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10 Words to Describe an Old Man’s Face

By Ali Dixon

Do you have an elderly male character in your novel? Are you currently thinking about what features to give to this person? Here are 10 words to describe an old man’s face to help you.

1. Wrinkled

Bearing wrinkles ; ridges or furrows on the skin that generally form with age.

“Although his eyes were bright and engaged, his wrinkled face gave away his true age.”

“The man’s face was wrinkled and his smile was welcoming—she felt she could trust him immediately.”

How It Adds Description

As people they older, they get more and more wrinkles on their faces. You can describe the old man in your story as being particularly wrinkled if he’s very old. This will show readers without needing to state outright that the character you’re describing isn’t a young person.

Turning gray ; having grey hair.

“The man was old and graying with wisps of white hair.”

“Although he moved around efficiently, he could tell the man was old, especially because of his graying face.”

Along with gaining more wrinkles, people who get older also tend to have hair that turns gray or white. Perhaps the old man you are describing has a head full of gray hair, or maybe he has a big gray beard. Either way, you can describe his face as graying to help emphasize his age.

Lacking in brilliance ; slow in perception.

“She was speaking directly to him, but his face remained dull and impassive.”

“His face was dull and aged, but when she asked him questions later, he was perfectly responsive and remembered everything that had happened.”

If someone’s face is dull, then that can help to show readers that the person you are describing lacks youth and enthusiasm. If you want to surprise your reader, you can describe an old man’s face as being dull and uninterested and later in the story have the old man take up a pivotal role and act much more involved.

Lacking in energy or spirit ; uninteresting.

“The old man’s vapid expression made her think that he must not care about what was going on around him.”

“At first, he seemed distant and vapid , but the more they all spoke to him, the more they realized that he was extremely aware and intelligent.”

If the old man you are describing is perhaps going a bit senile, then you can describe his face and expression as vapid. This will tell readers that mentally, he may not be entirely present.

Having no energy or strength ; worn.

“The man in front of them had a tired look on his face, and he seemed unwilling to move very much.”

“The tired old man in front of her wasn’t very responsive.”

The word tired doesn’t just have to refer to a person’s physical state. When people are young, their expressions tend to be quite vibrant and excited. Older people, on the other hand, may appear perpetually tired. You can use this word to describe how old your character looks as well as to describe his general personality.

6. Sparkling

Lively or animated .

“The man was so old he could hardly walk or move at all, but his sparkling expression told of his internal youth.”

“He sat in a wheelchair in the corner of the room, and she would have almost missed him entirely if not for his sparkling eyes.”

This is a very fun word to use, as you can use it to subvert your readers’ expectations. The man in your story may be quite old, but if you describe some features of his face like his eyes as sparkling, this shows an inner youth that he may have.

Dried or shrunken, often with age ; failing vitality.

“She took note of the man’s wizened face, which over many years had become tired and wrinkled.”

“Although his face was wizened , his mind was sharp, and he still remembered specifics of the event even all those years later.”

If the old man in your story appears particularly old or wrinkled, then describing his face as wizened can demonstrate that to your readers. It can help show readers that the old man may be very near the end of his life.

Unkempt ; not well maintained or cared for; messy.

“The man had not shaved his face in a long time, and his patchy, scruffy beard was proof of that.”

“Although his face was scruffy , he was well-dressed which made him presentable enough for the event.”

As people get older, they may find it more and more difficult to perform personal grooming tasks. This can lead to things like an overall unkempt appearance. Using this word to describe the old man in the story will demonstrate that he may not be as good at maintaining his appearance as he once was.

9. World-Weary

Demonstrating boredom or fatigue at material pleasures or other aspects of the world .

“His world-weary expression made her hesitant to try talking to him.”

“He had seen many things in his life, but his world-weary appearance made him seem unenthusiastic about his adventures.”

The old man in your story may have seen many things in his life, and at this point, he may find the world boring because of it. If that’s the case, world-weary is a great word to use to describe the way he looks.

Overworked or exhausted to the point of fatigue ; apathetic or cynical because of past experiences.

“His eyes were jaded by the knowledge he held and the many experiences that came with old age.”

“The old man appeared jaded at first, but the more she spoke to him, the more he began to open up and tell more stories about his youth.”

When someone has many experiences, especially negative ones, they can become jaded and unhappy with the world. This makes it a great word to describe someone who is old and who has been through many difficult things.

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Describing an old man 31 comments.

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Posts similar to this are in my new book ‘Writing with Stardust’. The techniques and 5 different Levels of ability used are the same as in the book.

For many more chapters like these, please check out my book Writing with Stardust by clicking the book title. It is now for sale on Amazon.com.

Or just type in ‘Describing a forest’ or ‘Describing a mountain’ to get some free chapter previews and it will come up under ‘Best Descriptive Sites’ .

Describing an old man or a grandfather seems to cause people difficulty so here is my attempt at helping them. The post is in five levels so if you haven’t read my blogs before, Level one is for Basic English skills. It describes a grandfather in simple English. Level two describes a grandmother and it is in paragraph form. Level 3 describes an old man , Level 4 describes a homeless man and Level 5 is a World War 2 story involving an old man . Level five is the highest level and it is for those able to understand complex English phrases and concepts. I hope there is something for everyone to learn from the blog. God bless and take care for now. Here is the post:

LEVEL 1 LEVEL 2 LEVEL 3 LEVEL 4 LEVEL 5

LEVEL 1: Describing a Grandfather

1. My grandfather has winter-white hair. Hair

2. His eyes are blood-flecked as he is very old. Eyes

3. He has a goatee and it suits him. Beard

4. His face is timeworn and it is wrinkled. Face/ Skin

5. When he walks, he is unsteady on his feet. Walk/Movement

6. Some of his clothes are moth eaten but he still keeps them in the wardrobe. Clothes

7. Two of his fingers are crooked from an old sports injury. Fingers

8. He has a very friendly smile. Smile

9. His eyes are a sparkling , blue colour and he seems to see everything. Bright Eyes

10. His voice can be weak and fragile at times. Voice

LEVEL 2: Describing a grandmother

My grandmother is the nicest person I know. She makes those beautiful chocolate éclairs that all grandchildren love and she is very generous with them. Her hair has is gunmetal grey and is long and lush. Sometimes her eyes can appear milky when she is tired but usually they are gleaming with energy. Her face can appear world weary at times also but usually she is active and alert.

Every Saturday she walks the two miles into town and then she can appear drowsy in her movements on the way home. In the winter her fingers get slightly inflamed from the cold but she says it doesn’t hurt her. I have never seen her wear shabby clothes and they are always clean and fresh. She has the most angelic smile I have ever seen and, even though her voice can appear feeble at times, she is very healthy.

LEVEL 3 : Describing an Old Man

The old man who lives down the street is a reclusive character. He only comes out of his house occasionally, usually to collect his pension. When I saw him first, I thought his hair was very unusual.

It is very long and lush with a salt and pepper tint. He must read until late at night because he has crow’s feet under his eyes. He has a clipped, Abe Lincoln beard and that must be why everyone calls him ‘The President’. I reckon he must be in his seventies because his face is time chiselled and weather beaten. At times he can seem a bit spiritless , as if life and old age are getting the better of him. The clothes he wears are sometimes ragged and threadbare also, as if he is giving in to the passage of time and is unconcerned about his appearance.

I’ve noticed that his hand becomes clenched when the cold winds of winter bite the air. His fingers get knotty and then the hand forms the shape of a claw. I don’t feel sorry for him because he probably wouldn’t want me too. He smiled at me once when I met him on the street and there were a lot of megawatts in it! It totally transformed his face and the years dropped away from his face. His eyes shone a bright, cerulean-green and his teeth gleamed like piano keys.

Although his voice trembled when he said hello, I knew then that he hadn’t given up completely on life.

LEVEL 4: A Homeless man

Reading the newspaper today made me laugh out loud. It also brought back a memory that I thought had been buried forever. Let me paint the scene for you…

It was roughly fifteen years ago on Christmas Eve. The snow was falling in a cloud of Merlin-white and the air was beautifully cold. It wasn’t the skin-biting pinch of a windy day, more like the powdery cold of a crisp, refreshing Alaskan snowfall. I was standing outside the front entrance of a shopping mall in New York, enjoying the high spirits of the shoppers as they swarmed around me. My mother was inside getting some Christmas presents. I suppose I was about fourteen at the time.

