Great Midwest , the protagonist has been lamenting his sorry luck with women. On page four, through a third-person narrator, we get more of the character’s perception of himself:

“By this time, he was twenty-eight, growing a pale hairy inner tube around his waist, and already going bald.”

This isn’t an objective description. Stradal conveys the insecurities of the character through the way the character chooses to describe himself.

Tip 2: Convey the attitude of the describer

Pin down the current outlook or perspective of the character doing the describing. Zero in on their state of mind (lonely, curious, offended, prone-to-exaggeration, etc.) at this exact moment in the story. Now write your description through the filter of the consciousness of the character who is doing the describing.

The male point-of-view character in Grace Paley’s short story “The Contest” is a bit of a player. Here’s how he describes his latest kind-of girlfriend:

“A medium girl, size twelve, a clay pot with handles—she could be grasped.”

Clay pot? Grasping? There’s one thing on this character’s mind and it isn’t a chaste afternoon at an ice cream social. In one short sentence we have insight into his sensibilities about women.

Tip 3: Lean into diction

Now’s the time to get picky with your word choices. The trick here is to pin down not only your character’s perception of other characters, but which words will best convey them. Think about how your character might verbalize the description, even if they aren’t speaking aloud. Choose words from their lexicon that will reveal them as a particular person.

Mattie Ross, the formal-speaking protagonist in Charles Portis’ True Grit , uses words like “beast” and “morn” in describing her father on his horse:

“He was a handsome sight and in my memory’s eye I can still see him mounted up there on Judy in his brown woolen coat and black Sunday hat and the both of them, man and beast, blowing little clouds of steam on that frosty morn.”

Portis could have left out the parenthetical “man and beast,” and of course he could have had Mattie say “morning.” But his attention to the particulars of diction allowed him to characterize this unforgettable fourteen-year-old girl.

Tip 4: Go for gesture or bodily movement

If you tend to use static descriptions when you describe your characters, think about putting them in motion so that the reader can see them doing something. Action adds another dimension to your descriptions. It allows you to take physical traits, which may be general, and incorporate them into specific behaviors.

In “The Lunch Lady and Her Three-Headed Dogs,” essayist Sonya Huber writes about her conflicted relationship with her upper arms and describes them like this:

“I raise my arms to write on the chalkboard, and the skin draped over bone and muscle swings in contrapuntal melody.”

Huber isn’t just present in her classroom setting, she’s active in it. And the boldness of putting that upper arm skin in motion takes the visual from good to great.

Tip 5: Try something figurative

This is a tricky one because a bad metaphor or simile can be cringe-worthy. But a good one will delight your reader. A simple comparison can clarify your image, allowing the reader to think, Ah, I know exactly what you mean .

Paulette Jiles skillfully uses metaphor in her novel News of the World during a scene in which kindly Captain Kidd is first assessing the young girl who is to be his charge:

“Her eyes were blue and her skin that odd bright color that occurs when fair skin has been burned and weathered by the sun. She had no more expression than an egg.”

When you describe your characters, with just a little extra work, you might be surprised at how deeply you can get into the minds of your story people, and how much better your reader will connect to them. More than plot, it’s your characters who are going to sweep your readers away into the world of your story.

Written by Kim Lozano

Kim Lozano is an editor and creative writing coach from St. Louis. Her work has been published in The Iowa Review North American Review DIY MFA CRAFT and many other publications. You can find out more about her classes and the writing resources she offers at kimlozano.com.

Author Interviews
Contest Winners
Debut Author Series
Entertainment
Inspiration
Literary Agents
Sponsored Posts
Worldbuilding
Writing Community
Writing Tips

Fuel Your Writing Journey with Freewriting: Embrace the Messy First Draft

Alpha Readers
Debut Author
Finding Time to Write
Great Gatsby
Indie Writer
Microfiction
Publishing Rights
Social Media
Word Choices

YOUR CART (0)

You don't have any items in your cart.

Special instructions for seller

Add a coupon.

What are you looking for?

Popular Searches: Past Boxes Passports Gift Cards

Link to facebook
Link to linkedin
Link to twitter
Link to youtube
Writing Tips

How to Write a Descriptive Paragraph About a Person (With Examples)

4-minute read

7th January 2023

Describing a person or character is difficult for even the most successful authors. It requires a balance of words to make sure they shine through without the language being too heavy. In this article, we’ll look at how to write a descriptive paragraph about a person, share some examples, and talk about different strategies.

1. Brainstorm Your Ideas

Brainstorming is crucial to any writing process. It’s the process in which you think of ideas for what you’d like to write about. In this case, you’re writing a descriptive paragraph about a person. It’s important to use adjectives to describe the features or characteristics you want to focus on.

One way to come up with ideas for a descriptive paragraph about a person is to go through the five senses. Use the questions below to get some ideas for what you want to highlight about your person.

Appeal to your reader’s senses – smell, taste, sound, sight, and touch

Smell: How does the person smell? Do they wear perfume? Are they doing an activity that would make them have a certain smell?

Taste: Do you associate a certain food with this person? Does it make you think of a specific taste? Can you taste something due to a certain smell they have?

Sound: Do they have a unique voice or laugh? Are they doing an activity that has distinctive sounds?

Sight: What prominent features do they have? For example, think about their dressing style, their smile, or their surroundings. What do you see them doing in your mind when you see a photo of them? What memories do you have of this person? Does this person remind you of something or someone?

Touch: What textures do you see? For example, imagine their skin or clothing. How does it feel if you hug them?

2. Begin With a Short and Snappy Sentence

Like with any type of writing, you want to hook your reader so that they want to continue reading. In this case, you can use a topic sentence, if appropriate, to introduce your reader to the person. For example:

Or, if you want to be more creative, you can reel them in with a short and snappy sentence about this person. This is called a writing hook . This sentence should focus on a stand-out detail or characteristic about the person you’re describing. For example:

3. Describe the Person

Now, this is the hard part. But, if you’ve brainstormed plenty of ideas and know which ones you want to focus on, it will be easier. Let’s look at some examples to get a better idea of how to write a descriptive paragraph about a person using the prompt “describe a person you admire.”

Comments: This paragraph is pretty typical of most students. It gives lots of visual details of the person and uses a simile or two (“ Her eyes are like the color of honey” and “Her smile shines like the sun” ). While this strategy gets the job done, it’s not very exciting to read. In fact, it can be quite boring!

Let’s look at how we can rewrite this to make it more exciting.

Find this useful?

Subscribe to our newsletter and get writing tips from our editors straight to your inbox.

Comments: In this example, we focused on one defining characteristic of the person we are describing — her laugh. This strategy places more focus on the person you’re describing, rather than the adjectives you use to describe them.

4. Edit and Revise

After you write your descriptive paragraph, be sure to read it over. Read it out loud. Read it in a funny voice. Doing this will help you to hear the words and identify which parts do not work or sound awkward.

5. General Tips for Descriptive Writing

● Avoid using too many descriptive words.

● Remember to show the reader, not tell.

● Appeal to the reader’s five senses – smell, touch, taste, sight, and sound.

● Focus on a striking or defining characteristic.

● Use contrasting details from other people or surroundings for emphasis.

● Use literary devices (metaphors, similes etc.) sparingly and with intention.

● Use a hook to reel your reader in.

● Use a variety of short and long sentences.

● Practice creative writing exercises to improve your descriptive writing skills.

● Always edit and revise your writing.

If you need more help with writing a descriptive paragraph or essay , send your work to us! Our experts will proofread your first 500 words for free !

Share this article:

Post A New Comment

Got content that needs a quick turnaround? Let us polish your work. Explore our editorial business services.

5-minute read

Free Email Newsletter Template (2024)

Promoting a brand means sharing valuable insights to connect more deeply with your audience, and...

6-minute read

How to Write a Nonprofit Grant Proposal

If you’re seeking funding to support your charitable endeavors as a nonprofit organization, you’ll need...

9-minute read

How to Use Infographics to Boost Your Presentation

Is your content getting noticed? Capturing and maintaining an audience’s attention is a challenge when...

8-minute read

Why Interactive PDFs Are Better for Engagement

Are you looking to enhance engagement and captivate your audience through your professional documents? Interactive...

7-minute read

Seven Key Strategies for Voice Search Optimization

Voice search optimization is rapidly shaping the digital landscape, requiring content professionals to adapt their...

Five Creative Ways to Showcase Your Digital Portfolio

Are you a creative freelancer looking to make a lasting impression on potential clients or...

Make sure your writing is the best it can be with our expert English proofreading and editing.

laptop on rock with beach and blue sky in background

BRYN DONOVAN

tell your stories, love your life

Writing Inspiration
Semi-Charmed Life
Reading & Research
Works In Progress.

Master List of Physical Description for Writers

man with mustache and slight beard | MASTER LIST OF PHYSICAL DESCRIPTIONS #master lists for writers free ebook #master lists for writers bryn donovan pdf #character description #how to describe a character's appearance #physical adjectives #character physical description generator #distinguishing features for characters #describing facial features

I created this list of ways to describe people

because physical description, when done well, helps the readers see characters in their minds. But sometimes when you’re in the middle of writing, it can be hard to think of physical adjectives and distinguishing features for characters. I find that describing facial features can be especially tricky!

This long list of physical characteristics is kind of like a character description generator, and it’ll help you when you’re trying to think of how to describe a character’s appearance.

Young woman with pensive expression and long brown hair. "Master List of Physical Descriptions for Writers - pin or bookmark for future reference!"

Eyes – General

For all the words about describing facial features, I’m focusing more on physical descriptions rather than emotional expressions, though there’s a little crossover! You can also check out my long list of facial expressions.

heavy-lidded

fringed with long lashes

with sweeping eyelashes

with thick eyelashes

By the way, this post on how to describe (and not describe) the eyes of an Asian character is really great. Check it out.

Eyes – Color

Brown is the most common eye color by far. Green is quite rare.

chocolate brown

cocoa brown

coffee brown

sienna brown

Support My Site

If you like what I do, please support me on Ko-fi!

cornflower blue

Arctic blue

glacial blue

crystal blue

electric blue

slate blue / slate gray

storm blue / storm gray

silver / silver gray

concrete gray

gunmetal gray

Skin – Color

Josh Roby made a great chart of skin tones and descriptor words, and I got a lot of these words from him. You can get that here .

The quote from N.K. Jemisin interested me: “I get really tired of seeing African-descended characters described in terms of the goods that drove, and still drive, the slave trade—coffee, chocolate, brown sugar. There’s some weird psychosocial baggage attached to that.”

cream / creamy

rose / rosy

Skin – General

Some of these are better for the face, and some are better for other parts of the body.

translucent

luminescent

with large pores

weather-beaten

Face – Structure

heart-shaped

high forehead

broad forehead

prominent brow ridge

protruding brow bone

sharp cheekbones

high cheekbones

angular cheekbones

hollow cheeks

jutting chin

pointed chin

receding chin

double chin

dimple in chin

visible Adam’s apple

People don’t write much about noses, but they can be distinguishing features for characters!

Cupid’s bow

straight teeth

gap between teeth

gleaming white teeth

Facial Hair (or lack thereof)

clean-shaven

smooth-shaven

mutton-chop sideburns

a few days’ growth of beard

five o’ clock shadow

Hair – General

I threw a few hairstyles in here, though not many.

shoulder-length

neatly combed

slicked down / slicked back

buzzed / buzz cut

widow’s peak

Hair – Color

There are some repeats here from the eye color section!

salt and pepper

charcoal gray

brown sugar

5,000 Writing Prompts book. Get inspired. Stay inspired. Get the book.

tawny brown

toffee brown

Titian-haired

strawberry blonde

butterscotch

sandy blond

fair-haired

Body Type – General

average height

barrel-chested

heavy / heavy-set

pot-bellied

full-figured

leggy / long-legged

broad-shouldered

sloping shoulders

stubby fingers

long fingers

ragged nails

grimy fingernails

ink-stained

This list and many more are in my book Master Lists for Writers: Thesauruses, Plot Ideas, Character Traits, Names, and More . Check it out if you’re interested!

Master Lists for Writers by Bryn Donovan #master lists for writers free pdf #master lists for writers free ebook #master lists for writers free kindle

And if you don’t want to miss future writing posts, follow the blog, if you aren’t already — there’s a place to sign up on the lefthand side of the blog. Thanks for stopping by, and happy writing!

How to Write Flashbacks So They're Not Clunky #past tense #present tense #formatting

Discover more from BRYN DONOVAN

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Type your email…

How To Write A Character Description (101 Examples)

February 15, 2024

Learn what character description is and how to describe a character. Jump into OC description writing with one of the iconic character description examples from our list.

Developing a description of a character can be a challenge for OC creators. How much do you give away as someone who knows the character innately versus trying to generate interest and get an audience to invest in the character’s journey? We’re going to dive into writing character descriptions that stand out.

Why Character Descriptions Matter

Character descriptions, at heart, serve as a marker for the reader to determine if they wish to know more about the character. They are creators' attempts to signal that an individual they are writing about is worth becoming invested in. This is why a boring character description can be fatal to first impressions - why bother exploring a project if the character's description generates no spark?

Character descriptions are also influenced by purpose. A character description in a screenplay occupies a different purpose than a character description on a profile page. A description in a screenplay is lean, whereas a profile has more room to explore. These descriptions we’re talking about are too large for a character reference sheet .

While focusing on writing character descriptions for profiles, we will look at examples from literature, screenplays, and existing character profiles on CharacterHub.

The Five Key Questions

When it comes to description in a general sense, there are five questions to consider: Who, What, Where, Why, and When? These questions are also beneficial in writing original character descriptions because you can use as many as you wish or even omit some to generate interest.

It is rather complicated to omit the who in a description, as a description is usually tied to an identifiable figure. Even if you may not want to give away a character’s identity, there is usually some marker that identifies them. For example, in the script for the horror classic Halloween (1978) by John Carpenter and Deborah Hill, the lurking presence of Michael Myers is simply referred to as “The Shape.” It is a name as evocative as it is practical. In most cases, a creator will probably just include the OC’s name.

The what in a character description can be interpreted as a marker for their identity. This could be their ethnicity, role, or species, for example. It is, again, reasonably complex to avoid this when developing a description, as a character without a perceived role may not feel like a character. A great example of “the what” in a character description comes from the character Tiberius Skärvas IV from the webcomic The Fourth .

From the character's description on the cast page: “Ever since the First and his rather unethical business practices, the Tiberius Skärvas have been accursed by the gods. While technically still human, they possess the appearance and certain traits of sharks.” A cursed human with shark-like traits is undoubtedly a bold answer for “the what.”

When it comes to where , you are likely answering who the character is to their setting. It is less about a physical location and how that character connects to or runs counter to a location or society. Essentially, you are positioning them against civilization in whatever form that takes. A great example of this can be found in the codex entry of Agrippa Varus from the webcomic Terra Incognita .

Case in point: “Agrippa Varus was raised in a well respected family in the Asurian capital of Sokai. His father Argo Varus, served as a consul and the main liaison between Asura and other sentient worlds. Due to his exposure to other species from a young age, Agrippa has an open mind and is much less prejudiced than the average Asurian citizen.”

As we can see in this description, Agrippa is given a physical “where” regarding a space civilization while also being described of their societal “where” - as a figure that runs outside their culture.

The when of a character in their description is all about position. Whether the setting is based on natural history or set in an entirely fictional timeline, a character occupies temporal space, which can factor into how they are seen. Are they of their time, or do they feel apart from it? Descriptions that hint at such things are great at generating interest.

A great example of this can be found in the script of Warm Bodies (2013), in a description of the character R. “Blank face, sunken eyes. Blueish lips. If we didn’t know any better we’d think he was a junkie, a runaway from the set of My Own Private Idaho . Then we might notice a few thin gashes cutting across his cheeks. And then we might hear a soft groan humming from his frozen lips. And then we might start to wonder…

In this example, we see the deliberate usage of a contemporary reference to another film, positioning R and their relationship to a contemporary setting. The reference also does double duty, saying a lot about how R can be perceived by those familiar with the reference.

The why of a character description is most easily omitted to generate interest and intrigue. However, it can also be incredibly influential in generating interest in an original character. Knowing what drives a character can be a descriptive hook.

A great example of the “why” in a character description comes from Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra’s Don Quixote in this rather brilliant moment: “In short, his wits being quite gone, he hit upon the strangest notion that ever madman in this world hit upon, and that was that he fancied it was right and requisite, as well for the support of his own honour as for the service of his country, that he should make a knight-errant of himself, roaming the world over in full armour and on horseback in quest of adventures, and putting in practice himself all that he had read of as being the usual practices of knights-errant[...]”

Don Quixote’s mad notion of being a knight proves a compelling hook to the character, especially in how that motivation is presented. A reader can’t help but be intrigued by the description of the thin, elderly man who wants to be a knight.

Other Descriptive Traits and Tips

Much descriptive writing can come from things you probably already learned in school but are worth repeating. For example, utilizing sensory details in a character description can be particularly useful. Writing about how a character may smell like motor oil or freshly baked bread can suggest different things.

Contrast is another powerful tool in the character description, as when we are introduced to someone, we cannot help but size them up compared to people we know. This is especially true of original characters. How does one protagonist compare to another? How might you set a character apart from others? Using contrast is especially helpful here. For example, describing how a lead character differs from others in a similar position of their setting.

Of course, there are also things to avoid when developing character descriptions. Writing a description that is a laundry list of traits is something you may want to avoid. It can lack personality and feel a little boring. A solid character organizer can help you visually track if you rely on listing too often.

In any case, referring to some classic descriptive writing techniques can be helpful, especially when punching up a first draft of a character description.

Ways of Establishing Character Through Description

Well-written, informative descriptions greatly help establish interest in an original character. Consider them a teaser to what you hope to be a more significant journey you want to take readers on. Your goal is to connect an audience and a character through intrigue an interest - your aim can be to use description as a hook. Here are some different ways to use description to create that hook.

Using Description to Create a Presence

One of the most essential uses of description is to establish the presence of a character in their respective story. How about who is heroic or villainous? Who merits us following their story and becoming invested in them? This is particularly useful in writing an OC profile because you want to establish how we should feel about them without the burden of a ton of backstory to provide context.

Consider this like trying to convey everything about a person possible at a glance. How can you give us what we need about an OC in a descriptive passage? Well, let’s look at some examples.

In this sample from Margaret Atwood’s The Blind Assassin , we see presence established by tying description to color and costuming details. Note that the presence established here is not a flattering one.

I could picture the smooth oval of Laura’s face, her neatly pinned chignon, the dress she would have been wearing: a shirtwaist with a small rounded collar, in a sober colour – navy blue or steel grey or hospital-corridor green. Penitential colours – less like something she’d chosen to put on than like something she’d been locked up in.

Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin (2000)

Another great way to establish a character’s presence through description is to tie it to a metaphor. Let’s look at an example of Arudhati Roy’s The God of Small Things, where we have a character consumed by quietude.

Once the quietness arrived, it stayed and spread in Estha. It reached out of his head and enfolded him in its swampy arms…sent its stealthy, suckered tentacles inching along the insides of his skull, hoovering the knolls and dells of his memory, dislodging old sentences, whisking them off the tip of his tongue.

Arudhati Roy, The God of Small Things (1997)

In these examples, we see how descriptive language can imply something about the character's presence, such as their authority or lack of authority. In the Atwood example, the character is effectively rendered blank or meek. Meanwhile, in the Roy example, the description paints a picture of a character consumed by their awkwardness and silence. Noting and working with such traits is key to building a good character profile.

Let’s look at how the presence of Gandalf is established through description in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring .

“Gandalf was shorter in stature than the other two; but his long white hair, his sweeping beard, and his broad shoulders, made him look like some wise king of ancient legend. In his aged face under great snowy brows his eyes were set like coals that could suddenly burst into fire.”

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring (1954)

Gandalf’s physical presence is a fun juxtaposition with him appearing larger than life. He may be shorter, but he has an aura about him - something noticeably distinguished. I recommend reading Tolkien for character description, not just because I am a fan.

Using a History to Create Significance

Character description that depicts an established history can go a long way to informing a reader about what makes the character tick. A character can sometimes be seen as a record of their experiences, and knowing those experiences can tell us a lot about a character, how they view the world, and how the author wishes for us to view them. There is no shortage of character ideas , but a character is more than an idea: they are a story.

In Charles Dickens’ Hard Times , the character of Bounderby is pernicious and self-centered, motivated by the pursuit of their wants and desires having come up from poverty. We can see Dickens establish much of that in his description of Bounderby by including history in the character’s description.

“A big, loud man, with a stare, and a metallic laugh. A man made out of coarse material, which seemed to have been stretched to make so much of him […] always proclaiming, through that brassy speaking-trumpet of a voice of his, his old ignorance and his old poverty.”

Charles Dickens, Hard Times (1854)

Let’s look at a character with an established history and how that history plays into their description in the present. If you are a fan of Star Trek , then the film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan should be pretty familiar. The film was a culmination of a storyline that began in the 1960s featuring characters who have aged decades for the 1980s film. In particular, let’s look at a description of Captain Kirk from the script.

“Kirk reads the novel, trying to focus. His flat befits an Admiral and a loner with few possessions, except a collection of antiques.”

Harve Bennett, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

In this example, we have a little bit of environmental storytelling that plays against what audiences would know of Captain James T. Kirk. Kirk, from the original series, was quite the heroic figure, not mainly seen as an elder statesman. However, the depiction of his apartment, filled with antiques belonging to a man who is alone, shows that much time has passed for the figure. He is different in many ways - almost startlingly so.

So, what can we draw from these examples when developing descriptions of our original characters? A character with a lot of history is undoubtedly colored by it, so if your description can evoke a journey, you’ve gone a long way to informing us about what makes them tick. This is seen in the example from Hard Times, where the character’s journey through the classes of 19th-century London colors how we see their outward-facing personality.

Further, if you are playing with time, descriptions of a character at different stages in their life or respective journey can highlight their growth, such as in the example from Star Trek . Contrast through history is a particularly effective strategy when writing a character description.

