How to introduce characters.

Okay, one of the biggest trouble I'm having is introducing characters. It is this initial description of characters' appearances is what bothers me the most. I can never get it done without sounding unnecessarily wordy and awkward.

Any thought on this?

Start off somewhat vague—enough for a mental image, but not down to the color of their shoelaces—and then add in details here and there as is necessary and natural.

Just start off with basic stuff like hair color, general build and overall impression. Put in the details later.

Are you narrating in first-person or third-person?

@RR - I'm sticking with TP so far.

I'm with Flyboy: let the full picture develop as you go along (even if you know exactly what is what).

Info-dumping is no way to start a reader's relationship with the characters, so let their actions and inflections do most of the talking. About the only time I'd go all out to spend a full paragraph on a physical/mental description of a character is if I'm saying more about a totally different character. Who is the one handing out their opinions, naturally. It'll be totally coloured from their perspective - so, often wrong on some points, whilst nailing others.

edited 18th Jan '12 6:47:41 AM by Euodiachloris

You don't actually need to describe your characters at all.

To start with I describe gender, hair color and possibly height. This is basically your 'first impression' package, and it's all you need. If later details become significant, give them later.

@fanty: That's one possibility. For now, try avoiding any description except any that affect the plot. And possibly .

edited 18th Jan '12 9:08:16 AM by chihuahua0

One thing you don't want to do is introduce all new characters in the same way. It will start sounding like you're filling out a questionnaire. Instead of providing generic information about their appearance, think about what stands out about them. Think about what you would note first about a person who looks, speaks, and carries him/herself the way your character does.

...This thread wasn't about what I expected it to be about.

I do this and at most a few details more. Base personality is a sometimes, age is a constant because I can't stand the "default to reader's expected age aka theirs", birthplace/descent is usually there but not always (to be honest it's importance based, the more important the more likely this detail is there), and sometimes I throw some Worldbuilding tidbits as part of it. For instance when I introduced Captain Roy Jansen in my book I made a bit of a backstory build for him as having participated in The Two Year War. Likewise I mentioned his cool, practically uncrackable personality. This on top of age, hair color, and a couple other things. (Why so much? He's important as he's co-protagonist in many sections where it focuses on Admiral Mei Lin.)