There was a homeless man in the middle of the street weaving his way through the traffic. I could only assume that he was homeless as his actions and clothes were bizarre. He held a brown, paper bag in one hand and he would occasionally put it to his mouth to take a drink from the bottle within. The other hand was being used to make obscene gestures and to thump the bonnets of the honking cars. All the while he issued forth a string of obscenities and vile curses. Not just your ordinary curses either. This guy was threatening the motorists that the milk would curdle in their fridges’, their food would turn to sawdust and that he would render them barren and infertile for eternity. He was like a one man comedy show with the outrageousness of his performance.

He had a strange appearance, almost as if it was contrived. His hair was wizened and straw-like, nearly fossilized it was so dry. He had sad, way worn eyes and a distinctive beard. It wasn’t a thick, captain Ahab beard but rather something a lunatic might have: straggly, unkempt and spittle flecked. His face was toil worn and tanned from exposure to the elements and he walked with a weary, lethargic air until he would suddenly explode in a burst of rage. His fingers were gnarled and knobbly and the clothes he wore were musty and minging judging by the reaction of the people he passed. Their noses would crinkle in disgust and they would peel away from his presence. I don’t want to sound pass remarkable and over critical in all this but he was a truly unpleasant character. What made it worse is that he made a beeline to where I was standing.

I shuffled uncomfortably as he approached. His eyes seemed to laser in on me as if I was his target for the day. His voice was surprising, a gravel-and-gravy mix of whiskey roughness and educated brogue.

“Hey kid-gotta buck to spare?”

He seemed very gentle, a complete contrast to the South Park character I had witnessed earlier. I normally didn’t entertain vagrants or weirdos but I was so grateful he wasn’t shouting at me that I gave him the first note out of my pocket. It was twenty bucks. I felt a pang of regret then as it was part of my money to get Christmas presents. He looked at the note and I remember that he said: “You’re a nugget, kid. God bless all generous and good looking people.”

With that he was off. He zigzagged his way across the street, screaming at anyone who honked. I saw him going across to another shop front and that some old lady was giving him money. That was the last I ever saw of him. Now my eyes drifted to an article in the Obituary column of the New York Times. The caption was ‘New York’s Unlikeliest Billionaire.’

‘Died Monday, aged 65. Lloyd ‘The Tramp’ Carson, heir to the Carson Steel empire and notorious practical joker. Lloyd, who was a dedicated actor and keen observer of human life, liked nothing better than to dress up as a vagrant and shout insults at his fellow New Yorkers. Although knocked down twice as a result of these escapades, he played out the role until his last day on this earth. His last words were known to be: “You’re a nugget, man. God bless all good looking people.” Indeed, these are the exact words which shall be on his epitaph as per his wishes.’

It is believed that Mr Carson has left an estate worth north of $1.7 bn. As he does not have any immediate family, speculation is mounting as to who shall be the beneficiaries of his largesse. Rumours abound that he had a team of private detectives following him and they would discover the identities of people who were particularly generous to Mr Carson’s alter ego. It may be another urban myth, of which New Yorker’s are particularly fond of, but sources at the New York Times are adamant that Mr Carson intended to pay back those who had a generous spirit.

I laughed out loud again as I finished the article. He was most definitely a character, this guy. I had to hand it to him. He knew how to get a kick out of life.

I thought nothing more of it until a letter arrived three months later. Then I didn’t laugh at all. I cried with happiness.

LEVEL 5: A War Story

Tap-tap-tap.

The old man was trying to remember his wife’s epitaph as he clutched clumsily at his walking-stick. His memories were getting as cloudy as his eyes these days. The ebb and flow of time had chiselled away at his wizened face, ravaging it with careful patience. It was as crinkly as faded parchment now. The chapters of his life were written there to read; strength of character and memories of lost loves tinged with sadness because he was alone in the world now. He had done nothing base or ignoble in a lifetime of happy mediocrity and he was proud of that. He appeared sluggardly and spiritless to the many who rushed past him in the street. Although he was ashamed of his threadbare, tatty clothes and their musty odour, it was a choice between dog food and washing-powder these days. His bones ached constantly and his soul was weary occasionally but the desire to live still flared as bright as star-flame. He was a product of his mother’s quote.

“You are a precious gift of the womb, Luke”, she had told him daily.

He had been the only child of a widowed mother. That was a long time ago. His neighbours weren’t sure now if he was as old as the village over the hill or older than the hill over the village. He had outlived everyone who could say. His knobbly and gout-swollen fingers found it difficult to grasp the stick in the rain. Once the cold got into his bones it was difficult to get it back out. Wracked with ague and gnarled with age, his thoughts drifted more and more to his wife lately. When he had first met her, her electrifying smile had completely won him over. So too had her cupid-bow lips, her coral-black hair and her eyes of paradise-blue which glittered as clear as a mountain stream. Her memory would never leave him even though many others were becoming hazy. His stomach ached with pain and his left leg throbbed. Tap. A pause. Tap-tap. A longer pause. He thought of his dog at home, hungry and dreaming his doggy-dreams on the cold floor, probably shivering. The old man decided he would light a small fire tonight with the last few sticks. He could cope without it but the dog deserved. . . . . THWACK!

He felt an acute pain and a ringing sound filled his head. He tried to stay upright and summon strength and for a brief moment he did. Then his left leg betrayed him and he felt a hard rap above his ear. The only sense he had was of the cold concrete against his wet hair. . . .

“Man up, soldier!”

The sergeant was the first person he had ever known to use that phrase. He had Hercules shoulders and a hard stare. When he raised his voice, it was as loud as bottled thunder. He glared with contempt at the young recruit who was cowering in the trench.

A soldier called out to the sarge from the end of the trench. “Man down, sergeant!”

The sergeant cursed and leaned into the ear of the recruit. He said something to the novice and made his way down to the medics.

Luke could see that the young tyro had the thousand-yard stare common to most of the new soldiers. They always took time to adjust to the trenches and the whims of war. War was a harsh master, totally indiscriminate. It didn’t matter sometimes whether you were brave or craven, vigilant or lax. At any moment a stray shell or gas canister could send you on your way to the Maker. It was a lottery of lives and that single, salient fact seemed to unman even the best of soldiers. Conditions in the trenches didn’t help either. Corpse-engorged rats, beady-eyed, ring-tailed, and as big as cats, waddled past with their bounty, heedless of the men. The arachnid-cold defiance in their eyes made the men feel like potential prey in a reversal of nature’s laws.

It was forbidden to shoot them as bullets were scarce. You couldn’t bayonet them either as their swollen stomachs burst open, spreading disease. Some of the men, hunters and poachers from country villages, caught them with blankets and threw four or five into a barrel for weeks on end and sealed it up. Eventually, one would emerge, huge and vicious. ‘King rat’ had become a cannibal and would be set free to terrorise the other rats. Men grunted with satisfaction that nature’s laws had been restored; rats should eat rats, not men. It never fully solved the problem but it gave the soldiers peace of mind. To Luke, the real problems weren’t the rats.

Trench foot was a constant worry. Standing in a foot of mercury-red water every day made the skin doughy and inflamed, leading to amputation for the afflicted. Hair-lice, gum disease from a lack of vitamin c, hypothermia and cholera from infected water were all daily battles. The worst by far was what the experienced soldiers called ‘zombie sickness’. The constant whining of bullets and screaming of clod-thumping bombs made some of the soldiers owl-eyed from lack of sleep. That’s when a sly German sniper was only too happy to punish you for a simple mistake like not keeping your head down.

There weren’t too many left now from his original company three years ago, which was why he was a corporal, ranked just below the sergeant. Every day, the new recruits kept coming in, getting younger and more naive. It was up to old hands like him to try to keep them alive as long as possible. He edged over to the shell-shocked recruit.

“How long have you been on the front, private?” he asked.

It took a moment for those horror-filled eyes to register that someone was talking to him.

“Just five days, sir” and he gave what could only be described as a fatalistic smile.

There was a nervous tic under his left eye as he spoke. Some men became doppelgängers of what they once were in the terror-filled crucible of war, mere mannequins cast adrift from their souls. It could be the constant, mordant smell of death. It could be the sight of men being blown apart or their faces turning to jelly if they lost their gas masks, liquefied from the inside out. It could even be a lack of contact from family if the letters didn’t get through.

“Any secret loves back home then, private?” he inquired, anxious to break him out of his reverie. He got a faint smile, slightly dreamy, in return.