Using Perspective to Create Interpretation

In some cases, describing a character from another person's perspective can yield beautiful results. First impressions can say a lot, and stepping away from an omniscient narrator’s view of a character, filled with insight about them and their past, can be a valuable technique. It also can create a narrative journey for an OC later on, as our initial impressions, through a more limited outsider perspective, do not usually represent the whole character.

Here is an example of Virginia Woolf establishing a character’s description from another character's perspective.

“He was such a miserable specimen, the children said, all humps and hollows. He couldn’t play cricket; he poked; he shuffled. He was a sarcastic brute, Andrew said. They knew what he liked best – to be for ever walking up and down, up and down, with Mr. Ramsay, saying who had won this, who had won that …”

Virginia Woolf, To The Lighthouse (1927)

Here is an example of a character description written from another character's perspective. In this case, we have Ripley from Aliens , who first encounters Burke as she recovers in a hospital room. Notice the usage of traits in the following passage. This is taken from the film's shooting script.

“The visitor sits beside the bed and Ripley finally notices him. He is thirtyish and handsome, in a suit that looks executive or legal, the tie loosened with studied casualness. A smile referred to as ‘winning.’”

James Cameron, Aliens (1985)

Specifically, this is a friendly, somewhat charming face for a recovering from intensive trauma. However, we also get a sense of Burke's nature through the description, such as emphasizing the fakery of a “winning” smile.

If we want another great example of perspective coloring the description of a character, we can look toward another sci-fi franchise with Star Wars . In particular, the 4th draft script from A New Hope introduces Darth Vader in a fantastic way that tells us everything we need to know about the character from the perspective of the terrified Rebels.

“The awesome, seven-foot-tall Dark Lord of the Sith makes his way into the blinding light of the main passageway. This is Darth Vader, right hand of the Emperor. His face is obscured by his flowing black robes and grotesque breath mask, which stands out next to the fascist white armored suits of the Imperial stormtroopers. Everyone instinctively backs away from the imposing warrior and a deathly quiet sweeps through the Rebel troops. Several of the Rebel troops break and run in a frenzied panic.”

George Lucas, Star Wars: A New Hope (1976)

That Darth Vader cuts an imposing presence in this description is an understatement. The key here is that we are seeing him through the eyes of those terrified Rebel troops.

Character Descriptions from Some Friends of Mine

There are many great examples of strong character descriptions out there. I turned to a few writer friends who are particularly good at creating characters, and I want to look at examples from two of them.

Robert Livingston: Tom n’ Artie and Kaiju Dayz

First up, we have my friend Robert Livingston, who was gracious enough to provide some examples from his in-depth pitch documents for two of his projects. First, look at some examples featuring the two leads of his comic Tom n’ Artie .

Tommy ‘Tom’ Sunshine Bliss

“Our stoic, disciplined Unicorn with the sparkly hair! Tom is the straight man of the duo usually doing the talking when they're with clients or when a deal needs to be made. Straight-laced with a dry sense of humor, he approaches situations with a strategic mindset preferring to have all the information before diving in. Due to his friendship with Artie, he commonly has to just 'wing it' with his little wildcard friend as he changes strategies on the fly.”

As we can see, Tom is the comedic straight man of the pair, but given the nature of the project, he still has his quirks. In particular, I want to note the contrast between his character and the description of his appearance. It does a lot to sell the inherent comedy of the character.

Artie Artillery

“The cartoon wildcard! Artie is zany and a rabbit/cat of action preferring to let his fists, teeth, legs, bats, guns, bombs and whatever he's got do the talking for him. He's spontaneous with a short fuse willing to crack jokes then skulls seconds apart from each other. Tom usually is the one who has to hold him back but during the events of the arc, he's more willing to let his little toon buddy cut loose more.”

Because the project revolves around a comedic pairing, we can see how essential contrasting the two leads can be in establishing their characters. There is some great description here, especially the emphasis on Artie’s improvised armory. Artie has enough of a hook from his description, but the depth is substantial when paired with his co-lead, Tom.

Next, we have an example from Robert’s other series, Kaiju Dayz . This project is like a sitcom set on an island of giant monsters. Let’s look at the series lead, Big Mama.

“A well-known Kaiju on Monster Island for her several successful attacks on human cities and other locations for many years. She’s gained a large reputation that gives her a lot of respect from others. It’s also forced her to put up a constant face of intimidation to keep that respect, she feels force is the only way to keep others in line. The only ones she’s softer on are her own children, Junior and Pestania, but now seeing that she’s growing estranged from them she’s trying to change that. She isn’t of this world (or possibly reality) and has no love for it but wants to keep anything she does love (her children and late husband) as close to her as possible.”

This character description does a great job of pitching the whole character. While I only used some segments for Tom and Artie earlier, I wanted to share the entire character description for Big Mama because it is so thorough without being overly long. This is an excellent example of a character description meant to sell the original character to an audience. This is what you’d want to see on a character profile .

Ben Paddon: Jump Leads

Ben Paddon sent me pitch documents for their audio drama, Jump Leads . You should give it a listen. Let’s look at the character descriptions for Meaney and Llewellyn, the dual protagonists of the story.

Thomas Meaney

The following is transcribed from the Jump Leads character breakdown about the character of Thomas Meaney.

Meaney is excitable, enthusiastic, and young. She has wanted to be a Lead her entire life, and now she’s finally in training. This is her dream come true. Such a pity it’s about to be absolutely derailed by Misadventure.
Meaney is a hopeful idealist. She always wants to see the best in people, and always tries to do good, even when the odds - and, indeed, her own skill set - are not in her favor. She’s also driven by a desire to get back home to complete her Lead training, though her adventurous, helpful nature, coupled with a desire to explore, often get the better of her.
Meaney is excitable, in every sense of the word - her enthusiasm runs just as deeply as her fear, though she tries not to let being scared of a situation prevent the right decision from being made.
Meaney is a brilliant problem-solver. She doesn't quite know this yet. She’ll discover that soon enough.

This is a wonderfully written character description that gives us everything we wish to know about a character while giving us the suggestion of a larger arc. When you think about this profile in terms of the questions who, what, where, why, and when, you’ll see they are all there.

Richard Llewellyn

Llewellyn is in his mid-to-late 20s - still young enough to be bitter and cynical without having any of the real-world experience to justify it. He’s indifferent, snide, at times cruel, and he keeps people at an arm's length. Unfortunately, he’s been utterly unsuccessful in doing this with Meaney, in part because the alphabetical arrangement of the training classes has stuck them together.
Llewellyn is smart, but lazy; brilliant, but apathetic. He joined the Lead Service because the alternative involved being in the real world, and that isn't something he's willing to do just yet. Of course, he'd never admit this.
Underneath it all, there's something else. Maybe he's ready to let someone in. Or maybe he's hiding something else entirely…

Again, we have a dual protagonist situation; contrast is essential to define each. Each character can stand independently, but their descriptions are tailored to work best when read together. Yes, we get a fully rounded character in Llewellyn thanks to the description, but we also get a further hook because of the emphasis on personality clash. How might their journey go down, given their radically different perspectives?

Character Description from CharacterHub

While writing this article, I wanted to look at examples of character descriptions written by CharacterHub users. I’ve found some great examples to share, so why don’t we dive in and see what OC creators have been sharing with the community?

I’ve taken snippets from each profile of something I found to be particularly evocative or inspirational. Be sure to visit the complete profiles for even more great examples.

Euronym by genderkiller - “driven to be the least evil thing around her, euronym chooses to use her manipulation and intelligence for what she believes is the betterment of others. but does it really know what's best for others, so blinded by its own trauma?”
Valentine Adelaide by DEADRKGK - “Personality wise, Valentine is a man with many facets to him, and all are generally expressed and felt in extremes. To call him unpredictable would be both correct and incorrect. For those around him often, he can be much more easily predictable of a person. He’s open with his thoughts and feelings and expresses them freely with a poor social filter– good or bad, he’ll speak his mind regardless of if people want to hear it or not.”
Tessa Verisey by LuminaLyric - “Standing at 5'8" with chestnut brown hair cascading in loose waves to her shoulders, her hazel eyes conceal a depth of intelligence and charisma.”
Seth Salem by Paracosmic - “If looks could kill, Seth's would be the firing squad.”
Aries by AFishWithAGun - “Aries is not a good person. At least, not anymore. Greif is a funny thing, pushed by a whirlwind of emotions. Anger, regret, betrayal. It spins its way into a palpable rage. His jagged psyche knows how best it can ruin a man.”
Sidney Ignacio by soupysoupster - “Throughout his days, Sidney can’t seem to get past his own thoughts and anxieties. As a result, he comes off as withdrawn and uninterested to most. Despite what people may think though, Sidney is nothing short of a caring and compassionate person and will do anything he can do to help others. He’s a great listener, and will often catch onto things others don’t. ‘The devil is in the details’ as their father would say.”
Adem Petrovic by lysesander - “Athletic enough to make a quick escape over a side wall if the situation calls for it. Face is unmemorable, and hard to spot in the crowd.”
The Depths by celestrian - “A mysterious and enigmatic traveling merchant of the depths, a man whose past is shrouded in secrecy and his appearance completely hidden beneath a strange fox mask as well as a hooded cloak, wrapped in layers of cloth that cover his entire body. He claims to have knowledge of the entire kingdom and forbidden secrets, despite seeming quite young.”
Clawfoot by Sunckeys - “Naivete is not a word known to poor Clawfoot, yet it may just be the best word to describe him. Unknown to him are the ways of man, of conversing with another and sharing pleasantries. No, for Clawfoot's expertise lies in savagry, ravaging, of ripping and tearing. Yet he hungers not for prey- though he much enjoys a meal or four- but for connection.”
Soffice Pluvia by bunnymacaron - “Recently, he's found himself in an...unusual situation. Almost as soon as he entered the country he went through the Magical Girl transformation process. Immediately after, he got roped into the schemes of a sadistic Magical Girl and is stuck unraveling the tangled web of Kannazen City's Magical Girls to hopefully finally have some peace and quiet...or die trying.”
Joshua Vox by ThaLizardWizard - “In terms of appearance, he is very skinny, pale, and sickly looking, with wild black hair that stands on end, and freckles all over his body and face. He has intense eye bags under enormous pale gray eyes, and to be completely honest, has frequently been mistaken for a ghost.”

Further fantastic examples of evocative character descriptions can be found all over CharacterHub . Browsing the thousands of existing character descriptions will inspire anyone to create character descriptions for their OCs. In particular, searching tags to find the kind of characters that inspire you most is super easy.

Further Examples of Character Descriptions

We’ll leave you here now with the following massive list. This list features different examples of character descriptions from various stories. Try to match the selections to some of our established principles. The descriptions here are very inspiring for any OC creator.

Denis Lehane’s A Drink Before the War : “He had a shock of stiff white hair you could land a DC-10 on and a handshake that stopped just short of inducing paralysis.”
Amber Dawn’s Sub Rosa : “When he did appear his eyes were as brown as I remembered, pupils flecked with gold like beach pebbles.”
Sherman Alexie’s The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven : “I thought she was so beautiful. I figured she was the kind of woman who could make buffalo walk on up to her and give up their lives.”
Louisa M. Alcott’s Little Women : “Amy, though the youngest, was a most important person,—in her own opinion at least. A regular snow-maiden, with blue eyes, and yellow hair, curling on her shoulders, pale and slender, and always carrying herself like a young lady mindful of her manners.”
Frank Herbert’s Dune : "Through the door came two Sardukar herding a girl-child who appeared to be about four years old. She wore a black aba, the hood thrown back to reveal the attachments of a stillsuit hanging free at her throat. Her eyes were Fremen blue, staring out of a soft, round face. She appeared completely unafraid and there was a look to her stare that made the Baron feel uneasy for no reason he could explain."
Kury Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five : "He was a funny-looking child who became a funny-looking youth — tall and weak, and shaped like a bottle of Coca-Cola."
Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? : "Black-haired and slender, wearing the huge new dust-filtering glasses, she approached his car, her hands deep in the pockets of her brightly striped long coat. She had, on her sharply defined small face, an expression of sullen distaste."
John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces : “Full, pursed lips protruded beneath the bushy black moustache and, at their corners, sank into little folds filled with disapproval and potato chip crumbs.”
Ralph Ellson’s Invisible Man : “I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids — and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, simply because people refuse to see me.”
George Eliot’s Middlemarch : “The rural opinion about the new young ladies, even among the cottagers, was generally in favour of Celia, as being so amiable and innocent-looking, while Miss Brooke’s large eyes seemed, like her religion, too unusual and striking. Poor Dorothea! Compared with her, the innocent-looking Celia was knowing and worldly-wise.”
Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness : “He was commonplace in complexion, in feature, in manners, and in voice. He was of middle size and of ordinary build. His eyes, of the usual blue, were perhaps remarkably cold, and he certainly could make his glance fall on one as trenchant and heavy as an axe…”
Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Books : “But he had a voice as soft as wild honey dripping from a tree, and a skin softer than down.”
Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice : “…your manners, impressing me with the fullest belief of your arrogance, your conceit, and your selfish disdain of the feelings of others, were such as to form the groundwork of disapprobation on which succeeding events have built so immovable a dislike; and I had not known you a month before I felt that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry.”
Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn : “He was most fifty, and he looked it. His hair was long and tangled and greasy, and hung down, and you could see his eyes shining through like he was behind vines.”
Lindsay Faye’s Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson : “The door flew open, revealing a wrinkled, forward-thrusting face wreathed with a nimbus of wispy white hair, a face resembling nothing so much as a mole emerging from its burrow. Her spectacles were so dirty that I could hardly see the use of them.”
Adlous Huxley’s Brave New World : "Tall and rather thin but upright, the Director advanced into the room. He had a long chin and big rather prominent teeth, just covered, when he was not talking, by his full, floridly curved lips. Old, young? Thirty? Fifty? Fifty-five? It was hard to say."
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby : “He smiled understandingly — much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life.”
J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring : "The face of Elrond was ageless, neither old nor young, though in it was written the memory of many things both glad and sorrowful. His hair was dark as the shadows of twilight, and upon it was set a circlet of silver; his eyes were grey as a clear evening, and in them was a light like the light of stars."
Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight : “I vividly remembered the flat black color of his eyes the last time he glared at me – the color was striking against the background of his pale skin and his auburn hair. Today, his eyes were a completely different color: a strange ocher, darker than butterscotch, but with the same golden tone.”
Joan Johnston’s No Longer A Stranger : “Her straight, boyishly cut hair fell onto her brow haphazardly and hid beautiful arched brows that framed her large, expressive eyes.”
Anne Rice’s The Vampire Armand : “I saw my Master had adorned himself in a thick tunic and beautiful dark blue doublet which I’d hardly noticed before. He wore soft sleek dark blue gloves over his hands, gloves which perfectly cleaved to his fingers, and legs were covered by thick soft cashmere stockings all the way to his beautiful pointed shoes.”
Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations : “Though every vestige of her dress was burnt, as they told me, she still had something of her old ghastly bridal appearance; for, they had covered her to the throat with white cotton-wool, and as she lay with a white sheet loosely overlying that, the phantom air of something that had been and was changed, was still upon her.”
Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn : “He was sunshine most always-I mean he made it seem like good weather.”
N. K. Jemisin’s The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms : “His long, long hair wafted around him like black smoke, its tendrils curling and moving of their own volition. His cloak — or perhaps that was his hair too — shifted as if in an unfelt wind.”
Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings : “Her skin was a rich black that would have peeled like a plum if snagged, but then no one would have thought of getting close enough to Mrs. Flowers to ruffle her dress, let alone snag her skin. She didn’t encourage familiarity.”
China Miéville’s The Census-Taker : “His hand was over his eyes. He looked like a failed soldier. Dirt seemed so worked into him that the lines of his face were like writing.”
Louisa M. Alcott’s Little Women : “Fifteen-year-old Jo was very tall, thin, and brown, and reminded one of a colt; for she never seemed to know what to do with her long limbs, which were very much in her way. She had a decided mouth, a comical nose, and sharp, gray eyes, which appeared to see everything, and were by turns fierce, funny, or thoughtful.”
Henry James’ The Aspern Papers : “Her face was not young, but it was simple; it was not fresh, but it was mild. She had large eyes which were not bright, and a great deal of hair which was not ‘dressed,’ and long fine hands which were–possibly–not clean.”
Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death”: “The tastes of the duke were peculiar. He had a fine eye for colors and effects. He disregarded the decora of mere fashion. His plans were bold and fiery, and his conceptions glowed with barbaric lustre. There are some who would have thought him mad. His followers felt that he was not.”
Becca Fitzpatrick’s Hush, Hush : “He was abominable…and the most alluring, tortured soul I’d ever met.”
William Golding’s Lord of the Flies : “Inside the floating cloak he was tall, thin, and bony; and his hair was red beneath the black cap. His face was crumpled and freckled, and ugly without silliness.”
Maggie Stiefvater’s The Raven Boys : “As always, there was an all-American war hero look to him, coded in his tousled brown hair, his summer-narrowed hazel eyes, the straight nose that ancient Anglo-Saxons had graciously passed on to him. Everything about him suggested valor and power and a firm handshake.”
John Safran Foer’s Everything Is Illuminated : “He did not look like anything special at all.”
J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring : “He wore a tall pointed blue hat, a long grey cloak, and a silver scarf. He had a long white beard and bushy eyebrows that stuck out beyond the brim of his hat.”
Andrew Lang’s The Crimson Fairy Book : “When the old king saw this he foamed with rage, stared wildly about, flung himself on the ground and died.”
Rudyard Kipling’s Many Inventions : “He wrapped himself in quotations – as a beggar would enfold himself in the purple of Emperors.”
Bram Stoker’s Dracula : “The Count smiled, and as his lips ran back over his gums, the long, sharp, canine teeth showed out strangely.”
Hugh Lofting’s The Story of Doctor Dolittle : “For a long time he said nothing. He kept as still as a stone. He hardly seemed to be breathing at all. When at last he began to speak, it sounded almost as though he were singing, sadly, in a dream.”
M.L Legette’s The Orphan and the Thief : “Its gray, slippery skin was stretched taut upon its face. Its mouth was wide and full of needle teeth.”
Julia Stuart’s The Tower, The Zoo, and The Tortoise : “Blooms of acne highlighted his vampire-white skin.
James Lee Burke’s The Neon Rain : “His khaki sleeves were rolled over his sunburned arms, and he had the flat green eyes and heavy facial features of north Louisiana hill people. He smelled faintly of dried sweat, Red Man, and talcum powder.”
Becca Fitzpatrick’s Black Ice : “His brown hair was cropped, and it showed off the striking symmetry of his face. With the sun at his back, shadows marked the depressions beneath his cheekbones.”
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein : “His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips.”
Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado”: “He accosted me with excessive warmth, for he had been drinking much. The man wore motley. He had on a tight-fitting parti-striped dress, and his head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells.”
E.C. Sheedy’s Killing Bliss : “He stood, which put him eye to eye with the dark-haired woman whose brilliant, burning gaze poured into his worthless soul like boiling tar, whose mouth frothed with fury–and whose hand now curled, knuckles white, around a steak knife.”
Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games : “She has bright, dark eyes and satiny brown skin and stands tilted up on her toes with arms slightly extended to her sides, as if ready to take wing at the slightest sound.”
J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone : “A giant of a man was standing in the doorway. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair.”
Louisa M. Alcott’s Little Women : “Elizabeth—or Beth, as every one called her—was a rosy, smooth-haired, bright-eyed girl of thirteen, with a shy manner, a timid voice, and a peaceful expression, which was seldom disturbed.”
Anne Rice’s Violin : “What a well-formed mouth he had, and how the narrow eyes, the detailed deepened lids gave him such a range of expression, to open his gaze wide, or sink in cunning street.”
Kevin Brooks’ Lucas : “An easygoing lope. Nice and steady. Not too fast and not too slow, Fast enough to get somewhere, but not too fast to miss anything.”
Iris Johansen’s The Face of Deception : “Kinky tousled curls, only a minimum of makeup, large brown eyes behind round wire-rimmed glasses. There was a world of character in that face, more than enough to make her fascinating-looking instead of just attractive.”
Herman Meilville’s Moby Dick : “There seemed no sign of common bodily illness about him, nor of the recovery from any. He looked like a man cut away from the stake, when the fire has overrunningly wasted all the limbs without consuming them, or taking away one particle from their compacted aged robustness. His whole high, broad form, seemed made of solid bronze, and shaped in an unalterable mould, like Cellini’s cast Perseus.”
Gena Showalter’s The Darkest Night : “Pale hair fell in waves to his shoulders, framing a face mortal females considered a sensual feast. They didn’t know the man was actually a devil in angel’s skin.”
Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game : “Ender did not see Peter as the beautiful ten-year-old boy that grown-ups saw, with dark, tousled hair and a face that could have belonged to Alexander the Great. Ender looked at Peter only to detect anger or boredom, the dangerous moods that almost always led to pain.”
Caitlin Moran’s How To Build A Girl : “He had his head in his hands, and his tie looked like it had been put on by an enemy, and was strangling him.”
Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass : “Lord Asriel was a tall man with powerful shoulders, a fierce dark face, and eyes that seemed to flash and glitter with savage laughter. It was a face to be dominated by, or to fight: never a face to patronize or pity.”
J.D. Salinger’s Franny and Zooey : “She found herself looking at Lane as if he were a stranger, or a poster advertising a brand of linoleum, across the aisle of a subway car.”
L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz : “They wore round hats that rose to a small point a foot above their heads, with little bells around the brims that tinkled sweetly as they moved. The hats of the men were blue; the little woman’s hat was white, and she wore a white gown that hung in pleats from her shoulders. Over it were sprinkled little stars that glistened in the sun like diamonds.”
Bram Stoker’s Dracula : “Within, stood a tall old man, clean shaven save for a long white moustache, and clad in black from head to foot, without a single speck of colour about him anywhere.”
Algernon Blackwood’s Ten Minute Stories : “Then, by a green field that shone like a thought of daylight amid the darkness of the moor, he saw a figure lying in the grass. It was a blot upon the landscape, a mere huddled patch of dirty rags, yet with a certain horrid picturesqueness too; and his mind—though his German was of the schoolroom order—at once picked out the German equivalents as against the English. Lump and Lumpen flashed across his brain most oddly.”
John Rhode’s The Murders in Praed Street : “He was tall and thin, with a pronounced stoop and a deep but not unpleasant voice. But it was his head that you looked at instinctively. Above the massive forehead and powerfully-chiselled features was a wealth of long, snow-white hair, balanced by a flowing beard of the same colour.”
Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Telltale Heart”: “He had the eye of a vulture—a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold.”
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein : “His limbs were nearly frozen, and his body dreadfully emaciated by fatigue and suffering. I never saw a man in so wretched a condition.”
Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow : “He was tall, but exceedingly lank, with narrow shoulders, long arms and legs, hands that dangled a mile out of his sleeves, feet that might have served for shovels, and his whole frame most loosely hung together.”
Louisa M. Alcott’s Little Women : “Margaret, the eldest of the four, was sixteen, and very pretty, being plump and fair, with large eyes, plenty of soft, brown hair, a sweet mouth, and white hands, of which she was rather vain.”
Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland : “It was the White Rabbit returning, splendidly dressed, with a pair of white kid gloves in one hand and a large fan in the other: he came trotting along in a great hurry, muttering to himself as he came…”
J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan : “He was a lovely boy, clad in skeleton leaves and the juices that ooze out of trees but the most entrancing thing about him was that he had all his first teeth.”
Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis : “He lay on his armour-like back, and if he lifted his head a little he could see his brown belly, slightly domed and divided by arches into stiff sections. The bedding was hardly able to cover it and seemed ready to slide off any moment. His many legs, pitifully thin compared with the size of the rest of him, waved about helplessly as he looked.”
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper : “John is practical in the extreme. He has no patience with faith, an intense horror of superstition, and he scoffs openly at any talk of things not to be felt and seen and put down in figures.”
L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz : “When Aunt Em came there to live she was a young, pretty wife. The sun and wind had changed her, too. They had taken the sparkle from her eyes and left them a sober gray; they had taken the red from her cheeks and lips, and they were gray also. She was thin and gaunt, and never smiled now.”
Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment : “This was not because he was cowardly and abject, quite the contrary; but for some time past he had been in an overstrained irritable condition, verging on hypochondria. He had become so completely absorbed in himself, and isolated from his fellows that he dreaded meeting, not only his landlady, but anyone at all. He was crushed by poverty, but the anxieties of his position had of late ceased to weigh upon him. He had given up attending to matters of practical importance; he had lost all desire to do so.”
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter : “The young woman was tall, with a figure of perfect elegance on a large scale. She had dark and abundant hair, so glossy that it threw off the sunshine with a gleam, and a face which, besides being beautiful from regularity of feature and richness of complexion, had the impressiveness belonging to a marked brow and deep black eyes.”
Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde : “This was a hearty, healthy, dapper, red-faced gentleman, with a shock of hair prematurely white, and a boisterous and decided manner.”
Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde : “Mr. Hyde was pale and dwarfish, he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation, he had a displeasing smile, he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness, and he spoke with a husky, whispering and somewhat broken voice; all these were points against him, but not all of these together could explain the hitherto unknown disgust, loathing and fear with which Mr. Utterson regarded him.”
Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol : “Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster.”
Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace : “Anna Pávlovna Schérer on the contrary, despite her forty years, overflowed with animation and impulsiveness. To be an enthusiast had become her social vocation and, sometimes even when she did not feel like it, she became enthusiastic in order not to disappoint the expectations of those who knew her. The subdued smile which, though it did not suit her faded features, always played round her lips expressed, as in a spoiled child, a continual consciousness of her charming defect, which she neither wished, nor could, nor considered it necessary, to correct.”
Arthur Conan Doyle’s “A Scandal in Bohemia”: “His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their own story. He was at work again.”
J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan : “In person he was cadaverous and blackavized, and his hair was dressed in long curls, which at a little distance looked like black candles, and gave a singularly threatening expression to his handsome countenance. His eyes were of the blue of the forget-me-not, and of a profound melancholy, save when he was plunging his hook into you, at which time two red spots appeared in them and lit them up horribly.”

