Writing: The In-depth Approach

Chapter 2: Description

Descriptions can be difficult to approach as a writer. I know as a writer myself that when it comes to describing a setting or a character, I have a tendency of writing this information all in one go, in one condensed paragraph, just to get it on the page and get it out of the way. I believe that there is nothing wrong with condensing your character and setting descriptions to one paragraph. It just has to be done in a fresh, interesting way, otherwise the readers will become bored or overwhelmed. You can also disperse descriptions throughout paragraphs, spacing out the information. Whichever way you choose to do it, the trick is to find a clever way of slipping in the information, and making it interesting and memorable.

Developing Deeper Character Descriptions

When describing characters, it can be tempting to take the mirror approach. What do I mean by the mirror approach? It's when you walk your character over to a mirror and make them look into it. It's an easier way to describe characters, but a highly clichéd approach. Try thinking of other interesting ways of describing your characters. When describing a character, the aim is to make it interesting for the reader.

When constructing the description of a character, it's easy to paint a fairly generic picture of him or her. By generic, I mean non-specific features, standard features that anyone could have.

For example:

...Alex closed the bonnet of the car, walking towards the mechanics office. He was a mechanic at the garage. He was in his mid-thirties. He was tall and muscly. He had short black hair and brown, almond shaped eyes. He wore pale blue jeans and a singlet...

So we have the very basics here. It's a simple, condensed paragraph about Alex, a mechanic who works in a garage or a smash repairs. The description reads like a list of physical characteristics. For the reader, the information is simple and it cuts straight to the point. But is it interesting? No. Not really. Let's take the same passage and make it little bit more specific.

...Alex closed the bonnet of the car, walking towards the mechanics office. He was tall, broader in the shoulders, his arms lean, his fists corded like stretched bands. His short, black hair was oily with grease, the black grease staining his grey hairs black. He was sprouting greys too early for a guy in his mid-thirties. He had brown eyes. He wore faded, pale blue jeans and a sweat stained singlet...

In the passage above, the information runs more smoothly. By being more specific, the description is more detailed and interesting to read. But we can go further than this. Description also reveals parts of the character's personality too. What the character is thinking and feeling at the time as well. Here's the same passage, but injected with a bit of Alex's personality and a few more specific details.

...Alex closed the bonnet of the car, wiping a smudge of grease from the hood with blackened rag. When the bonnet came back shiny, he slung the rag over his shoulder, heading to the mechanics office. He dusted down his faded jeans, tugging on his sweat stained singlet.

Alex was tall, broader in the shoulders, his arms lean, his fists corded like stretched bands. He worked five days a week at the garage, fixing engines and jump-starting dead car batteries. He carried his work with him, the oil and grease lining his hands, smearing heavy on his clothes and on his face. At the end of the day, it left his short, black hair greasy and slick, dying the peppered grey hairs sprouting up too early.

Even for someone his age, the work was tiring. For godssake! He was only in his mid thirties. Some of the older guys at the garage could work at a faster pace then him. Maybe he was getting older. The age was showing in his eyes. They were older, wiser. And sometimes, if he looked hard enough in the mirror, he thought the darkness of his eyes was fading out, bleaching, washing to the colour of weak tea...