“A girlfriend who wants to have a child whe- if I get home. Didn’t have my mind on the job earlier. That’s why Sarge was giving out to me. Forgot to put the rifle back onto safety and it went off. ”

“What’s your name, soldier?”

“Billy Highcross, sir. All the men get a great kick out of it. Want to know was I at the crucifixion of our Lord, that kind of thing. ”

“Well you mind yourself, Billy Highcross. If I can, I’ll keep an eye out for you.” Luke moved on, talking to his men, accepting cigarettes even though he didn’t smoke himself. Comradeship was all that separated them from beasts.

Two nights later it happened. The Germans had a crack sniper with an unusual technique. He was brave and the soldiers who caught a glimpse of him swore that he was uncommonly large, a big, hulking figure who came into no-man’s land when the days fighting was over. He was also a sadist. He would crawl up to the wounded and torture them as they lay dying, daring his comrades to attempt a rescue. Many had tried and all were dead. In Luke’s company alone, nine soldiers had died. Eventually, the sarge had been issued orders from command that no one was to engage in rescue missions any more. It grated with the sarge, but orders were orders.

Night after night, the screams and heart-rending cries of their comrades could be heard, shaming them all to silence. That days head count listed six men dead but only one missing- Billy Highcross. Luke was sitting in a puddle of water, rifle resting on his knees, when the roll was called. He thought of Billy’s girlfriend back home but he also thought of the promise he gave his mother before he left.

“Promise me you’ll come back alive, Luke. You’re all I have in the world.”

“I promise.”

Those two words were ringing in his head and had kept him alive when most of his company had fallen like jerking puppets around him. He sat there for a long time. He heard a heart-rending scream coming from the German side.

He rose up, taking off his greatcoat, leaving it slide into the puddle. He put his rifle aside and took out the large skinning knife he had found on the battlefield months before. He rubbed some fire-ash on his face and, placing the knife between his teeth, climbed a few steps up the ladder and was gone. Not a soul saw him leave. The ground was cold and slick. It was a chilly December night, banks of clouds blotting out the moon and stars. Craters full of icy water littered the battlefield. Tortuously, cautiously, every sense honed, he crept like a phantom through blood-soaked puddles and quietly-misting pools. He stopped only once to cut off the bottom of his shirt. He placed the strip around his mouth to block off both the noise and smell of his breath. It took him twenty minutes to do this for fear of discovery.

The knife was in his right hand now, his elbows aching from the effort of crawling and his heart was hammering like a piston in his chest. His pupils dilated with the intensity of his gaze, trying desperately to locate his quarry. His nostrils flared. Even amongst all the ichor, his hair matted with congealed blood and rotting corpses all around him, he detected the faintest scent in the air. It was the odour, barely discernible, of body sweat. He froze. Somewhere out here, in the midst of all the death, was a living being. At the same time, a soul-harrowing howl rent the air, a dreadful imprecation that chilled him to the marrow. Evil was abroad this night. He moved towards it, not giving into his fear.

His next decision would determine whether he would live or die that night. The gentle breeze was in his favour but the sniper had the advantage of immobility. He could work his dark arts on Billy Highcross and move to another location to wait for his prey, gun at the ready, blending in amongst the corpses. Luke decided to lay stock-still also, hoping against hope that his adversary would reveal himself. A puff of breath, a stifled cough, a small movement- anything.

Time dragged on in a way he had never experienced. Occasionally, Billy would scream, not forty yards away but still an eternity. Luke prayed. He cursed inwardly and he waited. He was just about to break when the barest whisper of cloth fluttered not five yards from him, coming from a sunken bomb-crater. He moved his head what seemed like a millimetre a second and it finally came to rest on a monster. The German had Samson shoulders and a tree-trunk neck. Hugging the ground, he resembled a cunning gorilla, sliding over bodies even more carefully and slowly than Luke had done.

When Billy screamed again, the Germans mouth opened up in a goblin-grin, revealing canines like broken glass. Luke could swear he moved his head to watch Billy’s pain and chose that moment to act.

He pounced on the German, springing like a tiger but silent in his fury. Before the German had time to react, Luke had skewered him with his knife in the shoulder, just missing the jugular. The German hissed in shock but at the same time whipped his right hand around and caught Luke in the temple with the butt of his rifle. Luke fell back and immediately felt two boulder-hard hands around his neck, the nails burrowing into his flesh like shards of flint. He tried to groin him, tried to push him aside, tried to butt him. Every effort was repelled with ease. As he slipped into unconsciousness, his mind registered two things. He had never seen eyes as cruel as the barracuda-black coals of the German, two pitiless pools of death. The other was that the coming dawn above the German’s back was the most beautiful he had ever seen; clouds of dusky-pink drifting past a slash of molten-gold in the sky.

Little stars, conflagration-red, flashed on and off in his mind, through a murky haze of black. Then the pressure on his neck eased and he heard the disgusting sound of grunting and growling. He opened his eyes and saw two shadowy Titans rolling and grappling on the ground. One was on top of the other with his hands around his neck, their two noses almost touching. The sounds of their rage, muffled but murderous, was terrifying. Both were bizarrely trying to avoid the morning guns homing in on their position. There was one final gurgling, a bloody, rattling throaty sound. Then there was a very eerie, very sad expulsion of death-breath from one of them. A pregnant pause followed and Luke tried to get his breathing back. His throat passage felt reduced to the size of a penny. Someone hissed in his ear:

“Can you make it back on your own, corporal?”

It was the sarge. He had Billy Highcross tucked in under one massive paw, one hand on the ground for balance. Luke nodded.

They made it back just before the dawn volley erupted. Billy had a ruptured lung and didn’t see any more of the war. One question nagged at Luke for months. He finally summoned up the courage to ask one night when the sarge was on his own.

“Why didn’t you just knife him, sarge? Why kill him with your hands?”

The sarge took a while to answer.

“For all of our lads who died suffering. I wanted him to see my eyes. It’s what men do, isn’t it?”

Two days before the war ended the sarge was killed trying to rescue a soldier pinned down by enemy fire. As far as Luke knew, he never got a medal. Luke was decorated twice afterwards for bravery as sergeant of his company

There was a crowd of young people around the old man. The same stars were flaring in and out of his consciousness, winking then disappearing. He could see the emblems on their trainers-Nike, Reebok, and Adidas. Snatches of conversation came to him, mostly boys and one girl. There seemed to be an argument.

“. . . . shouldn’t have done it,” said the girl.

“. . . . an accident”, said one of the boys.

“. . . . did the same yesterday. . . at least call an ambulance”.

“. . . . . got no credit, have I?”

A deep, male voice shouted in the distance and the trainers disappeared.

He remembered his dog was alone and sadness overcame him. The words on his wife’s epitaph came to him then:

“I loved you so

‘Twas heaven with you”

and he cried for the first time in over half a century. A couple of adult voices were getting closer and he could hear fragments of their conversation as he drifted in and out of consciousness.

“. . . . who were they?”

“. . . . that Billy Highcross and his gang”.

“. . . why would they do something stupid like that?”

The last words the old man heard before he slipped away was. . . . “It’s what they do around here, isn’t it? The saddest part about it is that his grandfather was a war hero. ”

31 responses to “ Describing an Old Man ”

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I found this list very useful. Thank you. 🙂

Hi BunKarydo: I hope you’re well. Thanks for the friendly comment and I’m delighted you found the post useful. Cheers for now. Liam.

You’re welcome, Liam. I was looking for a suitable word for something I was writing and had found nothing suitable at Thesaurus.com. In desperation I tried a Google search but with very low expectations. I was delighted when your post appeared because it was exactly what I needed. There was a wealth of good stuff there. I’ve bookmarked it for future reference too.

I hope you have a great week. Bun (pron. Boon!) 🙂

I loved reading your page!

Hi Nameless: Thanks for taking the time to post such a nice comment. It’s much appreciated and I wish you the best. ‘Bye for now. Liam.

Thank you on level for i was struggling for words but this page was just what i needed

Hi Spike: I hope you are well. Cheers for the comment and I’m glad the post helped you. Be well and thanks again for the kind words. ‘Bye for now. Liam.

can you make a paragraph an ugly old man

Thank you so much for this blog. It has helped me sharpen my creative writing skills.

Hi Chukwuezue: I hope you are well. You’re very welcome and I’m glad it helped you. Thanks for taking the time to leave a kind comment and I wish you the best. Cheers for now. Liam.