Looking for more tips and tricks regarding character creation? Check out the CharacterHub blog !

David Davis

David Davis is a cartoonist with around twenty years of experience in comics, including independent work and established IPs such as SpongeBob Squarepants. He also works as a college composition instructor and records weekly podcasts. Find out more about him at his website!

Share on social, unlock your character's full potential, join characterhub for exclusive access to revolutionary character-building tools and a like-minded community.

What is a Kinsona?

What Is A Round Character? Explanation, Examples, and How To Make One!

What Is A Flat Character? Explanation, Examples, and How To Avoid It!

Wait! Do you love creating characters?

On CharacterHub, you can create detailed character profiles, share their art and story, and organize all of your OCs! Join CharacterHub and bring your characters to life today!

Tricks for Describing a Character’s Appearance (With Examples)

Introducing a new character to your story can be difficult. There’s a lot that goes into it, and to make matters worse, you only have one chance to give readers a good (and memorable) first impression of that character. One of the ways you can do this is by giving them a distinct appearance, but many writers tend to fall short of describing appearance well.

We’ve all heard the same cookie-cutter descriptions for characters a million times before. Golden hair, a heart-shaped face, a chiseled body, piercing eyes, yadda yadda… The problem with these descriptions is that they’re bland, they’re cliché, and they don’t really help your characters stand out.

However, if you break from clichés, you can create uniquely vivid descriptions that will give your characters life. There are endless ways you can describe characters, and I’m not going to walk you through how I would describe every single possible human feature (or humanoid, animal, alien, etc). For one thing, that would take too long, but for another thing, descriptions are based on more than just the character’s physical appearance—their personality plays a part too.

Tips for Describing a Character’s Appearance in a Story

There are a number of things to keep in mind when describing a character’s appearance. Here are just a few general tips before we dive into some more specific techniques for describing different parts of a character’s appearance.

Don’t Make Everyone a Supermodel

This is probably one of the most (if not the most) important things to remember when describing a character. You should never objectively describe your characters as flawless. Humans aren’t perfect, so if you describe your characters like perfect little supermodels, they just won’t feel authentic. Worse still, they won’t stand out from the protagonists of every single young adult novel out there. You need to make them distinct, and to do that, you need to give your characters flaws . And I mean real flaws, not fake flaws that are actually just endearing traits packaged like flaws.

Don’t Dump Everything Out at Once

Describing your characters is important, but you need to be able to keep it concise. No one wants to read a 7-page summary of every detail of a character’s appearance. You can go in-depth, sure, but don’t put your readers through a word-avalanche just for them to figure out what the character looks like.

Remember, you can reveal more about the characters over time. When you introduce a character for the first time, you should focus on the things a person would naturally notice first, such as their face, hair, clothing, voice, and general energy. You can further elaborate on their appearance later when it is relevant, and describe their gait, posture, temperament, and more.

There is one exception here I want to highlight. If you are telling a story from the first-person perspective, and you want to illustrate a character’s obsession with another person, hyper-fixating on the details can be a good way to show this. It can make the character seem creepy , and it can foreshadow the protagonist doing something bad to the person they are obsessing over.

Don’t Sell Them Short

Opposite to the point above, you shouldn’t make your introductions too short. To some extent, it can be good to leave some parts of the character’s appearance up to the reader’s imagination. However, you should give them something to help them visualize the characters in the beginning. Otherwise, if you later reveal that the character has dark hair, all the readers that imagined them with light hair might have a difficult time accepting that.

Descriptions are important, and they help to include a reader in the narrative. Like a well-described setting, vivid characters can help immerse readers into the world and make them part of the story.

Use Their Personality

A character’s personality can have a large impact on how they are perceived, and therefore should alter the words you use to describe them. Two characters might have similar features, but based on their personality, you would describe them differently.

For example, two characters might both be tall, but one would be described as “awkward and long” while the other is “towering.” In this case, the characters’ levels of confidence impact how they are perceived. For another example, think about two characters who both have light skin. You could describe one as looking like “porcelain” and describe the other one as “pasty,” depending on their other traits. Those two descriptions create very different perceptions from each other.

Use the Point of View

If the character in question is being described from the first-person perspective of another character, then the protagonist’s opinions should sneak into the description. Your protagonist probably isn’t going to objectively evaluate the other person—they’re likely to rely on stereotypes, biases, and things they have heard from others about the character they’re looking at. Rely on that to make the description fit into the story more organically.

Here are some examples:

She had no right to have such a disarming smile.
His expression was empty—just like his head.
His dark, tangled hair reminded me of a swamp.
She didn’t even wear any makeup! But even more frustratingly, she didn’t really need it.
They looked divine… like I wasn’t even worthy to look upon them.
He looked like the type of person to stare at his own reflection before getting in the shower.
They were short and stocky, but they could still probably beat me in a fight.

Remember, your protagonist can make speculative judgments about the character they’re looking at. You’re telling the story as they experience it, so their judgments are part of the narrative!

“…he was greeted by the barista—a young teen who had not yet matured enough to be handsome. Once his soft cheeks hollowed and his jaw squared, and the childish optimism fled his eyes, then he would have the chance to smolder. That crooked smile would win over many hearts in the blink of an eye, but not just yet.” – excerpt from a draft

Keep the Description Balanced

A good rule of thumb when describing characters (or anything else really) is to create a balance of concrete details and flowery imagery. You should alternate between those two, as well as general and more specific details, to make the description flow more naturally, and to make it more interesting to read.

Imagine reading a description like:

“His hair was red and curly. His eyes were large and green. He had freckles, but they weren’t that noticeable. He was tall but very thin.”

That’s so dry, and it’s not fun to read. Compare that to a description that varies how the information is provided:

“His hair was like a massive red bush surrounding two wide, green eyes. Freckles faintly dotted his cheeks, but they were only really visible in the sunshine. His long, lanky body and large hair made him look a bit like a big red lollipop—which was only heightened by his tendency to blush often.”

Wasn’t that a lot more fun to read? Not only does it make the character description more interesting, but it also influences a reader’s perception of what the character is like. Certain words help readers to gauge what kind of person this character is. The first example gives no indication of personality, but the second one uses words like “sunshine” and “lollipop” to associate the character with lively, happy things. Additionally, using words like “lanky” and “blush” suggests that the character is awkward or shy, saving you the time of having to spell that out for readers.

Give them Something Special

One helpful thing that I’ve learned over the years is that you should give your main character some distinctive feature that sets them apart from the other characters around them. Diverse descriptions are great, but it never hurts to make your main character a little more unique. This could be something like a distinctive scar, a tattoo, a weird eye color, a patch of silver or white hair, a missing or extra finger, a birthmark, or something else along those lines. That can make them stand out more, and it can be a really clear indicator that they are special.

Although your story won’t suffer if you don’t give your main character a distinct feature like this, it is usually a good bet—especially if you think your story could ever conceivably be adapted into a visual medium, like a comic, animation, or film. That character could become iconic. People may just see your character somewhere and that alone could motivate them to read or watch the whole story. As another plus, it could give you a cool opportunity for your story’s cover.

How to Describe a Character’s Face

When describing a character’s face, the easiest way to do that is to first break the face down into its essential parts: the eyes, the mouth, the nose, and the facial structure.

So let’s start with the eyes since they are the focal point of the face. Stay away from the descriptions you’ve heard a million times, like “piercing” or “doe-eyed.” The eyes are the window to the soul, and they can tell a reader a lot about a character. Instead of “piercing,” try “icy” or “sharp,” and instead of “doe-eyed,” try “wide,” “innocent,” or “full of wonder/awe.” The goal is to describe the character in a unique way to make it more interesting to read, while still creating a vivid image of that character.

You can describe the shape, color, and depth of a character’s eyes, but you should be careful not to rely on insensitive generalizations. For example, instead of “Asian” eyes, use “almond-shaped” or “mono-lid.” Not all Asian people have mono-lids, so simply using the word “Asian” to describe the character’s eyes doesn’t actually narrow down what they look like.

That goes for all the other features of the face, too. Though it is true that some features are more prominent in certain races, nothing is inherent. You shouldn’t rely on the character’s race or ethnic background alone to be the basis of your description. Saying that a character is Japanese or Jamaican without giving other details doesn’t do any more for the character’s description than saying they are European or white. Doing this only encourages your readers to stereotype your characters, even if that wasn’t your intention.

With that said, don’t get too caught up in describing every detail of a character’s face. Give the most important information, such as the eyes, face shape, scars, and other notable details or imperfections, then move on. If a character has an exaggerated feature, such as a large nose or bushy eyebrows, then that’s important to mention too.

How to Describe a Character’s Hair

There are lots of different types of hair colors, textures, thicknesses, and shines, so try not to make all your characters have the same kind of hair—unless they’re related or part of a small, isolated community, of course. Hair can be curly and blond, sleek and black, coily and auburn, and even dyed wild colors. Making your characters’ hair more distinct will make them easier for readers to visualize, especially if you introduce many characters at one time.

Beyond the basics, you can use words to describe a character’s hair that reflects who they are as a person. For example, describing a character’s hair as springy or bouncy could indicate the character is upbeat and moves excitedly. Slick, greasy, or wispy hair could suggest an untrustworthy or sneaky character. The words you use to describe the character’s hair will be subliminally applied to the character themself.

How to Describe a Character’s Clothes

Clothing is an important element of self-expression, and what your character decides to wear can reflect a lot about them. However, unlike with the character’s face, you should not spend a lot of time describing their outfit. For one thing, they’re probably going to change their outfit at some point in the story—likely more than once. Secondly, readers just won’t care unless you give them a good reason to.

If you want to describe what your character is wearing, make sure to keep it short. If it’s just a simple way of helping the reader visualize the character’s style, present the information objectively and in only a paragraph or two, such as:

“She wore short-shorts and a denim jacket, and pink thigh-high socks that she had to keep pulling up because they always slipped down to her knees. Her tennis-shoes were white and bulky, as was the belt bag she wore off to one side. This free, laidback style was completed by the two messy buns her faded purple hair was pulled up into.”

However, there are a few times in which you can use clothing to explore more complex ideas in the story. For example:

An article of clothing might have special significance to a character. It could have been handed down from a relative, it could be a favorite shirt, or it could be meaningful in other ways. That would merit drawing more attention to it.
An article of clothing might have special significance to the story. This could be a type of ceremonial outfit, a piece of magical armor, or something along those lines. That would require a more thorough in-depth description of the item.
An article of clothing may be unfamiliar to most of your readers, such as a specific cultural outfit or an unusual costume, in which case a descriptive explanation could help illustrate what it looks like.
A particular outfit could draw attention to a character, such as an attractive or surprising outfit, that could merit taking more time to describe it (and explain why it garners the character extra attention).

How to Describe a Character’s Body

Describing a character’s body is fairly straightforward. Like with many other aspects of a character’s appearance, there are a few methods you can use to approach describing their body. You could take the objective approach, which would do just fine in most cases, or you could toy with your readers’ perceptions.

I’ll start out with a word of caution. Too many times, I’ve seen unrealistic descriptions of characters’ bodies. Whether it’s a waist that’s impossibly thin or muscles like a bodybuilder on a teenager, people tend to push the boundaries of what the human body is even capable of. You need to keep your characters within the limits of what’s actually possible, unless you have a good reason for doing otherwise (genetically modified supersoldier, not actually human at all, etc).

Now, as with some other aspects of the character’s appearance, you can get away with a simple, objective description, like “tall and muscular” or “short and curvy.” Honestly, that’s usually all you’ll need to do. However, bodies are commonly associated with physical attractiveness, and if attraction is the point of your description, you need to take a different approach.

Writing about attraction is tough (which is why I go more in-depth about how to write about attraction in my other article, Romance 101: How to Write Characters Falling in Love ). You’ll want to highlight the positives of the character’s body—the elements of them that have caught your protagonist’s attention. Whether it’s biceps, legs, or a large chest, you’ll want to describe it in detail, as well as highlight what it is about them that has the protagonist so interested. Here’s an example:

“He was tall and sturdy, and even in this relaxed environment, his pose held power. The way his shirt stretched taut around his shoulders when he shifted snagged and held my attention—I couldn’t help but stare. Did he pick that shirt on purpose? He had to know the thin fabric clung close to his body, showing off every rippling muscle underneath…”

How to Describe a Character’s Posture and Body Language

Body language is an often overlooked element of describing a character, but you should give it some thought even if you don’t intend to draw a lot of attention to it in the story. How does your character stand? How do they emote? Do they gesture when they speak? Do they fidget? Try to envision what they look like when they are waiting, actively engaged in a passionate conversation, and when they are uncomfortable.

People move in different ways, even if they aren’t thinking about it. Come up with a list of movements and behaviors that are typical for the character, and utilize those movements to make dull scenes and conversations more interesting. Instead of just dialogue, you can give readers more to imagine as your character shifts their weight, runs their hand through their hair, or twists the hem of their shirt. This can also help to establish the tone of the conversation.

A person’s body, personality, and mood will all influence how they move. If you establish a baseline for how the character stands and behaves when they are in a neutral mindset, this will help you keep them consistent over time by casually mentioning their body language throughout the story. As a bonus, it can also help you tip readers off if you want them to notice that something is bothering the character. If you have established that a character is pretty relaxed in most situations, readers will instantly notice if they exhibit anxious body language even if you don’t draw a lot of attention to it.

For more tips and tricks on writing about body language, be sure to check out Writing Body Language: Bringing Your Characters to Life next!

How to Describe an Attractive Character

Describing an attractive character isn’t all that different from describing any other character. You still shouldn’t make them flawless, but you can put off mentioning their more negative qualities until later—especially if another character is looking at them through rose-colored glasses .

One recommendation that I have for describing a character who is supposed to be extremely attractive is to keep their description vague. Beauty is subjective, so each reader is going to have a different idea of what “attractive” means. By all means, describe the basics of their appearance, such as hair color, eye color, skin tone, and whatnot, but don’t dive deep into the shape of their features. This will leave a little bit up to the reader’s imagination, and they will fill in the gaps in the character’s description with the traits that they find most attractive.

Another helpful tip is to utilize the reactions of background characters to establish that the character is, in fact, attractive. Other people staring at the character or nudging and whispering to each other about them would help your reader understand that the character is good-looking, and alter their mental image of them accordingly.

The Importance of Creating Vivid Visual Descriptions for your Characters

Creating vivid visual descriptions for your characters is incredibly important for a number of reasons. For one thing, being able to imagine the characters will help draw your readers into the story and immerse them in the world. Additionally, by giving your characters more distinct appearances, they will stand out more from each other, and from characters in other stories. The more complex and interesting the character, the more likely they are to stick in a reader’s mind for years after they finish reading the story.

Good luck with writing your descriptions! I know you’ll write something great.

Kindlepreneur

Book Marketing for Self-Publishing Authors

Home / Book Writing / How to Write Amazing Character Descriptions (with Examples)

How to Write Amazing Character Descriptions (with Examples)

A good character description is walking a fine line between too much and too little information. Not only that, it's how you deliver the information to the reader that can make or break a good description. So whether you already have a vivid picture of your characters in mind or you don't know where to start, you've come to the right place. Read on to explore character description.

What is a Good Character Description?
Descriptions for Character Profiles
Descriptions in Prose
Character Description Examples
Tips for Writing Character Descriptions for Profiles

Description in Prose
1. Start With a List
2. Edit it Down
3. Get Creative With Surroundings and Movement
4. What Is and What Isn't
5. Adjectives Can Help or Hinder
6. Practice Makes Perfect
7. Description Can Help Reveal the Narrator

A good character description isn't just about describing how a given character looks. It's also about describing the character through the world around them and through their actions. When these factors come together, you can create a vivid description that not only tells the reader a lot about your character's personality but also sparks the reader's imagination. That, after all, is what reading is all about.

And while we'll mostly be discussing character description in prose, we'll also be discussing how character description is important when writing your character profiles. Since character profiles are best utilized before you write your novel, we'll start there.

Creating a character profile can help you when it comes time to write. It can ensure that you know your major characters intimately before you start writing. These profiles are about more than just character description, but for the purposes of this article, we'll focus on the physical attributes, as they're the building blocks for writing descriptive prose.

Think of a profile as a character sketch. You're not trying to get every single detail down, as it's always good to leave room for spontaneity when you're writing your novel . But when it comes to the basics of how the character looks, it can help to nail down the details.

This includes things like eye color, facial expression, height, weight, build, hair color, skin color, any disfigurements or scars, and things like tattoos or birthmarks. This should also include clothing and any other accessories, such as hats, watches, necklaces, and piercings.

You don't have to get fancy with the profile. Just get the information down so you can refer to it later. If you want to go the extra mile, you can write down some varying descriptions of your character as if you're writing the novel. It's often easiest to focus on one physical attribute at a time until you're comfortable. These practice descriptions can lend inspiration when you start writing in earnest.

Format Beautiful Professional Books

Easy to use, and and full of amazing features, you can quickly turn your book into a professional book.

Description in your book is a bit different than in your profile. A good description can give the reader a glimpse at the character's personality traits as well as their appearance. There are many different ways to write a great character description, but they all have one thing in common: they're creative and anything but boilerplate.

Many new writers opt for the list-style of description, thinking that less is more. They often look like this:

“He had piercing green eyes, sandy blond hair, and stood a stocky and solid six-foot-two. He had a slight limp and the musculature of a man who works hard for his living.”

While this may be fine for a minor character, it falls a little flat for a major character that you want the audience to know intimately. So for ideas on how to write character descriptions, let's look at some examples from some masters of the craft.

“His present dog was a huge white brute, a mountain dog from the South. He had named it Halina, after his second wife, with whom it shared some personality traits. . . It weighed almost as much as he did and its coat was matted and filthy; it lifted its massive head and watched him with lunatic eyes.”

This description, from Dave Hutchinson's Europe in Autumn , is a great example of how to describe physical appearance. Neither the man nor his dog is a major character in the story, but the description tells you a little about the K9 and its owner in a few concise sentences.

