Three-Dimensional Characters: Descriptions and how to write them

Did you know writing a detailed character can dramatically and dynamically affect the plot and storyline of your writing? Whether it's a thriller, romance, or adventure.

As a reader don't you hate it when you're reading and the backstory doesn't line up with the present day description of a character? That's because that isn't a detailed character.

Below as part of my welcome back to blogging, I will give you a list of character descriptions and details as a welcome back! And before delving into it, I would like to apologize for being gone so long. I will not be one of those bloggers that will mix her personal life with her work life but... officially published two books and I am working on my third I will create a post about it this week!

Inspiration credit for this article: Bryn Donovan.

And now, onto the descriptions!

One thing I like to do while describing characters is first of all name them and give them an overview. This overview is inclusive of:-

Overview:

(Character name) (Family life--do they have sisters, parents?) Their origin, their job, and position in that job where they work and who they work with.

Taking it a step further, I identify their age, drive(goal/motivation), the reason for this drive, a trait behind this drive, and what brought about this trait.

I also paint a picture of their home life. Where do they live? On what street? Who do they live with? What's the neighbourhood like? What's their relationship with their neighbors like?

Then I look into their personality. My characters need a minimum of ten personality traits inclusive of flaws.

For better visualization, I delve into the physical description of my character. For physical descriptions, I make use of Bryn Donovan's Master List of Physical Descriptions. I can't create a character without her article! It's that detailed!

In the physical descriptions, I begin with the head shape( square, round, oblong, oval, elongated, narrow, and or heart-shaped are my personal favorites.), from there I look into eye descriptions because the eyes are the window to the soul after all. So I look into eye shapes and colors (wide-set, close-set, deep-set, sunken, bulging, hooded, heavy-lidded, chocolate brown, denim blue, emerald green, or storm grey eyes) are my default colors, but she has tons more! I also detail their eyebrows which can be arched, thin, trimmed, or even plucked. We then get to the skin details and textures like silky, flakey, or wrinkly skin, which can be anything from cinnamon hues to milky hues.

We can't forget the nose which can be straight, pointed, crooked, or aquiline. The lips can be thin, full, or cupid's bow. They could have facial hair or no facial hair. The hair on their head could be long, short, wavy, curly, tangled, neat, scanty, or otherwise. And as for their bodies, they can be tall, short, stocky, bulky, chiseled, chubby, chunky, lean, slender, slim, leggy, voluptuous, or more!

The secret lies in the description so be as detailed as possible.

Finally I like to outline their relationships, past relationships, their friends, how those relationships came about -etc.

Take my word for it your book will climb the best seller list in no time! You want to write like a bestseller right?