Need hyphens 😢😢😢

Great information! Read my book called #Tween Tales it will really help with descriptions too… Thanks once again.

Hi mmt: I hope you are well. I will read the book as soon as time permits and thanks for telling me about it. Thanks for the nice comment and ‘bye for now. Liam.

I’ve got one too: Now I’m living with Fagin, an ancient elderly who looks like a fossilized mummy with the face of a deflated balloon derived from a walnut. ( from Oliver Twist- re-describing Fagin.)

Hi Joshua: What an interesting comment. It shows humour, intelligence and perception all in one go. Very impressed. Go you. cheers for now. Liam.

This post is really helpful and it help me to write what I wanted. Thanks you😊

Thank you.it helped me alot

Hi Prateek: I hope you are well. You’re very welcome and thanks for commenting. Cheers for now. Liam.

Fuck this website you are shit you are shit

this was so helpful,thankyou so much and god bless.

this was so amazing thanks it was truly wonderful

it was the best website i have ever seen

Hi all: Thamks very much for the enthusiastic comments. Very much appreciated. Cheers for now. Liam

AMAZING. surprised (in a good way) that someone was willing to make a website like this. Good job.

Hi Yl: Thanks for taking the time to post a kind comment. I’m glad it helped you in some way. ‘Bye for now. Liam.

loved the website

nice website. suited me and helped me

Hi Sajeel: Thanks very much for the kind comment. Liam.

Thanks for the page!

Hi erisss: You’re very welcome. Thanks for the kind comment.

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Master List of Physical Description for Writers

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I created this list of ways to describe people

because physical description, when done well, helps the readers see characters in their minds. But sometimes when you’re in the middle of writing, it can be hard to think of physical adjectives and distinguishing features for characters. I find that describing facial features can be especially tricky!

That’s why I created this long list of physical characteristics. It’s kind of like a character description generator, and it’ll help you when you’re trying to think of how to describe a character’s appearance.

Young woman with pensive expression and long brown hair. "Master List of Physical Descriptions for Writers - pin or bookmark for future reference!"

Eyes – General

For all the words about describing facial features, I’m focusing more on physical descriptions rather than emotional expressions, though there’s a little crossover! You can also check out my long list of facial expressions.

heavy-lidded

fringed with long lashes

with sweeping eyelashes

with thick eyelashes

By the way, this post on how to describe (and not describe) the eyes of an Asian character is really great. Check it out.

Eyes – Color

Brown is the most common eye color by far. Green is quite rare.

chocolate brown

cocoa brown

coffee brown

sienna brown

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cornflower blue

Arctic blue

glacial blue

crystal blue

electric blue

slate blue / slate gray

storm blue / storm gray

silver / silver gray

concrete gray

gunmetal gray

Skin – Color

Josh Roby made a great chart of skin tones and descriptor words, and I got a lot of these words from him. You can get that here .

The quote from N.K. Jemisin interested me: “I get really tired of seeing African-descended characters described in terms of the goods that drove, and still drive, the slave trade—coffee, chocolate, brown sugar. There’s some weird psychosocial baggage attached to that.”

cream / creamy

rose / rosy

Skin – General

Some of these are better for the face, and some are better for other parts of the body.

translucent

luminescent

with large pores

weather-beaten

Face – Structure

heart-shaped

high forehead

broad forehead

prominent brow ridge

protruding brow bone

sharp cheekbones

high cheekbones

angular cheekbones

hollow cheeks

jutting chin

pointed chin

receding chin

double chin

dimple in chin

visible Adam’s apple

People don’t write much about noses, but they can be distinguishing features for characters!

Cupid’s bow

straight teeth

gap between teeth

gleaming white teeth

Facial Hair (or lack thereof)

clean-shaven

smooth-shaven

mutton-chop sideburns

a few days’ growth of beard

five o’ clock shadow

Hair – General

I threw a few hairstyles in here, though not many.

shoulder-length

neatly combed

slicked down / slicked back

buzzed / buzz cut

widow’s peak

Hair – Color

There are some repeats here from the eye color section!

salt and pepper

charcoal gray

brown sugar

tawny brown

toffee brown

Titian-haired

strawberry blonde

butterscotch

sandy blond

fair-haired

Body Type – General

average height

barrel-chested

heavy / heavy-set

pot-bellied

full-figured

leggy / long-legged

broad-shouldered

sloping shoulders

stubby fingers

long fingers

ragged nails

grimy fingernails

ink-stained

This list and many more are in my book Master Lists for Writers: Thesauruses, Plot Ideas, Character Traits, Names, and More . Check it out if you’re interested!

Master Lists for Writers by Bryn Donovan #master lists for writers free pdf #master lists for writers free ebook #master lists for writers free kindle

And if you don’t want to miss future writing posts, follow the blog, if you aren’t already — there’s a place to sign up on the lefthand side of the blog. Thanks for stopping by, and happy writing!

How to Write Flashbacks So They're Not Clunky #past tense #present tense #formatting

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How to describe a person vividly: 8 ways

Learning how to describe a person so that the reader forms a vivid impression of your characters is essential for writing compelling stories. Read 8 tips for describing characters so they come to life:

Post author By Jordan
12 Comments on How to describe a person vividly: 8 ways

Knowing how to describe a person so that your reader forms a vivid impression is vital for immersive writing. How can you describe a person precisely and avoid pace-crushing info dumps or eyes, eyes, eyes? Read 8 ways to write better, varied character description:

8 ways to describe people in a story

Start with character profiles and pin boards
Focus on details that reveal personality, use detailed descriptive language
Practice describing people in brief
Prioritize unique character features
Describe character actions and gestures
Find descriptive precise adjectives and fitting comparisons, use descriptive verbs too
Describe personality via dialogue and voice
Read writers renowned for good characterization

Let’s dive into each of these ideas for bringing your characters to life:

1. Start with character profiles and pin boards

Before you begin describing people who’ll populate your story, it’s useful to sketch character ideas . It helps if you can answer questions such as:

What clothing does my character wear?
What is idiosyncratic or recognizable about how my character moves? What does their body language reveal?
What would a stranger notice first about this character if they entered a room?
What is their physical description? What is their eye and hair color, do they have freckles, scars or tattoos?

To build richer descriptions , you could create a pin board on Pinterest before you draft of clothing your character would wear, places they might love to visit. Any visual reference point that captures the essence of their persona.

Another option is to answer character prompts to build a character profile , which you can do in the Now Novel dashboard as you build a downloadable story outline packed with useful story background.

Describing people and outlining in Now Novel Dashboard

In our monthly writing craft webinars, writing coach Romy Sommer also suggests ‘reverse-casting’ your characters for inspiration:

2. Focus on details that reveal personality

A character’s hair or eye color doesn’t tell the reader much (there are other ways to use eye descriptions to build personality).

When you introduce a character, focus on details that reveal character personality or psychology .

Here’s Dostoevsky describing his character Katerina Ivanova (who has tuberculosis) in Crime and Punishment (1866):

Describe habitual actions to reveal personality

Katerina Ivanovna had just begun, as she always did at every free moment, walking to and fro in her little room from window to stove and back again, with her arms folded across her chest, talking to herself and coughing. Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment (1866), Chapter 7.

Dostoevsky conveys Katerina’s fragile mental health and state clearly. The coughing is a reminder of her life-threatening condition. The fact she continues to pace despite her discomfort suggests her determined, fighting spirit, which we see in further scenes.

You could also use descriptions of a character’s physical appearance to show their personalities, for example: ‘Jenna’s curly hair was bouncy, like her character. bouncy and bubbly.’

Use objects such as possessions left behind to suggest persona

The acclaimed short story author Alice Munro is a master of understated character development.

In her story ‘Free Radicals’, Munro describes a recently-widowed woman named Nita coming to terms with her husband’s death:

She thought carefully, every morning when she first took her seat, of the places where Rich was not. He was not in the smaller bathroom, where his shaving things still were, along with the prescription pills for various troublesome but not serious ailments which he’d refused to throw out. Alice Munro, ‘Free Radicals’, available via The New Yorker

Munro creates the emotional affect of a deceased spouse’s absence by describing objects in detail that remain once they’ve gone.

A precise detail – the prescription pills Rich refused to throw out – describes something about his hoarding character.

Detail the type of behavior characters might exhibit

Another way to describe a character’s personality is to give an example of something they might do.