“He did not look like anything special at all.”

This one-sentence description in Jonathan Safran Foer's Everything is Illuminated is an excellent example of “less is more.”

“When he did appear his eyes were as brown as I remembered, pupils flecked with gold like beach pebbles.”

This description is from Sub Rosa by Amber Dawn. It's a compelling use of simile to create a picture of a character's appearance in the reader's mind. Note that she doesn't use tired and worn-out similes such as “eyes as blue as the summer sky” or “hair as red as autumn leaves. Getting creative with figurative language can work out very well.

“He smiled understandingly — much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced — or seemed to face — the whole eternal world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor.”

This description, from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, focuses on the character's actions to tell the reader about him. Or, rather, on a single action: a smile. At the same time, the writer is telling the reader something about the POV character, giving insights into how the narrator sees the character while describing him.

Tips for Writing Character Descriptions in Prose

Most writing teachers and authors will tell you that if you want to write, you need to read. And the descriptions above should be shining examples of why that is sage advice. Reading how the authors you love write character description is key. But I've included some tips you can use when it comes time to write your own masterpiece!

This is where the character profile comes in handy. Not only does it keep you on track (there's nothing worse than realizing you switched a character's eye color halfway through a book) but it also allows you to keep a picture of your character fresh in your mind's eye.

So keep a list handy. Even if it's just the basics, like “black hair” or “brown eyes” and the like, it helps.

One of the most oft-quoted pieces of advice from Strunk & White's The Elements of Style is “Omit needless words.” For writers old and new, this advice is sound indeed for writing character descriptions. We've all read a book where the description of a character goes on for pages and pages and we find ourselves asking, “When will we get back to the story?”

This is something to avoid at all costs. So edit your descriptions down as much as possible. Don't use flowery language for its own sake. Instead, try to get your point across to the reader in as concise a manner as possible. You don't have to get into a character's backstory with the description if it will interrupt the flow of the story.

Remember that you want to create a vivid character in the reader's mind, but that doesn't mean that you want to take all of their imagination out of it. Leave something for the reader to interpret, if at all possible.

Description isn't all about a character's physicality. It's also about how the character interacts with the world around them. The way a man sits on a couch or a woman drives a car or a child eats an ice cream cone can all add to the character's description. A sentence about what a couple does while waiting in line at the movies can tell the reader more than a paragraph of straight description.

The way a character walks, the way they gesture when they talk, the way they squint when they're thinking. These are all great ways to add to a character's vividness and depth through description.

Describing a person, fictional or otherwise, can be done by looking at what is there and what isn't there. In fact, sharing what isn't there — what's missing — can be a great way of describing a person. As a writer, this can also help you develop your craft and keep your prose fresh. Whether this is a missing limb, a shirt pocket that has been torn off, or the lack of seeming intelligence on a vacant face, the absence of things can say a lot about a character.

As a rule in fiction, it's best to limit your use of adverbs. And the use of adjectives in character descriptions is no exception. Like adverbs, adjectives can become a crutch that holds back more concise and creative writing. This is not to say that you shouldn't use them on occasion. Sometimes an adjective is just the right kind of word for character description. Just keep in mind that overusing them can lead to reader fatigue and overly flowery language.

This should go without saying, but practicing your description will go a long way to becoming a better writer. When you consciously sit down to write a compelling character description, you can really think about what you want to say and how best to say it.

To do this, choose a character archetype and flesh that archetype out into a full-fledged person through descriptive language. Try writing several descriptions of the same character type, focusing on a few different tributes each time. You can try writing one where you focus on appearance. One on movement. One on how she/he interacts with the world around them. One on clothing. And one on what's missing (if anything). These practices can help you get your head around how best to describe a character in any given situation.

Description can also tell the reader about the POV character or narrator. And if your narrator is also your protagonist, this can be very important. This is because, short of having your character stand in front of a mirror and describe herself, there aren't many easy ways to describe your POV character without taking the reader out of the story. So, a great way to enlighten the reader is to use the way your narrator sees other characters. This can often be in the form of physical comparisons that the narrator makes or insights that they glean from watching/interacting with another character.

Not only does this add to the main character's believability, but it also provides an opportunity for character development as the story progresses. Perhaps your POV character has a bad habit of comparing himself to others he learns to break. Or perhaps he focuses too much on physical attributes to the detriment of seeing who other characters really are.

Whether you're writing a short story , novella, or a 1,000-page tome, you'll want to get familiar with character descriptions. The best way to start this is with a character profile. This will help you with your character analysis, which is great for fleshing out your main character, villain, and even secondary characters that need brief but compelling descriptions.

Once you have the basics of your character down, you can start experimenting with description. By focusing on one major character trait at first, you can develop your own style of description. Then you can incorporate more attributes, sharing only a couple at a time as your novel progresses.

Be concise, creative, and don't forget to look for what is and what isn't there. Use movement, interactions, and gestures to make vivid and crisp character descriptions.

Dave Chesson

When I’m not sipping tea with princesses or lightsaber dueling with little Jedi, I’m a book marketing nut. Having consulted multiple publishing companies and NYT best-selling authors, I created Kindlepreneur to help authors sell more books. I’ve even been called “The Kindlepreneur” by Amazon publicly, and I’m here to help you with your author journey.

Best book writing software 2024 [writing, editing & focus], author vs writer: what’s the difference, how to write an adventure story, sell more books on amazon, amazon kindle rankings e-book.

Learn how to rank your Kindle book #1 on Amazon with our collection of time-tested tips and tricks.

Join the community

Join 111,585 other authors who receive weekly emails from us to help them make more money selling books.

Bookfox Academy (All Courses)
Write Your Best Novel
How to Write a Splendid Sentence
Two Weeks to Your Best Children’s Book
Revision Genius
The Ultimate Guide to Writing Dialogue
Your First Bestseller
Master Your Writing Habits
Writing Techniques to Transform Your Fiction
Triangle Method of Character Development
Children’s Book Editing
Copy Editing
Novel Editing
Short Story Editing
General Books
Children’s Books

The Gigantic List of Character Descriptions (70+ examples)

The vast majority of character descriptions are simply lazy.

They recycle typical ideas about hair, eye color, and build, giving you more information about the character’s fitting for a dress or suit than the type of information you need to know them intimately.

The first thing you should do when describing a character is to pick a category that isn’t so overused. Such as trying to describe:

Describing your character in an innovative way will help retain the reader’s interest. You want your reader to be asking questions about this character, to not only learn something about them but to create mystery. What made them like this? How long have they been this way? Is there someone currently after them or is this paranoia because of a past experience? Questions like these are what keeps the reader reading.

Not only physical descriptions are needed. Consider: “How is this person viewed by another character?” Do they seem dangerous, alluring, secretive, suspicious? The way another character views someone else gives insight about them as well. Are they attracted? Repulsed? Curious?

Another thing to take notice of is the type of person they are, despite their appearance.

How do they think?
What do they feel?
How do they view/react to certain situations compared to how others would?
What is their mental state?

Here is a list of examples of brilliant character descriptions to give you an idea and help you come up with your own:

3 Categories: Modern Literary, Literature, Popular

Modern Literary

1. vladimir nabokov, lolita.

” … Her skin glistening in the neon light coming from the paved court through the slits in the blind, her soot-black lashes matted, her grave gray eyes more vacant than ever.”

2. Marilynne Robinson, Housekeeping

” … in the last years she continued to settle and began to shrink. Her mouth bowed forward and her brow sloped back, and her skull shone pink and speckled within a mere haze of hair, which hovered about her head like the remembered shape of an altered thing. She looked as if the nimbus of humanity were fading away and she were turning monkey. Tendrils grew from her eyebrows and coarse white hairs sprouted on her lip and chin. When she put on an old dress the bosom hung empty and the hem swept the floor. Old hats fell down over her eyes. Sometimes she put her hand over her mouth and laughed, her eyes closed and her shoulder shaking.”

3. Jeffrey Eugenides, The Marriage Plot

“Phyllida’s hair was where her power resided. It was expensively set into a smooth dome, like a band shell for the presentation of that long-running act, her face.”

4. China Miéville, This Census-Taker

“His hand was over his eyes. He looked like a failed soldier. Dirt seemed so worked into him that the lines of his face were like writing.”

5. Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita

“And then the hot air congealed in front of him, and out of it materialized a transparent man of most bizarre appearance. A small head with a jockey cap, a skimpy little checked jacket that was made out of air … The man was seven feet tall, but very narrow in the shoulders, incredibly thin, and his face, please note, had a jeering look about it.”

6. Barbara Kingsolver, The Poisonwood Bible

“Mama BekwaTataba stood watching us—a little jet-black woman. Her elbows stuck out like wings, and a huge white enameled tub occupied the space above her head, somewhat miraculously holding steady while her head moved in quick jerks to the right and left.”

7. John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces

“A green hunting cap squeezed the top of the fleshy balloon of a head. The green earflaps, full of large ears and uncut hair and the fine bristles that grew in the ears themselves, stuck out on either side like turn signals indicating two directions at once. Full, pursed lips protruded beneath the bushy black moustache and, at their corners, sank into little folds filled with disapproval and potato chip crumbs. In the shadow under the green visor of the cap Ignatius J. Reilly’s supercilious blue and yellow eyes looked down upon the other people waiting under the clock at the D.H. Holmes department store, studying the crowd of people for signs of bad taste in dress. Several of the outfits, Ignatius noticed, were new enough and expensive enough to be properly considered offenses against taste and decency. Possession of anything new or expensive only reflected a person’s lack of theology and geometry; it could even cast doubts upon one’s soul.”

8. A.S. Byatt, Possession

“He was a compact, clearcut man, with precise features, a lot of very soft black hair, and thoughtful dark brown eyes. He had a look of wariness, which could change when he felt relaxed or happy, which was not often in these difficult days, into a smile of amused friendliness and pleasure which aroused feelings of warmth, and something more, in many women.”

9. Jonathan Safran Foer, Everything is Illuminated

“He did not look like anything special at all.”

PAY ATTENTION:

If you’re looking for guidance on writing your novel, I’d suggest my post, “ 12 Steps to Write a Bestselling Novel in 6 Months .”

10. Henry Lawson, The Bush Girl

“ Grey eyes that grow sadder than sunset or rain, f ond heart that is ever more true F irm faith that grows firmer for watching in vain — She’ll wait by the sliprails for you.”

11. Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man

“I am an invisible man.  No I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allen Poe:  Nor am I one of your Hollywood movie ectoplasms.  I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids - - and I might even be said to possess a mind.  I am invisible, simply because people refuse to see me.”

12. F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

“He smiled understandingly-much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced–or seemed to face–the whole eternal world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor.”

13. Thomas Wolfe, Look Homeward, Angel

“My brother Ben’s face, thought Eugene, is like a piece of slightly yellow ivory; his high white head is knotted fiercely by his old man’s scowl; his mouth is like a knife, his smile the flicker of light across a blade. His face is like a blade, and a knife, and a flicker of light: it is delicate and fierce, and scowls beautifully forever, and when he fastens his hard white fingers and his scowling eyes upon a thing he wants to fix, he sniffs with sharp and private concentration through his long, pointed nose…his hair shines like that of a young boy—it is crinkled and crisp as lettuce.”

14. Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Books

“A black shadow dropped down into the circle. It was Bagheera the Black Panther, inky black all over, but with the panther markings showing up in certain lights like the pattern of watered silk. Everybody knew Bagheera, and nobody cared to cross his path, for he was as cunning as Tabaqui, as bold as the wild buffalo, and as reckless as the wounded elephant. But he had a voice as soft as wild honey dripping from a tree, and a skin softer than down.”

15. Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

“[Miss Havisham] had shut out infinitely more; that, in seclusion, she had secluded herself from a thousand natural and healing influences; that, her mind, brooding solitary, had grown diseased, as all minds do and must and will that reverse the appointed order of their Maker…”

16. John Knowles, A Separate Peace

“For such and extraordinary athlete—even as a Lower Middler Phineas had been the best athlete in the school—he was not spectacularly built. He was my height—five feet eight and a half inches…He weighed a hundred and fifty pounds, a galling ten pounds more than I did, which flowed from his legs to torso around shoulders to arms and full strong neck in an uninterrupted, unemphatic unity of strength.”

17. Ambrose Bierce, Chickamauga

“-the dead body of a woman—the white face turned upward, the hands thrown out and clutched full of grass, the clothing deranged, the long dark hair in tangles and full of clotted blood. The greater part of the forehead was torn away, and from the jagged hole the brain protruded, overflowing the temple, a frothy mass of gray, crowned with clusters of crimson bubbles—the work of a shell.”

18. Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

“…your manners, impressing me with the fullest belief of your arrogance, your conceit, and your selfish disdain of the feelings of others, were such as to form the groundwork of disapprobation on which succeeding events have built so immovable a dislike; and I had not known you a month before I felt that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry.”

19. Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

“He was most fifty, and he looked it. His hair was long and tangled and greasy, and hung down, and you could see his eyes shining through like he was behind vines. It was all black, no gray; so was his long, mixed-up whiskers. There warn’t no color in his face, where his face showed; it was white; not like another man’s white, but a white to make a body sick, a white to make a body’s flesh crawl – a tree-toad white, a fish-belly white. As for his clothes – just rags, that was all. He had one ankle resting on t’other knee; the boot on that foot was busted, and two of his toes stuck through, and he worked them now and then. His hat was laying on the floor – an old black slouch with the top caved in, like a lid.”

20. William Golding, Lord of the Flies

“Inside the floating cloak he was tall, thin, and bony; and his hair was red beneath the black cap. His face was crumpled and freckled, and ugly without silliness.”

21. Jane Austen, Persuasion

“Vanity was the beginning and end of Sir Walter Elliot’s character: vanity of person and of situation. He had been remarkably handsome in his youth, and at fifty-four was still a very fine man. . . .”

For those of you who want to write a novel, visit this post: “ 12 Steps to Write a Bestselling Novel .”

You will not regret it.

22. Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book

“When the old king saw this he foamed with rage, stared wildly about, flung himself on the ground and died.”

23. Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

“He was commonplace in complexion, in feature, in manners, and in voice. He was of middle size and of ordinary build. His eyes, of the usual blue, were perhaps remarkably cold, and he certainly could make his glance fall on one as trenchant and heavy as an axe… Otherwise there was only an indefinable, faint expression of his lips, something stealthy — a smile — not a smile — I remember it, but I can’t explain.”

24. Anne Bronte, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

“His heart was like a sensitive plant, that opens for a moment in the sunshine, but curls up and shrinks into itself at the slightest touch of the finger, or the lightest breath of wind.”

25. Max Beerbohm, Zuleika Dobson

“He followed with his eyes her long slender figure as she threaded her way in and out of the crowd, sinuously, confidingly, producing a penny from one lad’s elbow, a threepenny-bit from between another’s neck and collar, half a crown from another’s hair, and always repeating in that flute-like voice of hers: “Well, this is rather queer!””

26. Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

“He had a long chin and big rather prominent teeth, just covered, when he was not talking, by his full, floridly curved lips. Old, young? Thirty? Fifty? Fifty-five? It was hard to say.”

27. Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

“Her skin was a rich black that would have peeled like a plum if snagged, but then no one would have thought of getting close enough to Mrs. Flowers to ruffle her dress, let alone snag her skin. She didn’t encourage familiarity. She wore gloves too. I don’t think I ever saw Mrs. Flowers laugh, but she smiled often. A slow widening of her thin black lips to show even, small white teeth, then the slow effortless closing. When she chose to smile on me, I always wanted to thank her.”

28. D.H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterley’s Lover

“But her will had left her. A strange weight was on her limbs. She was giving way. She was giving up…”

29. Henry James, The Aspern Papers

“Her face was not young, but it was simple; it was not fresh, but it was mild. She had large eyes which were not bright, and a great deal of hair which was not ‘dressed,’ and long fine hands which were–possibly–not clean.”

30. Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Zanoni Book One: The Musician

“She is the spoiled sultana of the boards. To spoil her acting may be easy enough,—shall they spoil her nature? No, I think not. There, at home, she is still good and simple; and there, under the awning by the doorway,—there she still sits, divinely musing. How often, crook-trunked tree, she looks to thy green boughs; how often, like thee, in her dreams, and fancies, does she struggle for the light,—not the light of the stage-lamps.”

31. Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary

“Living among those white-faced women with their rosaries and copper crosses…”

32. Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

“Though every vestige of her dress was burnt, as they told me, she still had something of her old ghastly bridal appearance; for, they had covered her to the throat with white cotton-wool, and as she lay with a white sheet loosely overlying that, the phantom air of something that had been and was changed, was still upon her.”

33. Rudyard Kipling, Many Inventions

“He wrapped himself in quotations – as a beggar would enfold himself in the purple of Emperors.”

34. Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

“He was sunshine most always-I mean he made it seem like good weather.”

35. Hugh Lofting, The Story of Doctor Dolittle

“For a long time he said nothing. He kept as still as a stone. He hardly seemed to be breathing at all. When at last he began to speak, it sounded almost as though he were singing, sadly, in a dream.”

36. Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

“I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be.”

37. Edwin A. Abbott, Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions

“He is himself his own World, his own Universe; of any other than himself he can form no conception; he knows not Length, nor Breadth, nor Height, for he has had no experience of them; he has no cognizance even of the number Two; nor has he a thought of Plurality, for he is himself his One and All, being really Nothing.”

38. Jamie McGuire, Beautiful Oblivion

“Her long platinum blond hair fell in loose waves past her shoulders, with a few black peekaboo strands. She wore a black minidress and combat boots.”

39. N.K. Jemisin, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

“His long, long hair wafted around him like black smoke, its tendrils curling and moving of their own volition. His cloak — or perhaps that was his hair too — shifted as if in an unfelt wind.”

40. M.L. LeGette, The Orphan and the Thief

“A creature–a frightfully, awful creature–was mere feet from her. Its eyes were enormous, the size of goose eggs and milky white. Its gray, slippery skin was stretched taut upon its face. Its mouth was wide and full of needle teeth. Its hands rested on the rock, hands that were webbed and huge with each finger ending in a sharp, curved nail. It was as tall as a human man, yet oddly shrunken and hunched.”

41. Amber Dawn, Sub Rosa

“When he did appear his eyes were as brown as I remembered, pupils flecked with gold like beach pebbles.”

42. Julia Stuart, The Tower, The Zoo, and The Tortoise

“His hair had been grown to counteract its unequivocal retreat from the top of his head, and was fashioned into a mean, frail ponytail that hung limply down his back. Blooms of acne highlighted his vampire-white skin.”

43. James Lee Burke, The Neon Rain

“His khaki sleeves were rolled over his sunburned arms, and he had the flat green eyes and heavy facial features of north Louisiana hill people. He smelled faintly of dried sweat, Red Man, and talcum powder.”

44. Stephenie Meyer, Twilight

“I vividly remembered the flat black color of his eyes the last time he glared at me – the color was striking against the background of his pale skin and his auburn hair. Today, his eyes were a completely different color: a strange ocher, darker than butterscotch, but with the same golden tone.”

45. Brian Malloy, Twelve Long Months

“Whith her hair dyed bright red, she looks like Ronald McDonald’s post-menopausal sister. Who has let herself go.” (This is one of my favorites, because I find it ridiculously funny)

46. Joan Johnston, No Longer A Stranger

“Actually, Reb had the same flawless complexion as her sister– except for the freckles. Her straight, boyishly cut hair fell onto her brow haphazardly and hid beautiful arched brows that framed her large, expressive eyes. She had a delicate, aquiline nose, but a stubborn mouth and chin.”

47. Brian Morton, Breakable You

“Without her glasses Vivian did look a little frightening. She had tight sinewy strappy muscles and a face that was hardened and almost brutal – a face that might have been chiseled by a sculptor who had fallen out of love with the idea of beauty.”

48. Anne Rice, The Vampire Armand

“I saw my Master had adorned himself in a thick tunic and beautiful dark blue doublet which I’d hardly noticed before. He wore soft sleek dark blue gloves over his hands, gloves which perfectly cleaved to his fingers, and legs were covered by thick soft cashmere stockings all the way to his beautiful pointed shoes.”

49. Becca Fitzpatrick, Black Ice

“His brown hair was cropped, and it showed off the striking s ymmetry of his face. With the sun at his back, shadows marked the depressions beneath his cheekbones. I couldn’t tell the color of his eyes, but I hoped they were brown…The guy had straight, sculptured shoulders that made me think swimmer …”

50. E.C. Sheedy, Killing Bliss

“He stood, which put him eye to eye with the dark-haired woman whose brilliant, burning gaze poured into his worthless soul like boiling tar, whose mouth frothed with fury–and whose hand now curled, knuckles white, around a steak knife.” (The author gives a lot of details about the characters emotions, but there is not one specific detail about neither of their appearances. Use this as an example of how physical appearances aren’t always the most important thing.)

51. James Lee Burke, The Neon Rain

“His wiry gray and black hair was dripping with sweat, and his face was the color and texture of old paper. He looked up at me from where he was seated on his bunk, and his eyes were hot and bright and moisture was beaded across his upper lip. He held a Camel cigarette between his yellowed fingers, and the floor around his feet was covered with cigarette butts.”

52. Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

“She has bright, dark eyes and satiny brown skin and stands tilted up on her toes with arms slightly extended to her sides, as if ready to take wing at the slightest sound.”

53. Becca Fitzpatrick, Hush, Hush

“He was abominable…and the most alluring, tortured soul I’d ever met.” (This isn’t describing him physically, but it is giving insight to how the main character views him)

54. J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

“A giant of a man was standing in the doorway. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair.”

55. Anne Rice, Violin

“I deliberately thought of him, my violinist, point by point, that with his long narrow nose and such deep-set eyes he might have been less seductive to someone else–perhaps. But then perhaps to no one. What a well-formed mouth he had, and how the narrow eyes, the detailed deepened lids gave him such a range of expression, to open his gaze wide, or sink in cunning street.”

