I've just read through my third draft and realised I have few physical descriptions of my characters, such that if I hadn't written it myself, I woudl have no ide what anyone looked like. I don't want to launch into a whole she wore this and this, or have them looking in mirrors all the time. How do other people tackle describing characters so it feels fresh? Is it best to stick to one or two key characteristics?

Michelle

I try to make any description of a character consist of the more idiosyncratic tics - it's more in the actions than in the purely visual, ifyswim. So one of my MCs has hair that was once the red of hot embers, now faded to ash, and has the habit of pushing her glasses up her nose. Another is like a small black fly (she's always hyperbusy). Actually, though, now I think about it, most of my 'description' is in the way each speaks. Hmmm...
Susiex

I never know much about what my characters look like, unless either it's necessary for the plot, or another character has a reason to describe them. I usually know dark/fair, tall/short, and approximate build, but little more. Doesn't seem to matter very much.

Emma

I'm the opposite of Emma - I know exactly how they look and even tear pics out of magazines when I see an interesting/suitable face. But I don't necessarily do a detailed overview of appearance at very first introduction to a character - I allow them 'be seen' through the eyes of the other characters, and gradually - as Susie says - they become more real through small idiosyncracies and movements, expressions etc.

I wouldn't lose too much sleep over it. If it seemed right not to supply the details when you were writing all those drafts, it was probably because leaving them out was not a problem. Readers are in any case quite capable of building up their own physical picture of a character and most probably like to do so. On the other hand, if a closer description is going to add something to the story, it can be helpful. I would say though that, if details are to be provided, it should happen quite quickly after a character is introduced. One thing I dislike as a reader is being allowed to form a mental picture of a character over several chapters only to have it totally contradicted by the author some time later. It's an experience that can undermine belief in the narrative in general.

Chris

I'm with Emma - I don't know whether it really matters unless it's relevant to the plot e.g the MC got bullied at school for being overweight/ having red hair etc. Some people are really good at giving their characters a 'body' but if it doesn't come naturally I'd avoid it, otherwise you run the risk of coming over a bit Mills & Boon ('her raven-black hair set off her alabaster skin' etc...)

Yep I'm with Emma too, it's not that important.

I do know what all my characters look like, their personalities and habits - yeah I'm a bit obsessive, they're almost like people I know - but I haven't put that in my novel. Like Susieangela, I've described them a bit via actions.

BTW Susieangela, one of my characters pushes her glasses along her nose too!

So, don't worry too much about it, your readers won't.

Kat

I'm joining in because on another site I belong to, one critiquer has just hauled me over the coals for not describing my main character (in chapter one, via a mirror).

I've always understood that this convention has been done to death and is one of the ultimate cliches.

Previously, I've always preferred the 'little snippets dropped in gradually, as and when they're needed', but I suppose 'tot homines' (or mulieres) and all that ...

I'm a bit like Emma, I think. But I do know that the three sisters in the children's book I'm trying to write all have red hair, though they wear it differently according to their personalities - the tomboyish one has it cropped really short, for example. I know their physical presence more than their looks - for example, one has a lot of tension, is always about to run off and climb a tree, if she's cooped up in a car for ages she's fidgetty and bored, whereas another sister can sit patiently for ages dusting a carved stone foot. But then in real life I am terrible at recognising people's faces. I blank people I know and affectionately greet people I don't. It's v embarrassing.

on another site I belong to, one critiquer has just hauled me over the coals for not describing my main character (in chapter one, via a mirror).

Oh dear, oh dear...

I've always understood that this convention has been done to death and is one of the ultimate cliches.

So true...

Emma

Thanks for the advice, which has just confirmed my own suspicions that it doesn't really matter...

Michelle