Further on in the story, Munro describe pranking behavior that was typical of Rich to suggest a playful nature:

He was of course not out on the half-scraped deck, ready to peer jokingly in the window – through which she might, in earlier days, have pretended to be alarmed at the sight of a peeping tom. Munro, ‘Free Radicals’

The details Munro shares combine character behavior (Rich’s joking at the window) and setting detail (pills left behind that he refused to discard) to simultaneously create a sense of character and place . Her details describe the way people inhabit their spaces. This creates Rich as a vivid, lingering, ghostly presence in Nita’s memory.

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3. Practice describing people in brief

One thing to avoid in choosing how to describe a character in a story is an info dump.

Info-dumping character description makes your reader go, ‘Oh, the author wants to squeeze in everything they possibly can about their character.’ It alerts your reader to the author’s hand, the wizard behind the curtain conjuring Oz. Such spurious description may lose your reader.

Instead, pick a specific detail to focus on for an introduction, and bring in other visual or descriptive character details as they become relevant to the story/action.

Examples of how to describe people succinctly

Here are a few examples of character descriptions that are precise and impactful:

Her hair had been long and wavy brown then, natural in curl and colour, as he liked it, and her face bashful and soft – a reflection less of the way she was than of the way he wanted to see her. Alice Munro, ‘Dimensions’, Too Much Happiness (2009), p. 2. Available online .

Note how Munro succinctly creates a sense not only of a character’s appearance but how it is affected by her being in a controlling relationship (which we find out more about as the story continues).

A sense of time and change is bundled with character description as we read a factor that shaped the protagonist Doree’s past appearance, now changed at the story’s start.

Below, Kent Haruf uses simile drawn from two elderly brothers’ farmland world to describe their appearance:

Their faces were red and weather-blasted below their white foreheads, the coarse hair on their round heads grown iron-gray and as stiff as the roached mane of a horse. Kent Haruf, Eventide (2004), p. 3.

Practice describing characters in three lines or less. What can you compare their appearance to? What does it say about them?

4. Prioritize unique character features

A large part of learning how to describe a person believably is showing what makes them unique or distinctive.

The Victorian author Charles Dickens, a master of characterization, described people with vivid, characteristic humor.

Here Dickens describes the schoolmaster Thomas Gradgrind, ‘a man of facts and calculations’ in his novel Hard Times (1854):

The emphasis was helped by the speaker’s voice, which was inflexible, dry, and dictatorial. The emphasis was helped by the speaker’s hair, which bristled on the skirts of his bald head, a plantation of firs to keep the wind from its shining surface, all covered with knobs, like the crust of a plum pie, as if the head had scarcely warehouse-room for the hard facts stored inside. Charles Dickens, Hard Times (1854), full text on Project Gutenberg .

Although Dickens describes his character’s hair, he uses a striking visual metaphor (‘a plantation of firs’).

This leads quickly back to description showing the schoolmaster’s fact-obsessed nature (‘…as if the head had scarcely warehouse-room for the hard facts stored inside’).

Dickens takes the description of Gradgrind as obstinate and fact-obsessed further:

The speaker’s obstinate carriage, square coat, square legs, square shoulders, – nay, his very neckcloth, trained to take him by the throat with an unaccommodating grasp, like a stubborn fact, as it was, – all helped the emphasis. Dickens, Hard Times

Thus Dickens mines a single, defining detail – Gradgrind’s tyrannical obsession with fact over imagination – for cohesive, comical description.

If Dickens had simply said ‘he was balding and inflexible and would lecture the students about facts’, this would create some sense of character. Dickens instead writes stronger description to show us what the character is like.

Yet the unique details Dickens chooses make Thomas Gradgrind especially vivid.

5. Describe character actions and gestures

Showing characters’ gestures and actions is an important part of bringing characters to life.

The way your characters move , their body language and gestures, is a key part of describing personality, status, or mental state.

In the example from Dostoevsky above, Katerina Ivanovna’s anxious pacing conveys her mounting fear over her husband (who drinks away the little money they have).

In Hard Times , Dickens uses movement and body language to reinforce the impression of Gradgrind as domineering and forceful:

“Girl number twenty,” said Mr. Gradgrind, squarely pointing with his square forefinger, “I don’t know that girl. Who is that girl?” “Sissy Jupe, sir,” explained number twenty, blushing, standing up, and curtseying. Dickens, Hard TImes

Dickens extends Gradgrind’s ‘squareness’ through his pointing. Sissy Jupe’s own body language conveys both her own bashfulness and the fact that Gradgrind wields stern authority over his pupils.

Dickens could simply use dialogue for the schoolmaster’s inquiry. Because of Gradgrind’s gestures, though, we get a clear sense of his dominant, demanding persona.

6. Find descriptive adjectives and fitting comparisons

There are two useful tools for accurate description of characters in stories: Precise, exact adjectives , and comparative language.

Finding adjectives to describe people with positive and negative connotations

Positive adjectives to describe a person include:

Kindness: Kind, fair, caring, thoughtful, non-judgmental, respectful, loving
Conscientiousness: Principled, upstanding, disciplined, rigorous, thorough, careful, decisive
Selflessness: Selfless, giving, generous, dedicated
Intelligence: Smart, insightful, perceptive, brainy, whip-smart, aware, informed, knowledgeable
Attractive: Beautiful, stunning, gorgeous, hot, sexy, alluring, glamorous, studly, magnetic, hypnotic, fit [UK slang]

These are just some adjectives to describe a person in positive terms. If you need a good word for description:

Look up a similar, broader word in a thesaurus.
Find a word you like and look up its full definition and even etymology to ensure it has the right connotations (latent or associated meanings).

Negative adjectives to describe a person might include:

Cruelty: Cruel, unkind, nasty, vicious, wicked, evil, despicable, malevolent, vindictive
Ugliness: Hideous, vile, gross, creepy, fugly, monstrous, disgusting
Boring: Dull, dreary, insufferable, tedious, insipid, bland
Non-intelligence: Stupid, thick, ignorant, cretinous, basic

Keep in mind that some words to describe people negatively may have socially-offensive connotations (for example ‘dumb’ in the informal sense to mean stupid comes from ‘mute’).

If in doubt, find the most exact adjective whose connotations cannot be read another way.

Find fitting comparisons and use figurative language describing character

Comparisons are a great tool for writing character descriptions that are vivid. Look at how Dickens describes Gradgrind’s bald head in the example above, for example. Dickens uses metaphor (there is no ‘like’ or ‘as though’ which would make it a simile): ‘[Gradgrind’s hair] bristled on the skirts of his bald head, a plantation of firs to keep the wind from its shining surface.’

Now this isn’t the most fitting description (Gradgrind’s head has nothing to do with trees or a plantation of firs). Yet it conjures a precise, memorable image.

In Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon , a father’s anger is shown using the metaphor of a volcano likely to erupt at an time.

Morrison extends this metaphor beautifully to show how Macon’s (the father) anger affects his daughters:

Solid, rumbling, likely to erupt without prior notice, Macon kept each member of his family awkward with fear. His hatred of his wife glittered and sparked in every word he spoke to her. The disappointment he felt in his daughters sifted down on them like ash, dulling their buttery complexions and choking the lilt out of what should have been girlish voices. Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon (1978), p. 10.

7. Describe personality via dialogue and voice

In deciding how to describe characters in your story, dialogue and voice in narration are two powerful tools to create a persona.

People’s speech describes so much about who they are:

Tone : Is a person often angry, huffy, disappointed (like Macon in the example by Toni Morrison above)
Vocabulary: Does the person have an extensive vocabulary suggesting they are educated or well-read or the opposite?
Diction: Does the character have a marked accent, drawl, lisp or other distinguishing feature of the way they speak?
Voice: What are the actual timbral qualities of your character’s voice? Is it high, low, or in-between? Loud or soft? Grating or pleasant to the hearer?

What your characters talk about (and what they leave unsaid) describes their persona in addition to visual descriptive details. Tweet This

8. Read writers renowned for their characterization

To learn how to describe a person brilliantly, collect memorable character descriptions . Read authors who are particularly noted for their vivid characters.

Many short story authors ( such as Anton Chekhov ) are good at compressing character detail into shorter passages.

Here, for example, is Chekhov describing his character Mihail Petrovitch Zotov, an old man, through dialogue and action tags in his story ‘The Dependents’:

“What an existence!” he grumbled, rolling crumbs of black bread round in his mouth. “It’s a dog’s life. No tea! And it isn’t as though I were a simple peasant: I’m an artisan and a house-owner. The disgrace!” Anton Chekhov, ‘The Dependents’, available online.