56. Kevin Brooks, Lucas

“As I’ve already said, the memory of Lucas’s walk brings a smile to my face. It’s an incredibly vivid memory, and if I close my eyes I can see it now. An easygoing lope. Nice and steady. Not too fast and not too slow, Fast enough to get somewhere, but not too fast to miss anything. Bouncy, alert, resolute, without any concern and without vanity. A walk that both belonged to and was remote from everything around it.”

57. Anne Rice, Violin

“And she looked the way he had always hated her–dreamy and sloppy, and sweet, with glasses falling down, smoking a cigarette, with ashes on her coat, but full of love, her body heavy and shapeless with age.”

58. Kevin Brooks, Lucas

“As we drew closer, the figure became clearer, It was a young man, or a boy, dressed loosely in a drab green T-shirt and baggy green trousers. He had a green army jacket tied around his waist and a green canvas bag slung over his shoulder. The only non-green thing about him was the pair of scruffy black walking boots on his feet. Although he was on the small side, he wasn’t as slight as I first thought. He wasn’t exactly muscular, but he wasn’t weedy-looking either…there was an air of hidden strength about him, a graceful strength that showed in his balance, the way he held himself, the way he walked….”

59. Iris Johansen, The Face of Deception

“Kinky tousled curls, only a minimum of makeup, large brown eyes behind round wire-rimmed glasses. There was a world of character in that face, more than enough to make her fascinating-looking instead of just attractive.”

60. Dennis Lehane, A Drink Before the War

“Brian Paulson was rake thin, with smooth hair the color of tin and a wet fleshy handshake…. His greeting was a nod and a blink, befitting someone who’d stepped out of the shadows only momentarily.”

61. Gena Showalter, The Darkest Night

“Pale hair fell in waves to his shoulders, framing a face mortal females considered a sensual feast. They didn’t know the man was actually a devil in angel’s skin. They should have, though. He practically glowed with irreverence, and there was an unholy gleam in his green eyes that proclaimed he would laugh in your face while cutting out your heat. Or laugh in your face while you cut out his heart.”

62. Sam Byers, Idiopathy

“Now here he was: sartorially, facially and interpersonally sharpened; every inch the beatific boffin.”

63. Maggie Stiefvater, The Raven Boys

“As always, there was an all-American war hero look to him, coded in his tousled brown hair, his summer-narrowed hazel eyes, the straight nose that ancient Anglo-Saxons had graciously passed on to him. Everything about him suggested valor and power and a firm handshake.”

64. J.R.R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

“The face of Elrond was ageless, neither old nor young, though in it was written the memory of many things both glad and sorrowful. His hair was dark as the shadows of twilight, and upon it was set a circlet of silver; his eyes were grey as a clear evening, and in them was a light like the light of stars.”

65. Fredrik Backman, A Man Called Ove

“People said Ove saw the world in black and white. But she was color. All the color he had.”

66. Frank Herbert, Dune

“…a girl-child who appeared to be about four years old. She wore a black aba, the hood thrown back to reveal the attachments of a stillsuit hanging free at her throat. Her eyes were Fremen blue, staring out of a soft, round face. She appeared completely unafraid and there was a look to her stare that made the Baron feel uneasy for no reason he could explain.”

67. Orson Scott Card, Ender’s Game

“Ender did not see Peter as the beautiful ten-year-old boy that grown-ups saw, with dark, tousled hair and a face that could have belonged to Alexander the Great. Ender looked at Peter only to detect anger or boredom, the dangerous moods that almost always led to pain.”

68. Caitlin Moran, How to Build a Girl

“He had his head in his hands, and his tie looked like it had been put on by an enemy, and was strangling him.”

69. Graham Joyce, Some Kind of Fairy Tale

“Peter was a gentle, red-haired bear of a man. Standing at six-four in his socks, he moved everywhere with a slight and nautical sway, but even though he was broad across the chest there was something centered and reassuring about him, like an old ship’s mast cut from a single timber.”

70. Brad Parks, The Girl Next Door

“…in addition to being fun, smart, and quick-witted—in a feisty way that always kept me honest—she’s quite easy to look at, with never-ending legs, toned arms, curly brown hair, and eyes that tease and smile and glint all at the same time.”

71. Dennis Lehane, A Drink Before the War

“Sterling Mulkern was a florid, beefy man, the kind who carried weight like a weapon, not a liability. He had a shock of stiff white hair you could land a DC-10 on and a handshake that stopped just short of inducing paralysis.”

72. Philip Pullman, The Golden Compass

“Lord Asriel was a tall man with powerful shoulders, a fierce dark face, and eyes that seemed to flash and glitter with savage laughter. It was a face to be dominated by, or to fight: never a face to patronize or pity. All his movements were large and perfectly balanced, like those of a wild animal, and when he appeared in a room like this, he seemed a wild animal held in a cage too small for it.”

73. Sherman Alexie, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven

“I thought she was so beautiful. I figured she was the kind of woman who could make buffalo walk on up to her and give up their lives. She wouldn’t have needed to hunt. Every time we went walking, birds would follow us around. Hell, tumbleweeds would follow us around.”

29 comments

woowwwwwwwwie

Love the compilation. Thank you for doing this

This is a great compilation! My students are working on writing characters right now, so I’m having them look through your list to see examples of a job well done 🙂 Thanks!

Thanks I’m using these for students to make character drawings from

This is really helpful ! Love it !

Do you have a way, where you could put the characters physical traits in this website?

Thank you for the awesome list. You should add this one; it’s from Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: “Mr. Utterson, the lawyer, was a man of rugged countenance, that was never lightened by a smile; cold, scanty and embarrassed in discourse; backward in sentiment; lean, long, dusty, dreary, and yet somehow lovable.” There’s more after, but I thought this was a good description.

And this one: “Mr. Hyde was pale and dwarfish, he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation, he had a displeasing smile, he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness, and he spoke with a husky, whispering, and somewhat broken voice: all these were points against him, but all of them together could not describe the hitherto unknown disgust, loathing, and fear with which Mr. Utterson regarded him.”

The quote that stood out to me the most was the quote from ‘The Census Taker’. That quote captured the characters feelings so well. The author was able to compare in self worth by saying it was as dirt, so much so that the dirt was written in his skin. I have never seen self worth and failure described as part of a person’s face.

Thank you. I echo Chris’s comment Wowwwwww and add a few!!!!

Wonderful! Reading these enabled me to rewrite the descriptions for my two leading characters.

Thank you for this, very helpful! I don’t know if this is really related, but I’m writing a story including a mean girl who bullies the main character (also a girl). I’m struggling to write what the mean girl uses to bully the main character – what I end up coming up with is way too mean or unreal, etc.

Blinded by tears, she could hear the haze of pink shout, “See, poor baby cries. Great actress, dear. Why do you waste your talent on us, here?”

great great any book for description of physical appearance in narrative

Great list. And I have one to add. It’s from Michael Moorcock, riding the new wave of British sci-fi back in the 1960s. He’s been a favorite of mine for decades. The passage is from “Elric of Melniboné:”

“It is the colour of a bleached skull, his flesh; and the long hair which flows below his shoulders is milk-white. From the tapering, beautiful head stare two slanting eyes, crimson and moody, and from the loose sleeves of his yellow gown emerge two slender hands, also the colour of bone, resting on each arm of a seat which has been carved from a single, massive ruby.”

Thanks for this – very useful compilation for teaching – makes life so much easier! And helps in my writing, to look at expressions and word arrangements… I notice how some writers seem so good in visual description, and some others seem to be much better at character expressions..

wowzers!!! this is so cool!

I planned to just read a few, but I couldn’t stop reading. These are awesome! Thank you.

“Character Description” on The John Fox’s blog is a treasure trove of valuable tips and techniques for crafting compelling characters. The blog explores the art of painting vivid and multi-dimensional personas, adding depth to storytelling. Aspiring writers will find this guide indispensable for creating memorable characters that resonate with readers.

holy MOLY, thank you!

I liked them

wow thanks you have really helped me but can you put something to describe a character that is a tyrant please? that would really help

Absolutely remarkable. So very helpful in every since of the word.

OH HELLL YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

A killer set of fine examples! Thanks for compiling it!

Please, add sentences that can apply to more characters.

Love it but should be more single sentences

Every writer NEEDS this book.

It’s a guide to writing the pivotal moments of your novel.

Whether writing your book or revising it, this will be the most helpful book you’ll ever buy.

Learn how to:

Nail chapter endings
Surprise your reader with plot twists
Describe a character for the first time
Write a killer ending

Stack Exchange Network

Stack Exchange network consists of 183 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow , the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers.

Q&A for work

Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search.

Main male character description

I've been asked to write a story as an assignment. It should have as the main male character an unusually smart, clever, insightful and thoughtful guy who is somewhat reserved and mysterious. The point is that I cannot figure out how to draw a good, lively and convincing description without being stereotypical or boring. I guess that this kind of character is quite common: can you suggest me some examples of good descriptions that can be found online so that I get an idea about how to proceed? Thank you.

creative-writing
short-story
character-development

3 Isn't this exactly the point of your assignment? To learn how to create such a character on your own, without copying someone else's work? – Lauren-Clear-Monica-Ipsum Commented Jun 20, 2014 at 18:32
Lauren, I agree, but this is a borderline situation. If people vote-to-close, it'll show the community agrees with you. – Goodbye Stack Exchange Commented Jun 20, 2014 at 19:17
1 @LaurenIpsum you're right, but I don't want to copy "someone else's work": I just want to learn how to do my work more effectively by reading some examples that you professional writers find good enough to reccomend – user9933 Commented Jun 20, 2014 at 20:05
4 You don't need an example of the exact same character you are supposed to create on your own. That would be cheating (and we don't want to help you with that) and you would not learn anything (which we want to help you with). What you might want to do is pick up any book, read the character descriptions, define for yourself what kind of character that description makes him, and then observe how this was done. Then you try that with your character. Failing is part of the learning process, and if you are afraid to fail, you'll never learn anything of value. – user5645 Commented Jun 21, 2014 at 12:46
1 You might also be interested in watching some of the older renditions of Sherlock (e.g. not Elementary or the movie with Robert Downey Jr.), or the more recent BBC adaptation. – drusepth Commented Jul 22, 2014 at 14:22

9 Answers 9

Smart, clever, insightful, thoughtful, reserved, and mysterious are all abstract qualities. They are summaries. And the summaries lack all of the juicy details that lead people to attribute those qualities.

Instead of describing such abstract characteristics, demonstrate them. Show the character doing clever things, or mysterious things. Let the reader reach the conclusions.

You might benefit from some ideas:

I explain more here: How to describe your point of view character in a first person novel?

If you want your character to be:

unusually smart clever, insightful and thoughtful guy who is somewhat reserved and mysterious

then Let your character develop as you write. You can do some pre-work. For each description in your list, ask this question

What is your character doing or going to do that is (smart)?

Keep these tag lines around and as you write, just make the character act these ways. I don't know what your character will do. So here is an example from my book:

My character is also smart. I don't actually ever say he is smart. I do say he is a Jeek, half jock half geek. He plays chess. He is watches the some college videos on chemistry just before his high school senior senior year to help prepare himself for AP chemistry. He talks about getting a scholarship either with sports or grades.

What I would focus on is the character's backstory. You're correct that the combination of traits that you describe could be pretty common, but what is unique is the why behind it. What happened in the character's past that has caused him to be so reserved? What sorts of influences did he have that nurtured his cleverness and insight? Different answers to those sorts of questions will yield vastly different characters, even though those core traits are still present.

Hi @Roger. Thank you for your answer. I will surely focus on your suggestion. However, I still need to give a first "basic description" of the character, and I would like to offer something more elaborated that "he is an unusually smart, clever, insightful and thoughtful guy who also happens to be inscrutable". I just want to be somewhat more lively in this first stage of description. What can I do? – user9933 Commented Jun 20, 2014 at 17:41
Also, I forgot to mention an important thing which is also causing trouble: the first part of the story should (according to the requirements I've received form my teacher) be presented from the perspective of two characters (our guy and another student) and each one should describe himself (not the other one or no-one!). Here comes the question: how do I make the guy describe himself in a lively way, but without sounding self-righteous or arrogant (which I think he should not be, according to his attributes)? – user9933 Commented Jun 20, 2014 at 17:57
Why should he necessarily be lively when describing himself, if he's meant to be reserved? "So, ever since I scored 2250 on my SATs, everyone's going on about how smart I am. I don't know if that's true; I just see how things go together. Things that other people struggle with tend to seem, I don't know, obvious to me. If you want to call that smart, that's your thing." So, in a few sentences, we establish that he's intelligent and has a gift for insight, but is at the same time introspective about it and too reserved to be boastful. – Roger Commented Jun 20, 2014 at 18:08
1 The point is to demonstrate those traits to the reader rather than just say that he has them. It's sort of like how if you have to tell people that you're cool, you're not cool. :) – Roger Commented Jun 20, 2014 at 18:11
Well. That is a good idea. Personally, I like that mixture of laziness and "devil-may-care attitude" in your example (maybe because I'm that way), although it could seem somewhat too blunt. Anyway, in general I like this way of presenting abstract qualities with facts to back them up. Thanks. :) – user9933 Commented Jun 20, 2014 at 20:11

So you've got a few adjectives for the character, to start off with. Some people are a fan of the figure-your-character-out-as-you-write approach, and some prefer outlining the character first. Since this is an assignment, and you don't want the character who spontaneously appeared as you wrote to differ from the one described in the assignment, I'd have to recommend the latter approach.

What makes a "good" or "lively" character:

Details! What are his quirks? Does he wrinkle his nose when something disgusts him, or wipe his right hand on his pants?
What does the world look from his point of view? What's his job? Does he like it? Any best friends? How'd he grow up? Since he's smart, insightful, and thoughtful, how did this shape his philosophy? You need to know to write him well, and we as readers find difficulty relating to him unless we can get inside his head a little. This will also be crucial for your self-description.
Give him flaws. Up until now he seems a little Gary-Stu-ish. He's smart, thoughtful, insightful, clever--he's most likely gone far in whatever he's done. Reserved and mysterious? Even better, the girls are swarming and we're all jealous of him and wondering what he's up to. Now balance that out. Is he arrogant because of this? Or is he eager to make people like him and bends over backwards for them? Or does he not have this success at all and is angry at the world for not giving him what he thinks he ought to get? This and the point above will most likely determine how he reacts to others.
Last but not least: We don't see his biography, we see him in action. Specific to your situation it seems like you're forced to give a little biography, but my general advice would be not to make it too long, and intersperse the rest of your biography in with the action, if you need to add it at all.

You've got a character, you know how he thinks, now it's time to throw him in a situation. Roll dice if you have to: 1 for getting mugged, 2 for being fired, 3 for meeting with an ex, so forth and so on. And build the situation such so that you can show most of his character traits in the situation. Think about what he might do to show the qualities you want to highlight.

For instance getting mugged: Your main character stops/talks down the attacker, maybe makes some comment about the mugger's motivation that obviously hits the nail on the head (because he's smart and insightful) , and lets him get away with a "dummy wallet" with only a few dollars (clever, well-prepared) and continues on his way. This scene is observed by an acquaintance who is following the main character and wondering what he's doing in that part of town at night, without having told anyone (mysterious and reserved) .

To add to @roger's answer, another thing that can make a character unique is giving them an atypical profession or hobby. Since these things will influence what the character will do everyday they are a part of who he is. A good example is Walter Mitty, a typical shy guy but works in negative assents for Life magazine. Interesting enough his job also defines a fresh context for a story that has been told a thousand times.

Thank you @aperl. However, in the story I've in mind, the guy is a college student (the whole thing is set in college, actually) about 21-2 years old. – user9933 Commented Jun 20, 2014 at 17:44
@user9933 In that case he could be part of a club or team. But if that doesn't fit with in the scope of the story I understand. Nevertheless thinking about such things might open up possibilities about why he might make certain decisions. We as people make decisions based on of our experience and our environment. – aperl Commented Jun 20, 2014 at 18:49

1) unusually smart,

I presume by "smart" you are not saying the same thing as "clever", "insightful" or "thoughtful", which IMO leaves an academic understanding of how things work. You show this by finding an opportunity to have the character explain something others (including the reader) may not understand very well. Of course as an author you can "cheat" by doing an hour of research on some question relevant to the storyline, and learning something surprising that your smart character can toss out in a paragraph or so.

2) clever: You show this by the character being inventive on the spot, coming up with a solution to a problem that seems like a good idea. This can be a solution to somebody else's stated problem, or a problem of his own.

3) insightful: Being insightful is usually understanding a problem or situation in such detail that conclusions can be drawn that were not stated or obvious. This is particularly true in relationship issues; an insightful person not only understands another's situation as stated, but understands the person well enough to know what they are not saying, or how they feel about the situation, and uses that. In fiction, they might state that, and elicit agreement from the person they are talking about.

4) thoughtful: This is somebody that thinks ahead to what WILL be needed, or what others will appreciate or need when the time comes. It is related to memory, but also to caring for others. For example: Joan is coming tomorrow, I know Joan, so I will shop today for Darjeeling tea because that is what she will want. Thoughtful involves thinking about others, thinking about the near term future, and taking action in the present to make the near term future better in someway.

5) somewhat reserved: Many highly intelligent people are also insecure and feel a need to show off their intelligence and receive praise or accolades for it. But not all of them. Some highly intelligent people know they are intelligent, and know that braggadocio and constantly reminding others they are the smartest person in the room, alienates them. In a way, it is applying their intelligence to understanding the patterns of social interaction. So they ARE somewhat reserved, willing to help but not insisting they know best or should be in charge or that all the stupid people should listen to them.

In fact, some smart people, besides knowing they are smart, also know that being a "know it all" is a pejorative; it can be threatening or off-putting to the 99% of people that are not as smart as they are. And knowing that, and being insightful, they will only assert their intelligence when it is really going to matter, when they anticipate significant negative consequences of failing to speak up.

In this way, most exceedingly intelligent people portrayed in fiction as socially awkward or lonely are actually be portrayed as stupid or defective , for all their brains they cannot figure out how to make friends, woo a romantic partner, or learn to use humor to relieve tension. All of these are learnable skills.

6) mysterious. Highly intelligent people can take actions on opportunities or threats that others do not perceive. Intelligence is about being able to predict the probable future (or for detectives what most likely happened), and the highly intelligent do this better than others. Thus what they are doing can be mysterious; if they don't explain it, we can't figure it out. You show this just by having them do things that seem significant, but are not explained.

I know I am not giving you examples; I think the point of this StackExchange is to provide instruction on how to accomplish what you wish in writing.

There is a lot the supplied description does NOT tell us about this character . It does not tell us how old he is. It does not tell us his race. It does say whether or not he has a handicap. It doesn't tell us if he is living now, in the past, or in the future. It doesn't say what kind of clothes he likes to wear. It doesn't tell us if he is short or tall. It doesn't say if he's ugly or handsome. It doesn't tell us what his native language is. It doesn't tell us if he's married or single. It doesn't tell us whether he rejects gender norms or exemplifies them. Figuring out those kinds of details will help give you a less generic character who can lend himself to a more interesting description --particularly if we see him in action, not in repose.

I watched, fascinated as books seemed to appear and disappear all by themselves on the counter over by the scanner. When I went around to the other side of the desk, I saw him, an African-American boy so short he had to reach up over his head to check out the books. He was dressed all in black, with thick glasses, and just as he caught me looking at him, he disappeared into the stacks like a ninja, bearing several thick tomes under his arm.

As others here have mentioned, you want to show, not tell--have your smart, clever, insightful and thoughtful guy do smart, clever, insightful and thoughtful things, rather than just dictating a description.

That said, if you can't think of smart, clever, insightful and thoughtful things for your character to do, here's a way to cheat: think of some people you actually know who are smart, clever, insightful or thoughtful, and model your character after them. This is an easy and effective way to add detail and realism to your characters. The adage "good artists borrow, great artists steal" applies to real-life experiences as well as other artists!

As others have said, show, don't tell. Because that advice is rather vague, however, allow me to explain. The way I understand 'show, don't tell' is 'let the reader form his own conclusions. Just make sure they are the ones he is supposed to form.' For example, you don't need to say that someone rolled their eyes in exasperation. The fact that they rolled their eyes alone will usually make the reader deduce that they did it in exasperation. The same thing can go for characters. If they are smart, clever, insightful, and show it, you won't need to tell the reader that. He'll already know it.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged fiction creative-writing short-story characters character-development or ask your own question .

Featured on Meta
Bringing clarity to status tag usage on meta sites
We've made changes to our Terms of Service & Privacy Policy - July 2024
Announcing a change to the data-dump process

Hot Network Questions

DIN Rail Logic Gate
How to Vertically Join Images?
Why didn't Walter White choose to work at Gray Matter instead of becoming a drug lord in Breaking Bad?
Can't figure out this multi-wire branch circuit
In "Take [action]. When you do, [effect]", is the action a cost or an instruction?
Does the First Amendment protect deliberately publicizing the incorrect date for an election?
Clarification on Counterfactual Outcomes in Causal Inference
How to model drug adsorption on nanomaterial?
Why did evolution fail to protect humans against sun?
Can a Statute of Limitations claim be rejected by the court?
Multiplication of operators defined by commutation relations
Is an invalid date considered the same as a NULL value?
Questions about best way to raise the handlebar on my bike
What would be the optimal amount of pulses per second for pulsed laser rifles?
Why do individuals with revoked master’s/PhD degrees due to plagiarism or misconduct not return to retake them?
Where is the 6D-QSAR software Quasar(X) available?
Looking for a book from 25 ish years ago, Aliens mined Earth and made Humans their slaves, but a human bombs the alien homeworld,
On object cannot be moved along X
Can someone help me identify this plant?
Blocking between two MERGE queries inserting into the same table
Prove that there's a consecutive sequence of days during which I took exactly 11 pills
Erase the loops
Making blackberry Jam with fully-ripe blackberries
Writing a Puzzle Book: Enigmatic Puzzles

Skip to primary navigation
Skip to main content
Skip to primary sidebar

WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®

Helping writers become bestselling authors

Physical Feature Entry: Muscular Build

August 17, 2013 by BECCA PUGLISI

Physical description of a character can be difficult to convey—too much will slow the pace or feel ‘list-like’, while too little will not allow readers to form a clear mental image. If a reader cannot imagine what your character looks like, they may have trouble connecting with them on a personal level, or caring about their plight.

