For Discussion: Distinctive Appearance in Written Fiction?

Exactly What It Says on the Tin

I'd like to ask what others think about using tropes such as Iconic Item, Clothing Reflects Personality, Custom Uniform and Memetic Outfit when writing stories. In visual media such as movies, comics and video games, creators frequently use these to give main characters Distinctive Appearances and function as visual shorthand to inform viewers about the respective characters' personality and/or background.

However, in written media, writers have to write out the description; making its use no longer a 'shortcut'. Moreover, as writers can get inside a character's head, inform readers through a character's point of view and opinions, and direct readers to specific details by describing them in the text.

As such, there are a number of tools at a writer's disposal that are less commonly found in visual media but achieve the same objective as the appearance tropes described above. Which leads to my question:

Is there much point in using Clothing Reflects Personality, Iconic Item, etc type tropes to convey characterisation in written stories or is their use more a case of Author Appeal?

edited 1st Jan '13 9:27:27 PM by peasant

I think it depends on where the writer falls on the description versus imagination spectrum, honestly.

What do you mean by that?

For instance, a writer could describe a lawyer as having greasy hair, cheap cologne and a tacky suit to inform the reader that the lawyer is sleazy OR the writer could instead describe the lawyer as sleazy to inform the reader that the lawyer probably has greasy hair, cheap cologne and a tacky suit.

Either which way, the writer is going to need to describe something to inspire the reader's imagination towards another something.

edited 2nd Jan '13 2:06:01 AM by peasant

I really don't think a writer would describe a character sleazy so the reader would know what the character's appearance is. A writer would describe a character sleazy to inform the reader that the character is, well, sleazy. At the same time, the writer, instead of saying point blank that the character is sleazy or describe the character's sleazy appearance, could give examples of sleaziness done by the character. Like...I don't know, I don't know much about sleazy people. They sleaze? or something, don't ask me.

That being said, I think the only time these types of description tropes can be crossed out as Author Appeal is when the description takes too long and adds too many details. By that I'm totally talking about Costume Porn, which I absolutely abhor in written fiction.

It comes down to Show, Don't Tell: rather than forcing the reader to take the narrator's word on a character detail, it should be established in-universe. A physical description is one way to do that, although it should be followed up by matching words, actions, and reactions. (Unless the author plans to subvert expectations, of course.) This can be bent a little if the narrator is first person or snarky, but even then I appreciate description being used to emphasize the point.

It can also be used to set up Chekhovs Guns. A scar that is explored later, a keepsake that doesn't fit the character's style, that sort of things.

edited 2nd Jan '13 6:44:29 AM by KillerClowns

This title made me immediately think of Simon R. Green, who in almost every one of his novels and stories makes a point to visually describe the main pro- and an-tagonists. While I don't think it's inherently bad, it can certainly add unnecessary length to your story if it's done poorly, and unless the clothing/scar/item in question has a bearing on the story, I don't see why you'd bother unless you have a hatred of improperly drawn fanart.

Personally, as I've mentioned at some length before, I'm not really in favor of giving much physical description for characters. I don't particularly care for visual appearance tropes as tropes in the first place.

The audience will always have a better and more fitting image of the character than you can provide them, so you should probably stop adding details once you have enough for them to picture the character in general.