Chekhov combines this portrait of the character’s psychological state with description of his appearance:

Grumbling and talking to himself, Zotov put on his overcoat, which was like a crinoline, and, thrusting his feet into huge clumsy golosh-boots (made in the year 1867 by a bootmaker called Prohoritch), went out into the yard. Chekhov, ‘The Dependents’.

Start keeping a journal where you collect character descriptions that strike you as effective. This can become a useful source of inspiration to page through when you are sketching out your own characters.

Before concluding, let’s briefly take a look at how to detail character if you are writing in the first person. So far, we have looked at how to describe when you are writing in the third person point of view. First person description examples will need to be slightly different as you don’t have access to the omniscient narrator device.

There are various ways to do so, however, and effectively. For example another character could comment on the appearance of the first-person character. Here are some ways:

‘John looked at me with a shocked expression and asked why I had black dots under my eyes.’

‘I glanced into the mirror, and noticed my mascara had smudged, leaving a trail of black dots under each eye.’

Ready to flesh out your characters and get feedback on character descriptions? Start outlining characters , and get constructive feedback from the Now Novel community when you’re ready to revise.

Now Novel is a great platform for all writers to check out – especially for plotting, brainstorming, characterisation and even world building. Their customer service is top notch and I highly recommend NN!— MJ

How to describe hands: 6 ways to make characters real
How to describe setting: 6 ways to bring setting to life
How to start a novel in third person: 7 tips
Tags character description , description writing , how to describe a person

Jordan is a writer, editor, community manager and product developer. He received his BA Honours in English Literature and his undergraduate in English Literature and Music from the University of Cape Town.

12 replies on “How to describe a person vividly: 8 ways”

Great post 🙂 Thanks for the tips!

Thanks, Amy! It’s a pleasure. Thanks for reading.

My name is Muhammad saqlain mushtaq I am from pakistan

Hi Muhammad, welcome to our blog. Let me know if you have any questions about character description (or anything else writing related) and I’ll do my best to answer them.

Thanks for very descriptive and inspiring inputs. Impressive and very helpful. This is helpful not only for me but also for everyone. My salute .

Hi Alex, it’s a pleasure. Thank you for reading our blog.

Hi😊 It’s your newest fan here. Thanks Jordan😊

Hi Glajol, I’m glad you’re a fan of our blog. Thank you for reading and saying hi.

I feel like everything you wrote was meant for me because I’m having alot of trouble describing my characters,so thanks alot

Hi Kaitlyn, I’m so glad to hear that. Hope your story goes well further.

Jordan- Wow! This information on building vivid characters is exactly what I was looking for. I am in the early stage of my writing career and struggling with describing my scene or setting and characters. Thank you for providing this resource. This information is great!

Dear Melika, Thanks so much for your comments! So pleased to hear them. All the very best with your writing.

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Beyond Tall, Dark, and Handsome: How to Describe Your Characters

May 26, 2021

The ability to describe is the key to great storytelling, but when it comes to depicting characters, our first impulse is often to go straight to the basics (height, hair color, clothing) and leave it at that. It’s not that those descriptions are bad, it’s just that they provide surface-level characterization rather than truly characterizing .

Dwight Swain, in his book Creating Characters , says, “When your wife says a woman is ‘loud and pushy,’ she defines her far more sharply for story purposes than any description of blue eyes, blonde hair, or pug nose.”

The reason “loud and pushy” is meaningful is because it tells us what is going on inside the character, not just what appears on the outside. And the description tells us not only what the woman is like, but reveals something about the wife who characterizes her so.

Which means when you describe your characters, your descriptions are deeply tied to who is doing the describing. A rambunctious kindergartener will be represented quite differently by a patient grade-school teacher than a cranky principal.

And this is true whether you’re writing a story narrated in first or third-person, because even in third-person we see the world through that character’s eyes.

Remember that the goal in creative writing isn’t to give your readers information, but to give them an experience. Here are some tips that will help you tap into what is significant in your characters so that you can evoke feelings in your readers and make the characters in your story come to life.

Tip 1: Choose a dominant impression

Take inventory of the traits of the character you’d like to describe. Are they lazy, sexy, insecure, irritable? Choose qualities that are particularly noteworthy about the character and actually relate to your story. Think about what the character is like , as much as what they look like. Keep in mind that the earlier you get to these qualities in relation to the character’s appearance in the story, the better.

In J. Ryan Stradal’s Kitchens of the Great Midwest , the protagonist has been lamenting his sorry luck with women. On page four, through a third-person narrator, we get more of the character’s perception of himself:

“By this time, he was twenty-eight, growing a pale hairy inner tube around his waist, and already going bald.”

This isn’t an objective description. Stradal conveys the insecurities of the character through the way the character chooses to describe himself.

Tip 2: Convey the attitude of the describer

Pin down the current outlook or perspective of the character doing the describing. Zero in on their state of mind (lonely, curious, offended, prone-to-exaggeration, etc.) at this exact moment in the story. Now write your description through the filter of the consciousness of the character who is doing the describing.

The male point-of-view character in Grace Paley’s short story “The Contest” is a bit of a player. Here’s how he describes his latest kind-of girlfriend:

“A medium girl, size twelve, a clay pot with handles—she could be grasped.”

Clay pot? Grasping? There’s one thing on this character’s mind and it isn’t a chaste afternoon at an ice cream social. In one short sentence we have insight into his sensibilities about women.

Tip 3: Lean into diction

Now’s the time to get picky with your word choices. The trick here is to pin down not only your character’s perception of other characters, but which words will best convey them. Think about how your character might verbalize the description, even if they aren’t speaking aloud. Choose words from their lexicon that will reveal them as a particular person.

Mattie Ross, the formal-speaking protagonist in Charles Portis’ True Grit , uses words like “beast” and “morn” in describing her father on his horse:

“He was a handsome sight and in my memory’s eye I can still see him mounted up there on Judy in his brown woolen coat and black Sunday hat and the both of them, man and beast, blowing little clouds of steam on that frosty morn.”

Portis could have left out the parenthetical “man and beast,” and of course he could have had Mattie say “morning.” But his attention to the particulars of diction allowed him to characterize this unforgettable fourteen-year-old girl.

Tip 4: Go for gesture or bodily movement

If you tend to use static descriptions when you describe your characters, think about putting them in motion so that the reader can see them doing something. Action adds another dimension to your descriptions. It allows you to take physical traits, which may be general, and incorporate them into specific behaviors.

In “The Lunch Lady and Her Three-Headed Dogs,” essayist Sonya Huber writes about her conflicted relationship with her upper arms and describes them like this:

“I raise my arms to write on the chalkboard, and the skin draped over bone and muscle swings in contrapuntal melody.”

Huber isn’t just present in her classroom setting, she’s active in it. And the boldness of putting that upper arm skin in motion takes the visual from good to great.

Tip 5: Try something figurative

This is a tricky one because a bad metaphor or simile can be cringe-worthy. But a good one will delight your reader. A simple comparison can clarify your image, allowing the reader to think, Ah, I know exactly what you mean .

Paulette Jiles skillfully uses metaphor in her novel News of the World during a scene in which kindly Captain Kidd is first assessing the young girl who is to be his charge:

“Her eyes were blue and her skin that odd bright color that occurs when fair skin has been burned and weathered by the sun. She had no more expression than an egg.”

When you describe your characters, with just a little extra work, you might be surprised at how deeply you can get into the minds of your story people, and how much better your reader will connect to them. More than plot, it’s your characters who are going to sweep your readers away into the world of your story.

Written by Kim Lozano

Kim Lozano is an editor and creative writing coach from St. Louis. Her work has been published in The Iowa Review North American Review DIY MFA CRAFT and many other publications. You can find out more about her classes and the writing resources she offers at kimlozano.com.

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How To Write A Character Description (101 Examples)

February 15, 2024

Learn what character description is and how to describe a character. Jump into OC description writing with one of the iconic character description examples from our list.

Developing a description of a character can be a challenge for OC creators. How much do you give away as someone who knows the character innately versus trying to generate interest and get an audience to invest in the character’s journey? We’re going to dive into writing character descriptions that stand out.