One way to balance the showing and telling of physical description is to showcase a few details that really help ‘tell the story’ about who your character is and what they’ve been through up to this point. Think about what makes them different and interesting. Can a unique feature, clothing choice or way they carry themselves help to hint at their personality? Also, consider how they move their body. Using movement will naturally show a character’s physical characteristics, keep the pace flowing and help to convey their emotions.

Descriptors : brawny, beefy, built, stacked, burly, hulking, robust, powerful…

Muscular individuals go beyond toned muscle structure and verge into defined, well built curves often visible through clothing. Muscles strain against fabric at the forearms, biceps and chest. Calves are bulkier than normal, the back broadened with muscle layers and a neck may appear wider at the base…

Things Muscles Do:

Flex : jump, bulge, ripple, jerk, strain, swell, rise, balloon
Harden: tense, firm, freeze, set, strengthen, knot, bunch

Key Emotions and Related Muscle Movements:

Anger: when angry or frustrated, muscles tense in aggression. The body naturally takes up more space, creating a bigger target and sending a message to opponents that one should not be messed with.
Fear: When experiencing fear, a person feels the desire to shrink and make oneself less of a target, aligning…

Simile and Metaphor Help:

Metallica came on and Randy began flexing his bulky chest muscles to the beat. Valerie and I roared; they jittered like twin bowls of Jello left on the counter during an earthquake…

Clichés to Avoid : muscles the size of beach balls, a muscle-bound body builder with no brains…

Describe your character’s features in a way that reveals more than just a physical description. Show what he looks like while also reinforcing his personality and emotional state, thereby doing more with less.

Need concrete examples of how to describe your character in a compelling, magnetic way? Good news! This thesaurus has been integrated into our online library at One Stop For Writers . There, you can find help with metaphors and similes , as well as the best ways to describe your character using movement. The entire Physical Feature collection is cross-referenced and linked for easy navigation. If you’re interested in seeing a free sampling of the updated Physical Feature Thesaurus and our other descriptive collections, head on over and register at One Stop!

Becca Puglisi is an international speaker, writing coach, and bestselling author of The Emotion Thesaurus and its sequels. Her books are available in five languages, are sourced by US universities, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, editors, and psychologists around the world. She is passionate about learning and sharing her knowledge with others through her Writers Helping Writers blog and via One Stop For Writers —a powerhouse online library created to help writers elevate their storytelling.

Reader Interactions

March 14, 2021 at 3:17 pm

7 years ago? Wow i sure am late but these really helped my writing-thanks!

August 19, 2013 at 11:13 am

Your idea of “showcasing” some details was great. The picture of those brawny guys wasn’t bad either!

August 18, 2013 at 10:14 am

This is awesome. I love the idea of dissecting how to depict character qualities. So glad I discovered your site!

August 17, 2013 at 12:48 pm

Great stuff, as usual. And nice photo with my morning coffee. 😉

August 17, 2013 at 12:47 pm

Thank you! I have a muscular love interest and have been working on describing him in non-traditional ways. The twin bowls of jello made me laugh:D

August 17, 2013 at 9:17 am

A little beefcake with the morning coffee. 😀 As always, Angela, your posts are a delight.

August 17, 2013 at 8:16 am

Great descriptors. Really big guys spend a lot of time maintaining it, so their gym time would almost have to play a part in any story. 😀

How to describe hands: 6 ways to make characters real

Describing hands is useful for showing characters’ psychological traits and personality, age and more. Many amateur writers stop at describing eye colour or how characters say their dialogue. Yet there are many different physical details you can use to show a character’s nature. Read examples that show how to describe hands in such a way that your writing is rich and detailed

Post author By Jordan
5 Comments on How to describe hands: 6 ways to make characters real

How to describe hands - examples and tips | Now Novel

1. Learn how to describe hands to show characters’ background

One purpose for describing hands is to tell readers about a characters’ background or vocation. If your protagonist is a chef in a fast-paced restaurant, for example, they might have a battle scar or two – a burn from a hot grill. Background you can draw attention to using hand description includes:

Work history (a manual labourer, for example, may have calloused hands or rough hands from hard work)
Traumatic past events (for example, a character has a scar on his forefinger because his younger brother attacked him with a box-cutter in a major argument when they were kids)
You could show a character that has a life of leisure and pampering by saying that their nails are beautifully painted with intricate designs on them.

Consider this example of hand description from John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath (1939), showing the protagonist’s background as a low-income farm worker:

‘His hands were hard, with broad fingers and nails as thick and ridged as little clam shells. The space between thumb and forefinger and the hams of his hands were shiny with callus.’

Steinbeck’s description makes it clear his character is accustomed to hard, physically-exacting work. This descriptive detail sets the tone for his character’s grueling journey.

2. Use words to describe hands that reveal personality

Like describing a character’s face (from ‘sallow’ to ‘gaunt’ to ‘youthful’), there are many words to describe hands that can help to flesh out your characters’ personalities.

For example, you could say:

‘He had impossibly enormous hands – his over-enthusiastic handshakes could definitely snap your wrist in two if you had weak bones.’

The size of the character’s hands conveys his strength. The hypothetical handshake goes further, implying the character is also an outgoing, enthusiastic person.

Think of other personalities, as an exercise, and try to describe hands to match each type. For example, characters who are:

Promiscuous

This is a useful exercise for picturing your characters down to the finest details. A character who is cunning might have small, crafty hands, while a character who is kind might have large, generous or nimble hands.

You could also show how different characters relate to each other through the way they connect with hands: holding hands, caressing each other, shaking hands firmly and so on. This shows the personality of each character too.

Here’s an example from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne:

He took hold of Shmuel’s tiny hand in his and squeezed it tightly. ‘You’re my best friend, Shmuel,’ he said. ‘My best friend for life.’

Learn to Write Compelling Characters

Get a workbook with exercises and videos on creating vivid, more memorable fictional characters.

3. Describe your characters’ hand gestures

Movement and gesture makes characters animated, giving them life on the page. Describing hand signals and gestures is a useful way to show characters’ moods and intentions, or to amplify what they communicate to each other.

A sarcastic and negative teenage character, for example, might sometimes air quote for irony. Example:

“Don’t go in there. Mom’s having her ‘me time’,” Jen wiggled two-finger peace signs into air quotes. “Ever since she got back from that yoga retreat she thinks she’s Gandhi or something.”

Other hand gestures include:

Signs of aggression and conflict (showing the middle finger, drawing the finger across the throat)
Gestures that show personality (for example, a character who clicks their fingers whenever they say something sassy)
Hand gestures that are a character’s unique quirks (e.g. a character drums the tips of their fingers together in Mr-Burns-from-The-Simpsons-like rapture whenever they talk about food they love)

The important thing with describing hands is not to overdo it. When you introduce a character, a hand gesture could add punch. But like every device, if you use this element on every page it will start to irritate and lose its effect.

How to describe hands in stories - Infographic | Now Novel

4. Learn from great authors: Read great hand description examples

Describing hands is something the great authors do well. Like in John Steinbeck’s example above, good description adds authenticating detail, making characters feel like flesh and blood.

Here, in Fahrenheit 451 (1953), Ray Bradbury describes the art of doing things by hand as something that imbues actions with spirit and enduring significance:

‘Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you’re there.’

This captures something of the intimacy of hands (and the intimacy between grandfather and grandson), as does this quote by Barbara Kingsolver:

‘The friend who holds your hand and says the wrong thing is made of dearer stuff than the one who stays away.’

Think of the truth in this. Say, for example, you write a scene where one character tells another something that is painful to hear but important. For example, that the other is on a self-destructive path and alienating their closest friends. Having the truth-telling character reach out and take the other’s hand, or place a hand on their shoulder, creates intimacy and a sense of trust. It shows your character’s attempt to soften hard but necessary words.

Describing hands in metaphorical terms is also an effective way to show your characters’ feelings, hopes and failures. For example, read F. Scott Fitzgerald’s metaphor involving hands. Here, in The Beautiful and the Damned (1922), the protagonist Anthony Patch tells Dot, the woman he is having an extra-marital affair with, his feelings:

‘Things are sweeter when they’re lost. I know–because once I wanted something and got it. It was the only thing I ever wanted badly, Dot, and when I got it it turned to dust in my hand.’

Because Anthony is heir to his grandfather’s fortune, he is stifled by his own sense of impending wealth, becoming stuck in insubstantial pursuits (partying and drinking) and he struggles to find a vocation. Thus the metaphor of everything turning to dust in Anthony’s hands effectively shows the character’s inability to grasp a meaningful life, his inability to shape and control his own fortunes for the time being.

5. Show characters’ age by describing their hands

People’s hands also reveal their age. An older character might have wrinkled hands, scattered with lines and sun spots, while younger hands could be plumper, softer and be smoother hands.

Of course, characters’ hands can also be incongruous with their biological age. For example, a young person who’s had a life of hard manual labour could be described thus:

‘Her hands were those of a much older woman, jabbed and poked as they were by needles in the dim light of the workshop where she tailored the clothing of investment bankers and opera-goers, often through the night until the morning risers wheeled their rattling bins onto the street.’

Are your characters’ hands fitting for their age, or do they show something telling in their contrast?

For example, an older, more privileged person might have younger hands due to having done little labour (or because they have an expensive beauty regimen). Think about what details such as these tell the reader about your characters.

6. Use characters’ hands to show their emotional states

The physical appearance and movements of characters’ hands reveal plenty about their emotional state. Beware clichéd hand gestures, however. For example, hand-wringing to show anxiety or distress. How many people do you know who actually wring their hands when distraught?

This may be a tic people do exhibit, but try choose descriptions that aren’t stock phrases (‘she wrung her hands in dismay’). If you do use a similar gesture, think about how you can estrange it from the cliché and make it fresh again, by adding your own detail. For example:

‘She pinched her index finger, all the way to the tip and back down again, as though she was checking and double-checking for a kink or break, while she listened, brow creased, to the unsettling news.’

Other ways describing hands can show your character’s emotional state include:

Bitten nails – indicating an anxious temperament or habitual stress-coping mechanisms
Cracking knuckles – this tic can indicate either being absent-mindedly deep in thought or simmering, suppressed aggression
Drumming fingers on a surface – this could indicate impatience, restlessness or boredom

Including descriptions of what your characters do with their hands will add extra colour and specificity to your description. Remember to balance this type of description with others, so that your characters aren’t all hands. The key to good style is balancing the elements of writing – action, narration, description and more – so that nothing begins to read as the author’s pet technique or crutch.

Find more articles on how to describe characters on our character writing hub .

Ready to improve your characters? Join Now Novel and get helpful feedback on character description or brainstorm details for your characters using our helpful prompts and guides.

Describing characters: How to describe faces imaginatively
Character posture: How to describe characters' bearing
How to describe a person vividly: 8 ways
Tags character description , how to describe hands , writing characters

Jordan is a writer, editor, community manager and product developer. He received his BA Honours in English Literature and his undergraduate in English Literature and Music from the University of Cape Town.

5 replies on “How to describe hands: 6 ways to make characters real”

This is a really great resource, thank you for sharing! So many new ideas for me here 🙂

This is just the information I was looking for. So much can be said in a handshake! Thank you

Great, Dawn, I’m glad you found this article helpful! Thank you for sharing your feedback.

You know that hand gesture, where you wave your hand across your throat to stop someone from speaking. It’s famously in a GIF of Jonah Hill at an awards ceremony. Is there a common descriptor of this? Additionally is there a resource for “slang” type of gestures. Help is appreciated!

Hi Od, interesting question! I would suggest something like ‘He drew his hand across his throat, mouthing ‘Cut! Cut!’. Or you could say ‘He drew a flat hand across his throat in a cutting motion to urge them to cut the live feed immediately’.

As for slang gestures, here’s a fun piece comparing the meanings of different gestures between countries. I hope this is helpful!

Pin It on Pinterest

TEFL Internship
TEFL Masters
Find a TEFL Course
Special Offers
Course Providers
Teach English Abroad
Find a TEFL Job
About DoTEFL
Our Mission
How DoTEFL Works

Forgotten Password

167 Adjectives To Describe a Person, With Meanings & Examples
Learn English
James Prior
No Comments
Updated October 16, 2023

People are unique, and we often need words to describe their characteristics. In this article, we’ll share 167 useful adjectives to describe a person, to help you describe people better.

Whether you’re writing a story or just describing a friend, these words will come in handy. From “hardworking” to “happy,” this list has words to describe people in a straightforward way along with their meanings and examples, making them easier for you to use and understand.

So, let’s explore these adjectives to help you express yourself better when talking about people.

Table of Contents

How to Use an Adjective to Describe a Person

An adjective is a word that describes or modifies a noun by providing additional information about its qualities or attributes.

In the context of describing a person, an adjective is a word that provides additional information about the person’s characteristics, qualities, or attributes.

Adjectives can be used to convey details about a person’s physical appearance, personality, behavior, or other characteristics that help create a more comprehensive description. For instance, in the phrase “He is a kind person,” the adjective “kind” is used to describe the person’s personality, indicating that they possess the quality of kindness.

Adjectives in this context can encompass a wide range of traits, including positive qualities like “confident,” “friendly,” or “intelligent,” as well as negative qualities like “arrogant,” or “lazy,” among many others.

We’ll take a look at both positive and negative adjectives to describe a person below:

Positive Adjectives To Describe a Person

Adaptable – Capable of adjusting to new circumstances. Example : Her adaptable nature made her a valuable asset to the team.

Adventurous – Willing to take risks and try new experiences. Example : She’s an adventurous traveler, always exploring new and exciting destinations.

Affectionate – Showing love and care for others openly. Example : His affectionate hugs and kind words make everyone feel valued.

Altruistic – Selflessly concerned for the well-being of others. Example : His altruistic acts of charity have improved countless lives.

Ambitious – Having a strong desire to achieve goals and succeed. Example : Sarah is an ambitious entrepreneur who dreams of building a successful company.

Amiable – Friendly and pleasant in disposition. Example : His amiable personality makes it easy for him to make friends wherever he goes.

Amusing – Entertaining and causing laughter. Example : She’s an amusing storyteller who can make anyone laugh with her tales.

Analytical – Skilled in breaking down complex problems into manageable parts. Example : Her analytical skills made her an excellent data scientist.

Articulate – Expressing thoughts and ideas clearly and effectively. Example : Her articulate speech inspired the audience.

Artistic – Creative and skilled in the arts. Example : His artistic talents shine through in his beautiful paintings and sculptures.

Attentive – Paying close attention to details and others’ needs. Example : The attentive nurse made sure the patient felt comfortable and well cared for.

Authentic – Genuine and true to oneself. Example : His authentic personality made it easy for people to trust and connect with him.

Benevolent – Kind and generous, desiring to do good for others. Example : The benevolent donor contributed to the charity, helping many in need.

Bold – Fearless and willing to take risks. Example : The bold explorer ventured into uncharted territories.

Brilliant – Exceptionally intelligent and bright. Example : Her brilliant mind enabled her to solve complex problems with ease.

Caring – Showing concern and compassion for others. Example : He’s a caring friend who is always there to lend a helping hand.

Charismatic – Exuding charm and attracting others with their presence. Example : The charismatic leader inspired the team with their enthusiasm and vision.

Charitable – Willing to give to those in need. Example : The charitable organization raised funds to support the homeless.

Charming – Pleasant and delightful, often with a magnetic personality. Example : His charming demeanor won the hearts of everyone he met.

Cheerful – Full of happiness and optimism. Example : Her cheerful disposition brightened up even the gloomiest days.

Compassionate – Feeling empathy and showing a deep concern for others’ suffering. Example : The compassionate volunteer comforted the disaster-stricken families.

Confident – Self-assured and having a strong belief in oneself. Example : His confident demeanor allowed him to excel in public speaking.

Considerate – Thoughtful and mindful of others’ feelings and needs. Example : His considerate actions made him a great partner.

Courageous – Brave and willing to face difficult or dangerous situations. Example : The courageous firefighter risked their life to save others from the burning building.

Courteous – Polite and showing good manners. Example : She handled the challenging situation with grace and composure.

Creative – Having a strong imagination and innovative thinking. Example : Her creative ideas brought a fresh perspective to the project.

Determined – Firmly committed to achieving goals. Example : Her determined efforts led to her successful business launch.

Diligent – Showing careful and persistent effort in one’s work. Example : His diligent work ethic led to his timely completion of complex tasks.

Dynamic – Energetic and capable of change and growth. Example : The dynamic leader adapted to shifting market trends.

Eloquent – Fluent and persuasive in speech and writing. Example : His eloquent words left a lasting impact on the audience.

Empathetic – Understanding and sharing the feelings of others. Example : She’s an empathetic therapist who provides comfort to her patients.

Empowering – Providing others with the resources and confidence to succeed. Example : Her empowering mentorship helped others achieve their dreams.

Endearing – Attracting affection and fondness from others. Example : His endearing quirks and kindness won the hearts of everyone he met.

Energetic – Full of vitality and enthusiasm. Example : His energetic performance on stage got the crowd dancing.

Enthusiastic – Excited and passionate about a particular activity or cause. Example : The enthusiastic volunteers rallied the community to support their cause.

Friendly – Warm and pleasant in social interactions. Example : Her friendly nature makes her a favorite among her coworkers.

Generous – Willing to give and share with others. Example : He’s generous with both his time and resources, always ready to help.

Genuine – Sincere and without pretense. Example : Her genuine apology conveyed her true remorse.

Gracious – Polite and courteous, even under pressure. Example : She handled the challenging situation with grace and composure.

Grateful – Appreciative of kindness and ready to express thanks. Example : She was grateful for the support during her difficult times.

Happy – Feeling or expressing joy and contentment. Example : His happy laughter is infectious and brightens the room.

Hardworking – Someone who puts in a lot of effort and diligence in their work or tasks. Example : She is a hardworking student who spends hours studying every day to achieve top grades in her classes.

Honest – Truthful and sincere in words and actions. Example : Her honest feedback helped the team identify areas for improvement.

Humble – Modest and not boastful about one’s abilities or achievements. Example : Despite his success, he remains humble and approachable.

Innovative – Introducing new ideas and methods. Example : His innovative mind allowed him to invent the product that revolutionized the industry.

Inspirational – Providing motivation and encouragement to others. Example : His inspirational story inspired many to overcome adversity.

Inspiring – Stimulating and motivating to others. Example : Her inspiring story encouraged many to follow their dreams.

Intelligent – Having a high level of mental capability. Example : Her intelligent analysis of the problem led to a breakthrough.

Jovial – Full of high-spirited, good-natured humor and cheer. Example : His jovial personality lightened the mood in any gathering.

Joyful – Filled with great happiness and delight. Example : Their joyful celebrations lit up the entire neighborhood.

Kind – Showing a genuine concern for the well-being of others. Example : Her kind gestures made her the favorite aunt among the children.

Lively – Full of life, energy, and enthusiasm. Example : He was always very lively and got everyone on the dance floor.

Loving – Feeling and expressing deep affection and care. Example : He’s a loving partner who makes every day special.

Loyal – Faithful and devoted to a person, cause, or organization. Example : He’s a loyal friend who always has your back.

Modest – Demonstrating humility and not boasting about one’s abilities or achievements. Example : Despite her outstanding performance, she remained modest and never boasted about her accomplishments.

Motivated – Eager and driven to achieve goals. Example : Her motivated attitude led to her impressive career growth.

Nurturing – Providing care and support to encourage growth and development. Example : Her nurturing nature made her a great nurse.

Optimistic – Hopeful and confident about the future with a positive outlook on life. Example : His optimistic outlook inspired others to tackle challenges.

Outgoing – Sociable, friendly, and extroverted, often engaging with people in a lively and open manner. Example : His outgoing nature made him the life of the party, effortlessly engaging with people and spreading laughter.

Passionate – Having a strong and intense enthusiasm for something. Example : He’s a passionate advocate for environmental conservation.

Patient – Able to endure waiting, delay, or difficult situations. Example : Her patience as a teacher brought out the best in her students.

Peaceful – Calm and free from conflict. Example : He was a peaceful guy and didn’t want any trouble.

Persevering – Continuing in a course of action despite difficulties. Example : Her persevering spirit allowed her to achieve her dreams.

Playful – Fun-loving and full of playfulness. Example : Her playful nature brought joy to the whole family.

Positive – Having an optimistic and constructive attitude. Example : His positive outlook on challenges motivated the team.

Proactive – Taking initiative to make things happen. Example : Her proactive approach resolved issues before they escalated.

Professional – Demonstrating a high level of expertise, competence, and a polished demeanor in one’s work or field. Example : She approached her work with unwavering dedication, maintaining a polished demeanor and demonstrating exceptional competence in her field.

Radiant – Emitting a bright and glowing light. Example : Her radiant smile lit up the room.

Relaxed – Calm and free from stress. Example : His relaxed demeanor calmed everyone down.

Reliable – Dependable and trustworthy in one’s commitments. Example : He’s a reliable colleague who always meets deadlines.

Resilient – Able to bounce back from adversity and maintain strength. Example : Her resilient spirit carried her through tough times.

Resourceful – Skilled in finding practical solutions to problems. Example : His resourceful nature helped the team overcome obstacles.

Respectful – Showing esteem and regard for others. Example : His respectful behavior towards elders is commendable.

Sensible – Showing good judgment and practicality. Example : Her sensible advice guided her friends through tough decisions.

Sincere – Genuine and honest in one’s intentions and expressions. Example : Her sincere apology mended the broken friendship.

Smart – Clever and quick-witted. Example : His smart decisions consistently led to success.

Sociable – Enjoying the company of others and being socially active. Example : She’s a sociable host who makes guests feel welcome.

Steadfast – Resolutely firm and unwavering in purpose. Example : His steadfast commitment led to the completion of the project.

