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Why are so many books utterly and totally lacking in physical descriptions of characters? (hexbear.net)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Bonus points if the author first mentions a specific trait, physical build, or whatever else halfway through the novel and totally fucks up my mental image.

I don't expect a biology model description for each character, but write me something brief and evocative of how they should look, you fucking dork author. I don't even know how tall she should be, her hair colour, anything. Why are you like this, author?

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Writing physical descriptions is kinda it's own skill. I can't do it until I've actually drawn/seen a picture of a character, otherwise I really struggle to visualize them concretely enough to verbalize. Tbh even with people I know irl, I'd have trouble describing them without a picture in front of me.

Modern styles tend to be more action/plot oriented with less time devoted to florid descriptions of random stuff, so some authors may feel like if they write a physical description they have to justify the attention to it. And it's easy for things to get cringey. Like, if you give characters appearances that "match" their personality traits, that has potential to be problematic, then you've got the horny/objectifying types, and then there's, like, weird/uncomfortable analogies. For example, I remember reading some Philip K Dick and seeing the absolutely horrible, objectifying descriptions of female characters, while his male characters are barely described at all. Physical descriptions not being in style could be a reaction to various forms of cringe

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Is that a sort of aphantasia too?

I am getting the sense that there's a big fear of cringe in this description thing, though. Kinda sounds like a skill issue...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

I don't think it's aphantasia in my case. I can picture things in my mind, it's just that it's hard to come up with descriptions without it in front of me. It's the same way you might take another bite or drink of something while trying to describe how it tastes. I can remember generally how a wine tastes the next day but it's a lot less vivid than when it's on my tongue, and it's kinda the same way with visual images of people.

I think it is a skill issue, but like I said it's kind of it's own skill. I think it's possible to be a good writer while being complete ass at describing people. I do think it's a skill that's possible to learn tho, so there's not really a good excuse for it.