Why Character Descriptions Matter

Character descriptions, at heart, serve as a marker for the reader to determine if they wish to know more about the character. They are creators' attempts to signal that an individual they are writing about is worth becoming invested in. This is why a boring character description can be fatal to first impressions - why bother exploring a project if the character's description generates no spark?

Character descriptions are also influenced by purpose. A character description in a screenplay occupies a different purpose than a character description on a profile page. A description in a screenplay is lean, whereas a profile has more room to explore. These descriptions we’re talking about are too large for a character reference sheet .

While focusing on writing character descriptions for profiles, we will look at examples from literature, screenplays, and existing character profiles on CharacterHub.

The Five Key Questions

When it comes to description in a general sense, there are five questions to consider: Who, What, Where, Why, and When? These questions are also beneficial in writing original character descriptions because you can use as many as you wish or even omit some to generate interest.

It is rather complicated to omit the who in a description, as a description is usually tied to an identifiable figure. Even if you may not want to give away a character’s identity, there is usually some marker that identifies them. For example, in the script for the horror classic Halloween (1978) by John Carpenter and Deborah Hill, the lurking presence of Michael Myers is simply referred to as “The Shape.” It is a name as evocative as it is practical. In most cases, a creator will probably just include the OC’s name.

The what in a character description can be interpreted as a marker for their identity. This could be their ethnicity, role, or species, for example. It is, again, reasonably complex to avoid this when developing a description, as a character without a perceived role may not feel like a character. A great example of “the what” in a character description comes from the character Tiberius Skärvas IV from the webcomic The Fourth .

From the character's description on the cast page: “Ever since the First and his rather unethical business practices, the Tiberius Skärvas have been accursed by the gods. While technically still human, they possess the appearance and certain traits of sharks.” A cursed human with shark-like traits is undoubtedly a bold answer for “the what.”

When it comes to where , you are likely answering who the character is to their setting. It is less about a physical location and how that character connects to or runs counter to a location or society. Essentially, you are positioning them against civilization in whatever form that takes. A great example of this can be found in the codex entry of Agrippa Varus from the webcomic Terra Incognita .

Case in point: “Agrippa Varus was raised in a well respected family in the Asurian capital of Sokai. His father Argo Varus, served as a consul and the main liaison between Asura and other sentient worlds. Due to his exposure to other species from a young age, Agrippa has an open mind and is much less prejudiced than the average Asurian citizen.”

As we can see in this description, Agrippa is given a physical “where” regarding a space civilization while also being described of their societal “where” - as a figure that runs outside their culture.

The when of a character in their description is all about position. Whether the setting is based on natural history or set in an entirely fictional timeline, a character occupies temporal space, which can factor into how they are seen. Are they of their time, or do they feel apart from it? Descriptions that hint at such things are great at generating interest.

A great example of this can be found in the script of Warm Bodies (2013), in a description of the character R. “Blank face, sunken eyes. Blueish lips. If we didn’t know any better we’d think he was a junkie, a runaway from the set of My Own Private Idaho . Then we might notice a few thin gashes cutting across his cheeks. And then we might hear a soft groan humming from his frozen lips. And then we might start to wonder…

In this example, we see the deliberate usage of a contemporary reference to another film, positioning R and their relationship to a contemporary setting. The reference also does double duty, saying a lot about how R can be perceived by those familiar with the reference.

The why of a character description is most easily omitted to generate interest and intrigue. However, it can also be incredibly influential in generating interest in an original character. Knowing what drives a character can be a descriptive hook.

A great example of the “why” in a character description comes from Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra’s Don Quixote in this rather brilliant moment: “In short, his wits being quite gone, he hit upon the strangest notion that ever madman in this world hit upon, and that was that he fancied it was right and requisite, as well for the support of his own honour as for the service of his country, that he should make a knight-errant of himself, roaming the world over in full armour and on horseback in quest of adventures, and putting in practice himself all that he had read of as being the usual practices of knights-errant[...]”

Don Quixote’s mad notion of being a knight proves a compelling hook to the character, especially in how that motivation is presented. A reader can’t help but be intrigued by the description of the thin, elderly man who wants to be a knight.

Other Descriptive Traits and Tips

Much descriptive writing can come from things you probably already learned in school but are worth repeating. For example, utilizing sensory details in a character description can be particularly useful. Writing about how a character may smell like motor oil or freshly baked bread can suggest different things.

Contrast is another powerful tool in the character description, as when we are introduced to someone, we cannot help but size them up compared to people we know. This is especially true of original characters. How does one protagonist compare to another? How might you set a character apart from others? Using contrast is especially helpful here. For example, describing how a lead character differs from others in a similar position of their setting.

Of course, there are also things to avoid when developing character descriptions. Writing a description that is a laundry list of traits is something you may want to avoid. It can lack personality and feel a little boring. A solid character organizer can help you visually track if you rely on listing too often.

In any case, referring to some classic descriptive writing techniques can be helpful, especially when punching up a first draft of a character description.

Ways of Establishing Character Through Description

Well-written, informative descriptions greatly help establish interest in an original character. Consider them a teaser to what you hope to be a more significant journey you want to take readers on. Your goal is to connect an audience and a character through intrigue an interest - your aim can be to use description as a hook. Here are some different ways to use description to create that hook.

Using Description to Create a Presence

One of the most essential uses of description is to establish the presence of a character in their respective story. How about who is heroic or villainous? Who merits us following their story and becoming invested in them? This is particularly useful in writing an OC profile because you want to establish how we should feel about them without the burden of a ton of backstory to provide context.

Consider this like trying to convey everything about a person possible at a glance. How can you give us what we need about an OC in a descriptive passage? Well, let’s look at some examples.

In this sample from Margaret Atwood’s The Blind Assassin , we see presence established by tying description to color and costuming details. Note that the presence established here is not a flattering one.

I could picture the smooth oval of Laura’s face, her neatly pinned chignon, the dress she would have been wearing: a shirtwaist with a small rounded collar, in a sober colour – navy blue or steel grey or hospital-corridor green. Penitential colours – less like something she’d chosen to put on than like something she’d been locked up in.

Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin (2000)

Another great way to establish a character’s presence through description is to tie it to a metaphor. Let’s look at an example of Arudhati Roy’s The God of Small Things, where we have a character consumed by quietude.

Once the quietness arrived, it stayed and spread in Estha. It reached out of his head and enfolded him in its swampy arms…sent its stealthy, suckered tentacles inching along the insides of his skull, hoovering the knolls and dells of his memory, dislodging old sentences, whisking them off the tip of his tongue.

Arudhati Roy, The God of Small Things (1997)

In these examples, we see how descriptive language can imply something about the character's presence, such as their authority or lack of authority. In the Atwood example, the character is effectively rendered blank or meek. Meanwhile, in the Roy example, the description paints a picture of a character consumed by their awkwardness and silence. Noting and working with such traits is key to building a good character profile.

Let’s look at how the presence of Gandalf is established through description in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring .

“Gandalf was shorter in stature than the other two; but his long white hair, his sweeping beard, and his broad shoulders, made him look like some wise king of ancient legend. In his aged face under great snowy brows his eyes were set like coals that could suddenly burst into fire.”

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring (1954)

Gandalf’s physical presence is a fun juxtaposition with him appearing larger than life. He may be shorter, but he has an aura about him - something noticeably distinguished. I recommend reading Tolkien for character description, not just because I am a fan.

Using a History to Create Significance

Character description that depicts an established history can go a long way to informing a reader about what makes the character tick. A character can sometimes be seen as a record of their experiences, and knowing those experiences can tell us a lot about a character, how they view the world, and how the author wishes for us to view them. There is no shortage of character ideas , but a character is more than an idea: they are a story.

In Charles Dickens’ Hard Times , the character of Bounderby is pernicious and self-centered, motivated by the pursuit of their wants and desires having come up from poverty. We can see Dickens establish much of that in his description of Bounderby by including history in the character’s description.

“A big, loud man, with a stare, and a metallic laugh. A man made out of coarse material, which seemed to have been stretched to make so much of him […] always proclaiming, through that brassy speaking-trumpet of a voice of his, his old ignorance and his old poverty.”

Charles Dickens, Hard Times (1854)

Let’s look at a character with an established history and how that history plays into their description in the present. If you are a fan of Star Trek , then the film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan should be pretty familiar. The film was a culmination of a storyline that began in the 1960s featuring characters who have aged decades for the 1980s film. In particular, let’s look at a description of Captain Kirk from the script.