Strong – Physically and mentally powerful. Example : His strong determination allowed him to overcome great obstacles.

Supportive – Providing encouragement and assistance to others. Example : The supportive coach helped the team reach their full potential.

Sympathetic – Understanding and compassionate towards others’ hardships. Example : His sympathetic words provided comfort to the grieving family.

Tactful – Showing consideration and sensitivity in dealing with others. Example : Her tactful approach diffused tense situations.

Talented – Possessing natural abilities or skills in a particular area. Example : She’s a talented musician, captivating audiences with her melodies.

Tenacious – Persistent and determined to achieve a goal. Example : His tenacious spirit made him a successful entrepreneur.

Thoughtful – Considerate and attentive to others’ needs and feelings. Example : He is a very thoughtful person and always knows when people need him.

Trusting – Having faith in the reliability and honesty of others. Example : His trusting nature strengthened relationships with colleagues.

Trustworthy – Reliable and deserving of trust. Example : His trustworthy nature makes him the go-to person for confidential matters.

Understanding – Sympathetic and capable of grasping others’ perspectives. Example : Her understanding of different cultures fostered global unity.

Upbeat – Cheerful and optimistic in attitude. Example : Her upbeat personality brightened the workplace environment.

Vibrant – Full of energy and life. Example : She is very positive and vibrant.

Visionary – Possessing innovative ideas and long-term plans. Example : The visionary leader transformed the company’s future.

Vivacious – Lively and animated in spirit. Example : Her vivacious personality added excitement to the gathering.

Warm – Kind and friendly in demeanor. Example : Her warm smile made newcomers feel instantly at home.

Warmhearted – Kind and compassionate in nature. Example : His warmhearted gestures touched the lives of many.

Wise – Possessing a deep understanding and good judgment. Example : His wise counsel guided many through challenging decisions.

Witty – Clever and quick with humor. Example : Her witty comments always brought a smile to people’s faces.

Zealous – Eager and enthusiastic in pursuit of a cause. Example : The zealous volunteers worked tirelessly for the charity.

Negative Adjectives To Describe a Person

Abusive – Engaging in harmful or violent behavior toward others. Example : His abusive language created a hostile work environment.

Aggressive – Displaying hostile and forceful behavior. Example : His aggressive attitude often led to conflicts with coworkers.

Aloof – Emotionally distant and uninvolved. Example : She remained aloof and disinterested in social interactions.

Annoying – Causing irritation or displeasure. Example : His annoying habits drove his roommates to frustration.

Arrogant – Displaying excessive pride and a sense of superiority. Example : Her arrogant demeanor made it difficult to work with her.

Boastful – Bragging excessively about one’s achievements. Example : His boastful nature made it hard for others to tolerate him.

Boring – Lacking interest or excitement. Example : The boring lecture put the students to sleep.

Cautious – Excessively timid and hesitant. Example : His cautious approach prevented him from taking risks.

Cruel – Willfully causing harm or suffering to others. Example : His cruel remarks wounded the feelings of those around him.

Deceitful – Deliberately misleading or dishonest. Example : Her deceitful actions shattered trust among her friends.

Defensive – Quick to protect oneself, often in a confrontational manner. Example : He became defensive whenever his actions were questioned.

Demanding – Excessively insisting on attention or effort from others. Example : Her demanding boss made work life stressful.

Dependent – Relying excessively on others for support and decisions. Example : His dependent nature made it hard for him to be independent.

Disloyal – Betraying trust or allegiance to others. Example : His disloyal actions led to the downfall of the partnership.

Disrespectful – Showing a lack of respect for others. Example : Her disrespectful comments hurt the feelings of her classmates.

Distant – Emotionally uninvolved and detached from others. Example : He remained distant, rarely sharing his thoughts or feelings.

Dull – Lacking enthusiasm, intelligence, or an engaging personality. Example : His dull conversation and unenthusiastic demeanor made it challenging to engage with him at social gatherings.

Egocentric – Focused exclusively on one’s own needs and desires. Example : His egocentric behavior made him oblivious to others’ concerns.

Entitled – Believing oneself to be inherently deserving of special treatment. Example : Her entitled attitude made her difficult to work with.

Envious – Feeling resentful of others’ success or possessions. Example : Her envious remarks about her friend’s achievements were hurtful.

Fake – Not genuine or sincere in behavior or appearance. Example : His fake smile did not fool anyone into thinking he was happy.

Foolish – Lacking good judgment or common sense. Example : His foolish decisions often led to negative consequences.

Greedy – Having an excessive desire for wealth or possessions. Example : His greedy pursuit of money strained his relationships.

Hostile – Unfriendly and antagonistic in behavior. Example : The hostile environment made it difficult to work collaboratively.

Impatient – Unwilling to wait or tolerate delay. Example : His impatient behavior annoyed those around him.

Impulsive – Acting without thinking or planning. Example : Her impulsive decision had unintended consequences.

Inconsiderate – Thoughtless and lacking concern for others. Example : His inconsiderate remarks offended many at the gathering.

Indecisive – Unable to make decisions easily or promptly. Example : Her indecisive nature caused delays in the project.

Inflexible – Unwilling to change or adapt. Example : His inflexible attitude hindered progress in the team.

Insecure – Lacking self-confidence and feeling vulnerable. Example : Her insecure behavior led to seeking constant validation.

Intolerant – Unwilling to accept differences or opinions that differ from one’s own. Example : His intolerant views caused tension in social discussions.

Jealous – Feeling resentment or envy toward others’ possessions or achievements. Example : Her jealousy of her coworker’s promotion was evident.

Lazy – Unwilling to work or exert effort. Example : His lazy attitude resulted in incomplete tasks and missed deadlines.

Manipulative – Using deception or trickery to control or influence others. Example : His manipulative tactics caused turmoil within the group.

Moody – Subject to abrupt changes in mood and temperament. Example : Her moody behavior made it hard to predict her reactions.

Narcissistic – Excessively self-centered and egotistical. Example : His narcissistic personality left little room for others.

Narrow-minded – Unwilling to consider different perspectives. Example : His narrow-minded views limited his ability to empathize.

Obnoxious – Extremely unpleasant and offensive in behavior. Example : His obnoxious laughter disrupted the meeting.

Overcritical – Excessively judgmental and prone to finding fault. Example : Her overcritical feedback discouraged creative ideas.

Overbearing – Domineering and excessively controlling. Example : His overbearing nature stifled the creativity of his team.

Pessimistic – Having a negative and gloomy outlook on life. Example : Her pessimistic attitude drained the optimism of the group.

Pompous – Excessively self-important and arrogant. Example : His pompous attitude made it hard for others to relate to him.

Reckless – Acting without caution and consideration of consequences. Example : His reckless driving led to an accident.

Rude – Disrespectful and impolite in behavior. Example : His rude comments offended everyone in the room.

Selfish – Focused on one’s own needs and desires, often at the expense of others. Example : Her selfish actions put her interests above all else.

Shallow – Lacking depth of thought, emotion, or character. Example : His shallow personality made meaningful conversations difficult.

Stubborn – Unwilling to change one’s opinion or course of action. Example : His stubbornness led to repeated arguments.

Thoughtless – Lacking consideration for the feelings or needs of others. Example : His thoughtless remarks hurt his friend’s feelings.

Unambitious – Lacking drive or aspiration for achievement. Example : His unambitious attitude hindered his career growth.

Unappreciative – Failing to recognize or acknowledge kindness or assistance. Example : Her unappreciative behavior left those who helped her feeling unvalued.

Uncooperative – Refusing to work together or assist others. Example : His uncooperative stance made teamwork impossible.

Uncultured – Lacking refinement and sophistication. Example : His uncultured manners were evident at formal events.

Undisciplined – Lacking self-control and order. Example : His undisciplined behavior often disrupted the class.

Unfriendly – Not disposed to be sociable or pleasant. Example : His unfriendly demeanor made it hard to approach him.

Ungrateful – Failing to show appreciation or thanks. Example : Her ungrateful attitude hurt those who had helped her.

Unmotivated – Lacking enthusiasm or initiative. Example : His unmotivated approach resulted in unfinished projects.

Unreceptive – Unwilling to accept or consider new ideas or opinions. Example : Her unreceptive attitude hindered progress in the group.

Unreliable – Not dependable or trustworthy. Example : His unreliability caused disruptions in the project.

Unsympathetic – Lacking empathy or compassion. Example : His unsympathetic response to the tragedy upset everyone.

Untidy – Disorderly and lacking cleanliness. Example : His untidy living space was an eyesore.

Untrustworthy – Not deserving of trust or confidence. Example : Her untrustworthy actions led to a loss of credibility.

Unwilling – Unenthusiastic about or resistant to doing something. Example : His unwillingness to cooperate delayed the project.

Vain – Excessively concerned with one’s own appearance and self-worth. Example : Her vain obsession with her image affected her relationships.

Weak – Lacking physical or emotional strength. Example : His weak resolve made it hard to face challenges.

Whiny – Complaining in a high-pitched, annoying manner. Example : Her whiny tone made it difficult to have a productive conversation.

Wishy-washy – Indecisive and lacking firmness. Example : Her wishy-washy decision-making frustrated the team.

Withholding – Refusing to share information or resources. Example : His withholding of vital data led to project failures.

Worrisome – Causing excessive worry or anxiety. Example : His worrisome behavior affected the peace of the household.

Zany – Eccentric and unconventional in a bizarre or silly way. Example : His zany sense of humor often baffled those around him.

Zealous – Excessively enthusiastic or fanatical in a cause. Example : Her zealous advocacy for the political party created tensions.

How to Choose the Right Adjectives to Describe a Person

Choosing the right adjectives to describe a person is important. To do this, follow these steps:

First, look at the person and see what makes them special. Think about how they look, act, or what their personality is like.

Consider where you are describing the person. Is it a formal document, a casual chat, or a story? This helps you pick the right words.

Decide if you want to say good things (positive) or not-so-good things (negative) about the person. This choice depends on the situation.

Try to use clear words. Instead of saying “nice,” say something like “helpful” or “friendly.” Specific words make your description better.

Use exciting words to make your description interesting. Words like “charming” or “creative” paint a good picture.

You can use more than one adjective to show different sides of a person. For example, “energetic, creative, and outgoing.”

Be careful not to use words that make unfair assumptions or stereotypes about the person. And remember, some adjectives like “zealous” can be used in both a positive and negative way to describe a person depending upon how you use them.

You can practice using these adjectives with some of these prompts for narrative writing .

Recent Posts

29 Jobs for Ex-Teachers: Best Careers to Explore - August 15, 2024
How Digital Learning is Revolutionizing Education for Adults - August 14, 2024
325+ Text Message Abbreviations With Their Meanings - August 13, 2024

More from DoTEFL

How to Choose the Best TEFL Course for You – 8 Quick Tips!

Updated May 12, 2023

Blogging vs Vlogging: What’s the Difference and Which Is Better?

Updated October 10, 2023

What Does TEFL Stand For? TEFL Acronyms and Terms

Updated January 9, 2023

Words With Silent Letters in English: The Definitive List

Updated July 14, 2023

How to Create a Teacher Website in 2024 (Ultimate Guide)

Updated March 21, 2024

What is Paraphrasing? An Overview With Examples

Updated February 23, 2024
The global TEFL course directory.

Skip to main content
Skip to primary sidebar

Writing Tips Oasis - A website dedicated to helping writers to write and publish books.

How to Describe a Crazy Person in a Story

By Isobel Coughlan

How to describe a crazy person in a story? Are you looking for answers to this query ? Scroll down to learn about 10 words you use to describe a crazy character in your novel.

1. Intriguing

Something or someone strange and interesting.

“What an intriguing person. He was crazier than I expected!”

“The intriguing man caught the crowd’s attention, and he started to act more and more dramatically as they watched.”

How it Adds Description

If you want to show that other characters are interested in your crazy person, the adjective “intriguing” can help. This word showcases that the person is strange but in a way that catches other people’s attention. “Intriguing” will also capture your readers’ attention, as they’ll be eager to know why the character is so fascinating to others.

2. Delightful

Someone that’s extremely pleasant to be around.

“Yes, he was a little crazy. But he was also very delightful . I’d have a coffee with him any day!”

“The delightful man skipped through town while whistling. He didn’t care that everyone was watching him.”

Not all crazy characters are scary or bad, and you can inform your reader how friendly your character is by using “delightful.” This shows the character is odd but pleasant, giving them more information about their traits. “Delightful” could also show how the character’s crazy ways are accepted in your society, as they’re viewed positively.

3. Peculiar

Someone unusual or strange, often in an unpleasant manner.

“Mommy, I don’t like the peculiar man. He keeps pulling weird faces at me!”

“The peculiar woman walked down the street in a frenzied state. She bumped into others and shouted at them with rage.”

“Peculiar” informs your audience that the crazy character is looked upon in a negative or judgmental light. Using this adjective can show that other characters aren’t fond of the character due to their unusual behavior. This term can also foreshadow future plot points where the crazy character acts out or does something even crazier.

Someone or something that’s amusing, entertaining, or makes you laugh.

“The funny man was always formulating his next strange plan. But the townspeople didn’t mind, as he always made the children smile.”

“He somersaulted into the inn with a crazy smile on his face. The funny man always arrived in style.”

Craziness can sometimes be associated with joy and entertainment, and therefore an apt word to describe your character is “funny.” This shows how the surrounding characters enjoy watching the crazy character’s antics, and you can even use the adjective to emphasize how the character is a natural entertainer.

5. Eccentric

Someone that is strange and has behavior that contrasts mainstream ideals.

“The eccentric man muttered to himself while putting on his glowing multicolored coat. He didn’t understand why others stared at him.”

“She watched the eccentric man prepare his boat. He really believed he would be able to find Atlantis. “

“Eccentric” is a great word to describe crazy characters because it signals that they behave differently from everyone else in your fictional society. This puts them at odds with cultural norms and allows you to give them dramatic ideas and strange behavioral traits. This is also very entertaining for readers, as you can get extra creative with their crazy behavior.

6. Frightening

Something that makes you feel nervous , scared, or afraid.

“The frightening lady followed the students into the class. She wasn’t acting as other adults do.”

“I hope I don’t see the frightening man in my dreams tonight. He always does weird things that make me feel uneasy.”

Sometimes acting differently from the mainstream ideals can be scary for others. “Frightening” shows that other characters are fearful of your crazy character. This might be because they’re acting strange or are unpredictable. You can use the word “frightening” to build suspense and fear around the character, and you can also show they’re alienated from the rest of society due to their scary behavior.

7. Intimidating

Someone that scares others and makes them lose their confidence .

“The intimidating woman laughed maniacally. She knew everyone was scared of her, and she loved it.”

“He knew the intimidating woman was watching him, and beads of sweat began to form on his brow. She was unpredictable, and he had to get away from her ASAP.”

Another way to show your character’s craziness in a negative light is via the adjective “intimidating.” This word shows how others feel scared or anxious in their presence, thus confirming their odd actions are unpleasant to be around. This can also foreshadow the character doing bad things happening as the book progresses.

Someone who is energetic, excitable , or uncontrollable.

“The wild man revved the engine of his bike. Everyone watched in awe, not knowing what he would do next.”

“Gosh, he’s a wild man. It’s like he has no personal boundaries or morals!”

“Wild” can show how uncontrollable a crazy character’s behavior can be. From doing stupid things to being reckless, this adjective paints a picture of someone without care for future consequences. “Wild” can also show how timid or sensible the rest of your characters contrast with the crazy character.

9. Ridiculous

Someone foolish or silly.

“Just look at that ridiculous man. Why would he act like that?”

“The ridiculous man put on his clown shoes and hat. He had a penchant for weird ensembles.”

The word “ridiculous” shows that your crazy character is misunderstood by others. If a narrator or another character describes them as “ridiculous,” it shows they think their way of life is silly, and it can also hint they’re judging the crazy character.

10. Bizarre

Someone very strange, weird, or odd .

“He really is bizarre . Who invited him again?”

“The bizarre man ate breakfast at dinnertime and dinner for breakfast.”

“Bizarre” informs your reader that the character lives in their own world. It can also show how other characters don’t understand the crazy character, but they choose to dismiss their antics as they’re not dangerous or violent.

KathySteinemann.com: Free Resources for Writers

Word lists, cheat sheets, and sometimes irreverent reviews of writing rules. kathy steinemann is the author of the writer's lexicon series..

600+ Ways to Describe Lips, Mouths: A Word List for Writers

(Discover even more words in The Writer’s Body Lexicon .)

First Impressions

Your first mental image when thinking about lips or mouths might be a passionate kiss. Percy Bysshe Shelley said, “Soul meets soul on lovers’ lips.” However, lips and mouths are more than kissing (or eating) machines. This post provides hundreds of ways to describe them in creative writing and poetry.

Emotion Beats and Physical Manifestations

The way people move their lips and mouths reflects overt or hidden emotions.

Pouting might indicate agitation, aggravation, confusion, contemplation, disapproval, disbelief, dislike, exasperation, flirtatiousness, impatience, irritability, nervousness, pessimism, resentment, sadness, skepticism, suspicion, wariness, worry, etc.

In fact, pouting can imply so many emotions that it’s probably best to consider alternative body language.

A few more emotions mirrored by lips and mouths include:

Adulation, arousal, flirtatiousness parted lips running tongue over one’s lips

Anticipation of a delicious snack or entrée smacking one’s lips watering/salivating mouth

Determination pressing one’s lips into a thin line

Dislike pressing one’s lips into a thin line

Fear bad taste in one’s mouth chewing on one’s lips clenched mouth dry mouth gaping mouth gulping huge mouthfuls of air licking one’s lips trembling lips

Impatience pinched lips

Repressed hatred pressing one’s lips into a thin line

Shyness pinched lips

Skepticism biting one’s lips

Stubbornness tight lips or mouth

Uncertainty forceful exhalation through pursed lips

If you need additional beats, consult a body language dictionary . (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.)

Adjectives (1)

Adjectives such as haughty save words by telling about a character’s motives or personality . Use sparingly — although they function well in flash fiction or third-person omniscient point of view, and when you want to speed the pace.

Several adjectives, when describing lips, may suggest something different when describing mouths.

Provocative lips might indicate a seductive tone, but a provocative mouth might be aggravating.

Demanding lips evoke a sexual image, whereas a demanding mouth implies an overbearing character.

Generous lips might be large, or they might be yielding and responsive. Provide context if necessary.

Rather than modify lips or mouth , a number of the following words could refer to faces, expressions, or motivations.

Many skin attributes also perform well as lips and mouth descriptors.

A and B active, adulterous, adventurous, affectionate, aflame, aggressive, alluring, amorous, amorphous, ample, appealing, ardent, audacious, avid, awkward, barbarous, belligerent, bewitching, bitchy, bitter, bloody, bone-dry, bony, Botoxed, boyish, brash, brutal, busy

C cadaverous, callous, capable, capacious, careworn, carnivorous, caustic, cautious, cavernous, chaste, cheerful, cheery, childlike, clumsy, coarse, coherent, cold, complacent, conspicuous, contemptuous, corrugated, critical, crooked, cruel, crumpled, cynical

D and E dainty, dead, delectable, delicate, delicious, demanding, demure, desirous, desiccated, determined, devilish, disdainful, dispirited, disrespectful, dissatisfied, doll-like, dour, downcast, droll, dry, eager, effeminate, elastic, electric, eloquent, energetic, enigmatic, enthusiastic, evil, expectant, experienced, expressionless, expressive, exquisite

F and G fascinating, fevered, feverish, fine, firm, flaccid, flat, flawless, fleshy, flexible, flirtatious, foolish, forceful, formless, foul, fragile, fragrant, frigid, frothy, full, furrowed, furtive, generous, gentle, girlie, girlish, glassy, glib, glossy, gnomish, goofy, grave, greasy, greedy, grim, grotesque

H and I hard, haughty, heartless, heavy, helpless, heretical, hesitant, honeyed, hungry, icy, impassioned, impassive, impatient, imperious, impertinent, impetuous, implacable, impudent, incoherent, inflamed, inflexible, innocent, insatiable, inscrutable, insubstantial, intractable, inviolate, irreverent

J to M juicy, kissable, lax, leathery, lecherous, lewd, libelous, libidinous, licentious, lifeless, loathsome, loose, lopsided, lovable, luscious, lush, lustful, malicious, manly, masculine, masterful, meager, meaty, merciless, merry, mischievous, misshapen, moist, motionless, mute, mutinous

N to P narrow, nasty, naughty, nervous, numb, obstinate, oily, oversized, passionate, pathetic, pebbly, perfect, perfumed, petulant, pinched, piquant, playful, pliable, pliant, plump, practiced, prim, prodigious, profane, proficient, prominent, proud, provocative, puffy, pugnacious

Q and R querulous, randy, rapacious, ravenous, raw, relentless, reluctant, repulsive, resolute, responsive, restless, reticent, reverent, rigid, ripe, rough, rubbery, ruthless

S sacrilegious, sad, sarcastic, sardonic, sassy, satirical, saucy, savage, scabrous, scaly, scornful, scurrilous, seductive, sensitive, sensuous, serious, sexy , shapeless, shrunken, silent, silky, sinful, skillful, slack, slick, slippery, sloppy, smooth, soft, sore, sour, spicy, stained, starving, stern, sticky, stiff, stony, strong, stubborn, submissive, succulent, sulky, sullen, sultry, sunken, sweet, swollen

T and U talented, tense, tentative, thick, thin, thirsty, tight, timid, toothless, tough, traitorous, tremulous, truculent, ugly , uncertain, uncooperative, unrelenting, unresponsive, unsatisfied, unsmiling, unwilling, unyielding, upturned

V to Y vacuous, virgin, voluble, voluptuous, voracious, vulgar, wanton, warm, waspish, waxen, well-cut, wet, wide, willing, winsome, wistful, withered, witty, wormy, worshipful, wrinkled, wry, yielding, youthful

Adjectives (2): Upper Lip

Although some of these adjectives might suit lips or mouth , they excel for describing the upper lip:

B to W bifurcated, bushy, clean-shaven, furry, hairless, hairy, long, mustachioed, naked, perspiring, short, stubbly, sweaty, whiskered

Adjectives (3): Lower Lip

Likewise for the lower lip:

D to S droopy, exaggerated, floppy, generous, missing, non-existent, pendulous, sagging, soul-patched, split, square-cut

Adjectives (Misc.)

Besides describing lips and mouths, writers can:

Describe the teeth , or mention missing teeth
Describe a person’s smile .

Similes and Metaphors

When creating comparisons, familiar animals are a good place to start. Readers know what they look like and will conjure an immediate image of the lips so compared.

Some of the following act as adjectives, while others function best in as or like similes. For example:

Fred had horse lips .

Fred had lips that looked like they belonged on a horse .

A to Z angel fish, apish, baboon, baboon’s butt, bestial, bovine, camel, Cheshire cat [cliché], chimpanzee, chipmunk, dead fish, duck, frog, giraffe, goldfish, horse, largemouth bass, leeches, lizard, porcupine’s back, raw oysters, reptilian, serpentine, simian, squirrel, toad, twin slugs, zebra

Other comparisons could include:

A to V ancient prunes, angel’s cheek, blow-up doll’s maw, bread dough, cherries, embers, glue, lily petals, overstuffed sausages, pincushion, pinecone, plum, pomegranate blossoms, raspberries, raw liver, rose petals, rosebuds, rubies, sandpaper, satin, suction cups, twin cacti, velvet, vise grips

And here are a few more thought starters:

awkward as a newborn trying to find Mama’s nipple

big ger than someone’s ego

deader than a slab of cement

dry as the Sahara

foul as an overflowing cesspit

fragile as butterfly wings

large as Texas

like a cow chewing its cud

moist like morning dew

more brutal than a pounding sledgehammer

smelly as an old sock

Foods excel as color substitutes. Words such as cherry , bubble-gum , and tangerine capture color, scent, and taste.

In a modern novel, lipstick and stage makeup allow lips to be almost any color. Not so in a Victorian-era piece.

A to W anemone-pink, ashen, bloodless, bubble-gum, burgundy, carnelian, cherry, colorless, coral, coralline-red, cotton-candy, crimson, flamingo, florid, freckled, golden, grey/gray, licorice-twist, pale, pallid, pasty, peach, pink, purple, red, rosy, ruddy, seashell-pink, sunburnt, sunset-scarlet, swarthy, tangerine, vermillion, wan, wine-red

See also 1000+ Ways to Describe Colors .

Many of the following words function well in similes or can be converted to adjectives by adding suffixes such as –like , -ish , or –esque .

A to Y apical, asymmetrical, bleeding heart, blimp, bow, cherry pie, cinnamon roll, cinnamon-heart, doughnut, fishy, goldfish, heart, inner tube, O-ring, peaked, petal (name specific flower), shapeless, shapely, sharp, stop sign, unsymmetrical, toilet boil, urinal, watermelon, wedding ring, yield sign

Some verbs relay feelings or senses of the POV character, while others are appropriate for secondary players.

Consider antonyms. Rather than belittle , a mother’s lips might praise her child. Instead of relaxing his lips, an uptight worrywart might tense them.

You might prefer to pair many of these verbs with characters themselves rather than their body parts. Listen to your writer’s voice and choose what works best for you.

B to R belittle, blister, burn, caress, clamp, clench, close, coax, coerce, compress, contort, crack, crimp, criticize, curl, denounce, deprecate, dribble, drool, entice, force, fuse, gossip, graze, heal, insult, kiss, loosen, lure, meld, open, perspire, practice, press, pucker, purse, quirk, relax, respond

S to Y salivate, scrunch, seal, slaver, slide, slither, slobber, smart, smooch, sparkle, spasm, spit, squirm, squish together, sting, stretch, suck, sweat, swell, tempt, throb, tighten, tingle, turn down, turn up, twist, ulcerate, unlock, yield

Inventing nouns to replace lips or mouth can lead to silent snickers while you hunch over your keyboard or pore through your favorite thesaurus. Try some of these.

B to Y bazoo, blower, bragger, cakehole, chops, doughnut disposal, doughnut hole, flycatcher, flytrap, food vacuum, gob, hatch, hot-air vent, jabberjaw, kisser, laughing gear, maw, motormouth, mug slit, mush, muzzle, nagger, oral cavity, oral orifice, phiz slit, pie hole, puss, skull cave, soup sucker, trap, woofer, word hole, yap, yapper, yodeler

Add humor, suspense, or atmosphere with well-chosen props.

Does your protagonist notice a roll of duct tape on the counter in his apartment, then whip around to see a face -masked intruder with a gag in hand? Duct tape + gag = kidnapping. Or maybe an amorous encounter. Or__________?

A to W acne, asthma inhaler, baby bottle, blueberries, chewing tobacco, cigar, cigarette, coughing fit, dirt, duct tape, electric razor, facemask, flute, gag, glitter, handkerchief, intubation tube, kazoo, lipstick, mouth guard, mouth organ, mud pie, mustache, muzzle, nebulizer, oboe, piercings, pimples, pipe, razor, scar, scuba regulator, sneezing, snorkel, soot, soother, spit, spit up, stain, straw, teeth, thumb, tic, tissue, tongue, toothpaste, toothpick, trumpet, veil, wart, whistle

Clichés and Idioms That Include Lips or Mouth

Some narrators might warrant trite phrases, but it’s usually best to avoid them — except in dialogue.

all mouth and trousers: arrogant, brash, brazen

born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth: privileged, wealthy

by word of mouth: orally, verbally, via gossip

down in the mouth: dejected, depressed, glum, sad

on everyone’s lips: popular [topic of conversation], trending, widely discussed

slip of the lip: inadvertent mistake [while speaking]

stiff upper lip: fortitude, resignation, stoicism

straight from the horse’s mouth: from a reliable source

through word of mouth: orally, person to person, verbally

to button one’s lip: hush, keep quiet, shut up, stop talking

to foam at the mouth: fume, rage, rant, seethe

to give some lip: disrespect, sass, speak rudely

to have a stiff upper lip: display fortitude, exercise restraint, remain resolute [in the face of adversity]

to have one’s heart in one’s mouth: be afraid , alarmed, apprehensive, or terrified

to leave a bad taste in one’s mouth: nauseate, repulse, disgust

to live hand to mouth: barely get by, eke out an existence, subsist

to lock lips: French kiss, kiss, smooch

to look a gift horse in the mouth: be ungrateful, find fault with a gift

to mouth off: rant, sass, sound off, spout

to pay lip service: agree in public while personally dissenting, pretend to agree

to put one’s foot in one’s mouth: blurt, say something tactless; blunder

to seal one’s lips: keep a secret, keep classified

to shoot one’s mouth off: boast, brag, talk indiscreetly

to talk out of both sides of one’s mouth: contradict oneself, lie [usually to please the most people]

to zip one’s lip: hush, say nothing, shut up, stop talking

Discover more from KathySteinemann.com: Free Resources for Writers

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Type your email…

Please don't be shy. Leave a reply. Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Notify me of new posts by email.

2 thoughts on “ 600+ Ways to Describe Lips, Mouths: A Word List for Writers ”

Hi Kathy, Much more interesting and informative than just ‘asking Google!’ Even with a fertile imagination, there are times when it fails to ‘serve up the goods,’ and time can be wasted searching the, hopefully, temporarily diminished brain-box. That’s the fun part of writing, giving your characters suitable characteristic expressions (and to suit the moment…), and various tics etc., Many thanks. Cheers.

Thanks, Joy.

I find interesting ideas at images.google.com. The trick is to create a search that will give appropriate results. Some are hilarious.

Continued success with your writing and poetry!

Is Your Handsome Guy Hard To Describe? 250+ Words To Capture His Essence

You’re looking for the perfect word to describe that handsome, sometimes indescribable man in your life.

He’s pretty unique, after all, and you want to capture his essence with just the right adjectives.

Well, it’s your lucky day – we've compiled an extensive list of words that speak to the qualities of an attractive man.

Whether you're writing a love message to your husband or boyfriend, want to send him a sweet text, or just want words to speak about him, this extensive collection of words will help you express the allure of a handsome man in all its facets.

So, let's dive in and explore the world of enchanting descriptions!

Words to Describe a Handsome Man That Start with the letter “A”:

Words to describe a handsome man that start with the letter “b”:, words to describe a handsome man that start with the letter “c”:, words to describe a handsome man that start with the letter “d”:, words to describe a handsome man that start with the letter “e”:, words to describe a handsome man that start with the letter “f”:, words to describe a handsome man that start with the letter “g”:, words to describe a handsome man that start with the letter “h”:, words to describe a handsome man that start with the letter “i”:, words to describe a handsome man that start with the letter “j”:, words to describe a handsome man that start with the letter “k”:, words to describe a handsome man that start with the letter “l”:, words to describe a handsome man that start with the letter “m”:, words to describe a handsome man that start with the letter “n”:, words to describe a handsome man that start with the letter “o”:, words to describe a handsome man that start with the letter “p”:, words to describe a handsome man that start with the letter “q”:, words to describe a handsome man that start with the letter “r”:, words to describe a handsome man that start with the letter “s”:, words to describe a handsome man that start with the letter “t”:, words to describe a handsome man that start with the letter “u”:, words to describe a handsome man that start with the letter “v”:, words to describe a handsome man that start with the letter “w”:, words to describe a handsome man that start with the letter “x”:, words to describe a handsome man that start with the letter “y”:, words to describe a handsome man that start with the letter “z”:, final thoughts, 250+ words to describe a handsome man.

As you read through this list of words describing an attractive man, mark any that fit the bill with the guy you care about.

You might try finding words with a first letter that spell out your guy’s name.

For example, if his name is Jason, he might be J oyful, A mbitious, S upportive, O utgoing, and N oble.

Have fun with it, and make a game of describing your guy in a way that makes him feel special and adored.

Ambitious : having a strong desire for success, power, or achievement.

Alluring : powerfully and mysteriously attractive or fascinating.

Articulate : able to express oneself clearly and effectively in spoken or written language.

woman kissing man Words to Describe a Handsome Man

Athletic : physically fit, strong, and active, with an aptitude for sports.

Amicable : displaying a friendly and pleasant manner.

Assertive : confidently self-assured and able to stand up for oneself and one's beliefs.

Adventurous : eager to explore and try new things, unafraid of the unknown.

Astute : having or showing an ability to accurately assess situations or people; shrewd.

Amiable : having a friendly and sociable disposition.

Adaptable : able to adjust to new conditions or situations with ease.

Bold: showing courage and a willingness to take risks.

Brilliant : exceptionally intelligent, talented, or skillful.

Brave : able to face and endure danger or pain; showing courage.

Benevolent : well-meaning and kind, with a genuine concern for others.

Balanced : having a healthy mix of various traits, emotions, and abilities.

Brainy : highly intelligent and knowledgeable.

Breathtaking : astonishing and awe-inspiring.

Buoyant : optimistic and cheerful, having a positive outlook on life.

Brawny : physically strong and muscular, with a powerful build.

Byronic : dark, romantic, and brooding qualities of the literary archetype, Lord Byron's heroes.

Charismatic : having a charm that inspires devotion or admiration in others.

Confident : believing in oneself and one's abilities; self-assured.

Creative : having the ability to produce original and imaginative ideas or work.

Compassionate : showing sympathy and concern for others, especially those who are suffering.

Chivalrous : courteous, respectful, and honorable, especially towards women.

Captivating : irresistibly attractive or engaging, holding the attention of others.

Caring : showing kindness and concern for the well-being of others.

Courageous : able to confront fear, danger, or pain; showing bravery.

Committed : dedicated and loyal, showing a strong sense of responsibility and devotion.

Cultured : refined and sophisticated, possessing a wide range of knowledge for the arts, literature, and other intellectual pursuits.

Dazzling : extremely impressive, beautiful, or skillful.

Devoted: giving one's time, effort, or affection generously to a person or cause.

Discerning: having or showing good judgment, especially in matters of taste.

Dynamic: full of energy, enthusiasm, and the ability to make things happen.

Dignified: having or showing a composed or serious manner that is worthy of respect.

Dashing: stylish and attractive in appearance and demeanor, with a sense of flair and confidence.

Diligent : hardworking and meticulous, displaying great care and attention to detail.

Dependable: reliable and trustworthy, consistently meeting expectations and fulfilling responsibilities.

Delightful: highly pleasing and enjoyable, creating an environment of happiness

Disarming : having the ability to remove suspicion or hostility through charm or friendliness.

Elegant : graceful, stylish, and refined in appearance, manner, or style.

Empathetic : understanding and sharing the feelings of others.

Enthusiastic : showing intense and eager enjoyment, interest, or approval.

Endearing : inspiring affection and warmth, making others feel fondness or attachment.

Exemplary : worthy of imitation; representing the best of its kind.

Encouraging : supportive and uplifting, providing motivation and inspiration to others.

Erudite : knowledgeable and learned with a deep understanding of a wide range of subjects.

Energetic : full of vitality and enthusiasm, showing a strong drive and liveliness.

Engaging : interesting and enjoyable, able to hold the attention and interest of others.

Enterprising : resourceful and ambitious, showing initiative and a willingness to take on challenges.

Fascinating : extremely interesting and captivating, holding the attention of others.

Fearless : brave and courageous, unafraid to face challenges or take risks.

Fierce : showing intensity and passion, whether in competition, determination, or personal beliefs.

Fit : in good physical shape, exhibiting strength, agility, and overall wellness.

Flexible : adaptable and open to change, able to adjust to new situations or ideas with ease.

Focused : having the ability to concentrate and maintain attention on a task or goal.

Forgiving : willing to let go of past mistakes, holding no grudges or resentment .

Fortunate : blessed with good luck or favorable circumstances

Friendly : approachable and easy to get along with, having warmth and kindness.

Fulfilled : satisfied and content with life, enjoying a sense of accomplishment.

Gallant : brave, chivalrous, and honorable, especially towards women.

Genuine : authentic and sincere with true character and emotions.

Gifted : having exceptional talent, intelligence, or skill.

Gracious : courteous, kind, and pleasant, especially towards others.

Gregarious : sociable and outgoing, enjoying the company of others.

Grounded : sensible, practical, and emotionally stable.

Gutsy : courageous, daring, and willing to take risks.

Generous : willing to give or share, especially in terms of time, money, or other resources.

Gentle : mild-mannered, calm, and kind, demonstrating a considerate and caring nature.

Goal-oriented : focused on achieving specific objectives with strong determination and ambition.

Hardworking : diligent and committed to putting forth effort and dedication.

Happy : experiencing or expressing a state of contentment and satisfaction.

Harmonious : having a pleasing and consistent combination of personality or demeanor.

Healthy : in good physical and mental condition. Serious about good nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle choices.

Helpful : willing and able to provide assistance or support to others.

Heroic : showing great courage and bravery in the face of adversity.

Humble : modest and unpretentious, not overly

Humorous : having a good sense of humor, able to make others laugh and see the lighter side of life.

Honest : truthful, sincere, and free from deceit, showing integrity in actions and words.

Imaginative : creative and inventive, able to think of new and original ideas.

Independent : self-reliant and able to make decisions or take care of oneself without the help of others.

Insightful : possessing a deep understanding of people and situations, with a keen sense of perception.

COMMENTS

How to describe a person vividly: 8 ways
6. Find descriptive adjectives and fitting comparisons. There are two useful tools for accurate description of characters in stories: Precise, exact adjectives, and comparative language. Finding adjectives to describe people with positive and negative connotations. Positive adjectives to describe a person include:
Beyond Tall, Dark, and Handsome: How to Describe Your Characters
Tip 2: Convey the attitude of the describer. Pin down the current outlook or perspective of the character doing the describing. Zero in on their state of mind (lonely, curious, offended, prone-to-exaggeration, etc.) at this exact moment in the story. Now write your description through the filter of the consciousness of the character who is ...
Character Descriptions: 7 Tips for Describing Faces in Your Writing
A human face reveals a lot about a person. In creative writing, describing a character's face can uncover information about who they are and how they feel. Writers can zoom in on individual features, like the eyes or mouth, or describe a face in its entirety to paint a picture of a character. Learn how to develop a character through their ...
How to Write a Descriptive Paragraph About a Person (With ...
1. Brainstorm Your Ideas. Brainstorming is crucial to any writing process. It's the process in which you think of ideas for what you'd like to write about. In this case, you're writing a descriptive paragraph about a person. It's important to use adjectives to describe the features or characteristics you want to focus on.
Master List of Physical Description for Writers
For all the words about describing facial features, I'm focusing more on physical descriptions rather than emotional expressions, though there's a little crossover! You can also check out my long list of facial expressions. large. small. narrow. sharp. squinty. round. wide-set.
How to Describe a Handsome Man in a Story
"The handsome man was captivating, and no one could deny it. Every passerby gasped at his beauty." How it Adds Description "Captivating" shows how your handsome man's good looks catch the attention of other characters. The handsome man could use this to his advantage, and this could form a manipulative part of his personality.
How To Write A Character Description (101 Examples)
Using contrast is especially helpful here. For example, describing how a lead character differs from others in a similar position of their setting. Of course, there are also things to avoid when developing character descriptions. Writing a description that is a laundry list of traits is something you may want to avoid.
Tricks for Describing a Character's Appearance (With Examples)
1.5 Use the Point of View. 1.6 Keep the Description Balanced. 1.7 Give them Something Special. 2 How to Describe a Character's Face. 3 How to Describe a Character's Hair. 4 How to Describe a Character's Clothes. 5 How to Describe a Character's Body. 6 How to Describe a Character's Posture and Body Language.
Writing Male Characters
The ideal man. The ideal man is a theoretical individual - a man who embodies perfect and unfaltering masculinity. This fictional construct is seen to define the male gender, and is an essential component of men's experience of gender. In effect, men construct their own personal masculinity in reference to their version of the ideal man.
Describing Characters: How to Describe Faces
Beginning writers will often use adjectives for specific emotions to describe faces: 'Her eyes were angry' or 'his mouth was mean'. Avoid simply listing facial features. Because adjectives that use abstract words for specific emotions don't show the reader the character's face, they tell rather than show emotion.
11 Secrets to Writing an Effective Character Description
3. Strengthen physical descriptions by making details more specific. In my earlier "all-points bulletin" example, the description of the father's hair might be improved with a detail such as "a military buzz-cut, prickly to the touch" or "the aging hippie's last chance—a long ponytail striated with gray.".
How to Write Vivid Character Descriptions
How to Write Vivid Character Descriptions. If you think about your favorite character in fiction, you probably have an immediate image that pops into your head. Though this image only exists in your imagination, it owes a lot to the way this character is described by the author. Populating a work of fiction with carefully described characters ...
How to Write Amazing Character Descriptions (with Examples)
Then you can incorporate more attributes, sharing only a couple at a time as your novel progresses. Be concise, creative, and don't forget to look for what is and what isn't there. Use movement, interactions, and gestures to make vivid and crisp character descriptions. Founder. Dave Chesson.
The Gigantic List of Character Descriptions (70+ examples)
23. Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness. "He was commonplace in complexion, in feature, in manners, and in voice. He was of middle size and of ordinary build. His eyes, of the usual blue, were perhaps remarkably cold, and he certainly could make his glance fall on one as trenchant and heavy as an axe….
Main male character description
6. I've been asked to write a story as an assignment. It should have as the main male character an unusually smart, clever, insightful and thoughtful guy who is somewhat reserved and mysterious. The point is that I cannot figure out how to draw a good, lively and convincing description without being stereotypical or boring.
500+ Ways to Describe Body Build and Physique
Some authors fill multiple paragraphs when describing each character. Stephen King's advice: "Thin description leaves the reader feeling bewildered and nearsighted. Overdescription buries him or her in details and images." Romance, science fiction, or fantasy usually requires more description than a whodunit.
Physical Feature Entry: Muscular Build
Using movement will naturally show a character's physical characteristics, keep the pace flowing and help to convey their emotions. : brawny, beefy, built, stacked, burly, hulking, robust, powerful…. Muscular individuals go beyond toned muscle structure and verge into defined, well built curves often visible through clothing.
10 Tips for Writing Physical Descriptions of Your Characters
Instead, scatter brief descriptions throughout multiple scenes. No doubt many of your favorite writers do this. 6. Describe actions that reveal physical characteristics. "As we'd been talking, she'd pulled [her hair] into a high, loose bun with shorter pieces of hair falling around her face.". - Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld. 7.
How to describe hands: 6 ways to make characters real
GET GUIDE. 3. Describe your characters' hand gestures. Movement and gesture makes characters animated, giving them life on the page. Describing hand signals and gestures is a useful way to show characters' moods and intentions, or to amplify what they communicate to each other.
167 Adjectives To Describe a Person, With Meanings & Examples
Authentic - Genuine and true to oneself. Example: His authentic personality made it easy for people to trust and connect with him. Benevolent - Kind and generous, desiring to do good for others. Example: The benevolent donor contributed to the charity, helping many in need. Bold - Fearless and willing to take risks.
How to Describe a Crazy Person in a Story
Scroll down to learn about 10 words you use to describe a crazy character in your novel. 1. Intriguing Definition. Something or someone strange and interesting. Examples "What an intriguing person. He was crazier than I expected!" "The intriguing man caught the crowd's attention, and he started to act more and more dramatically as they ...
600+ Ways to Describe Lips, Mouths: A Word List for Writers
600+ Ways to Describe Lips, Mouths: A Word List for Writers. (Discover even more words in The Writer's Body Lexicon .) First Impressions. Your first mental image when thinking about lips or mouths might be a passionate kiss. Percy Bysshe Shelley said, "Soul meets soul on lovers' lips.". However, lips and mouths are more than kissing (or ...
250+ Words to Describe a Handsome Man and Make Him Blush
Words to Describe a Handsome Man That Start with the letter "T": Trustworthy: reliable and honest, able to be counted on to keep promises or maintain confidentiality. Thoughtful: considerate and attentive to the needs or feelings of others. Talented: having natural aptitude or skill in a particular area.