“Kirk reads the novel, trying to focus. His flat befits an Admiral and a loner with few possessions, except a collection of antiques.”

Harve Bennett, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

In this example, we have a little bit of environmental storytelling that plays against what audiences would know of Captain James T. Kirk. Kirk, from the original series, was quite the heroic figure, not mainly seen as an elder statesman. However, the depiction of his apartment, filled with antiques belonging to a man who is alone, shows that much time has passed for the figure. He is different in many ways - almost startlingly so.

So, what can we draw from these examples when developing descriptions of our original characters? A character with a lot of history is undoubtedly colored by it, so if your description can evoke a journey, you’ve gone a long way to informing us about what makes them tick. This is seen in the example from Hard Times, where the character’s journey through the classes of 19th-century London colors how we see their outward-facing personality.

Further, if you are playing with time, descriptions of a character at different stages in their life or respective journey can highlight their growth, such as in the example from Star Trek . Contrast through history is a particularly effective strategy when writing a character description.

Using Perspective to Create Interpretation

In some cases, describing a character from another person's perspective can yield beautiful results. First impressions can say a lot, and stepping away from an omniscient narrator’s view of a character, filled with insight about them and their past, can be a valuable technique. It also can create a narrative journey for an OC later on, as our initial impressions, through a more limited outsider perspective, do not usually represent the whole character.

Here is an example of Virginia Woolf establishing a character’s description from another character's perspective.

“He was such a miserable specimen, the children said, all humps and hollows. He couldn’t play cricket; he poked; he shuffled. He was a sarcastic brute, Andrew said. They knew what he liked best – to be for ever walking up and down, up and down, with Mr. Ramsay, saying who had won this, who had won that …”

Virginia Woolf, To The Lighthouse (1927)

Here is an example of a character description written from another character's perspective. In this case, we have Ripley from Aliens , who first encounters Burke as she recovers in a hospital room. Notice the usage of traits in the following passage. This is taken from the film's shooting script.

“The visitor sits beside the bed and Ripley finally notices him. He is thirtyish and handsome, in a suit that looks executive or legal, the tie loosened with studied casualness. A smile referred to as ‘winning.’”

James Cameron, Aliens (1985)

Specifically, this is a friendly, somewhat charming face for a recovering from intensive trauma. However, we also get a sense of Burke's nature through the description, such as emphasizing the fakery of a “winning” smile.

If we want another great example of perspective coloring the description of a character, we can look toward another sci-fi franchise with Star Wars . In particular, the 4th draft script from A New Hope introduces Darth Vader in a fantastic way that tells us everything we need to know about the character from the perspective of the terrified Rebels.

“The awesome, seven-foot-tall Dark Lord of the Sith makes his way into the blinding light of the main passageway. This is Darth Vader, right hand of the Emperor. His face is obscured by his flowing black robes and grotesque breath mask, which stands out next to the fascist white armored suits of the Imperial stormtroopers. Everyone instinctively backs away from the imposing warrior and a deathly quiet sweeps through the Rebel troops. Several of the Rebel troops break and run in a frenzied panic.”

George Lucas, Star Wars: A New Hope (1976)

That Darth Vader cuts an imposing presence in this description is an understatement. The key here is that we are seeing him through the eyes of those terrified Rebel troops.

Character Descriptions from Some Friends of Mine

There are many great examples of strong character descriptions out there. I turned to a few writer friends who are particularly good at creating characters, and I want to look at examples from two of them.

Robert Livingston: Tom n’ Artie and Kaiju Dayz

First up, we have my friend Robert Livingston, who was gracious enough to provide some examples from his in-depth pitch documents for two of his projects. First, look at some examples featuring the two leads of his comic Tom n’ Artie .

Tommy ‘Tom’ Sunshine Bliss

“Our stoic, disciplined Unicorn with the sparkly hair! Tom is the straight man of the duo usually doing the talking when they're with clients or when a deal needs to be made. Straight-laced with a dry sense of humor, he approaches situations with a strategic mindset preferring to have all the information before diving in. Due to his friendship with Artie, he commonly has to just 'wing it' with his little wildcard friend as he changes strategies on the fly.”

As we can see, Tom is the comedic straight man of the pair, but given the nature of the project, he still has his quirks. In particular, I want to note the contrast between his character and the description of his appearance. It does a lot to sell the inherent comedy of the character.

Artie Artillery

“The cartoon wildcard! Artie is zany and a rabbit/cat of action preferring to let his fists, teeth, legs, bats, guns, bombs and whatever he's got do the talking for him. He's spontaneous with a short fuse willing to crack jokes then skulls seconds apart from each other. Tom usually is the one who has to hold him back but during the events of the arc, he's more willing to let his little toon buddy cut loose more.”

Because the project revolves around a comedic pairing, we can see how essential contrasting the two leads can be in establishing their characters. There is some great description here, especially the emphasis on Artie’s improvised armory. Artie has enough of a hook from his description, but the depth is substantial when paired with his co-lead, Tom.

Next, we have an example from Robert’s other series, Kaiju Dayz . This project is like a sitcom set on an island of giant monsters. Let’s look at the series lead, Big Mama.

“A well-known Kaiju on Monster Island for her several successful attacks on human cities and other locations for many years. She’s gained a large reputation that gives her a lot of respect from others. It’s also forced her to put up a constant face of intimidation to keep that respect, she feels force is the only way to keep others in line. The only ones she’s softer on are her own children, Junior and Pestania, but now seeing that she’s growing estranged from them she’s trying to change that. She isn’t of this world (or possibly reality) and has no love for it but wants to keep anything she does love (her children and late husband) as close to her as possible.”

This character description does a great job of pitching the whole character. While I only used some segments for Tom and Artie earlier, I wanted to share the entire character description for Big Mama because it is so thorough without being overly long. This is an excellent example of a character description meant to sell the original character to an audience. This is what you’d want to see on a character profile .

Ben Paddon: Jump Leads

Ben Paddon sent me pitch documents for their audio drama, Jump Leads . You should give it a listen. Let’s look at the character descriptions for Meaney and Llewellyn, the dual protagonists of the story.

Thomas Meaney

The following is transcribed from the Jump Leads character breakdown about the character of Thomas Meaney.

Meaney is excitable, enthusiastic, and young. She has wanted to be a Lead her entire life, and now she’s finally in training. This is her dream come true. Such a pity it’s about to be absolutely derailed by Misadventure.
Meaney is a hopeful idealist. She always wants to see the best in people, and always tries to do good, even when the odds - and, indeed, her own skill set - are not in her favor. She’s also driven by a desire to get back home to complete her Lead training, though her adventurous, helpful nature, coupled with a desire to explore, often get the better of her.
Meaney is excitable, in every sense of the word - her enthusiasm runs just as deeply as her fear, though she tries not to let being scared of a situation prevent the right decision from being made.
Meaney is a brilliant problem-solver. She doesn't quite know this yet. She’ll discover that soon enough.

This is a wonderfully written character description that gives us everything we wish to know about a character while giving us the suggestion of a larger arc. When you think about this profile in terms of the questions who, what, where, why, and when, you’ll see they are all there.

Richard Llewellyn

Llewellyn is in his mid-to-late 20s - still young enough to be bitter and cynical without having any of the real-world experience to justify it. He’s indifferent, snide, at times cruel, and he keeps people at an arm's length. Unfortunately, he’s been utterly unsuccessful in doing this with Meaney, in part because the alphabetical arrangement of the training classes has stuck them together.
Llewellyn is smart, but lazy; brilliant, but apathetic. He joined the Lead Service because the alternative involved being in the real world, and that isn't something he's willing to do just yet. Of course, he'd never admit this.
Underneath it all, there's something else. Maybe he's ready to let someone in. Or maybe he's hiding something else entirely…

Again, we have a dual protagonist situation; contrast is essential to define each. Each character can stand independently, but their descriptions are tailored to work best when read together. Yes, we get a fully rounded character in Llewellyn thanks to the description, but we also get a further hook because of the emphasis on personality clash. How might their journey go down, given their radically different perspectives?

Character Description from CharacterHub

While writing this article, I wanted to look at examples of character descriptions written by CharacterHub users. I’ve found some great examples to share, so why don’t we dive in and see what OC creators have been sharing with the community?

I’ve taken snippets from each profile of something I found to be particularly evocative or inspirational. Be sure to visit the complete profiles for even more great examples.

Euronym by genderkiller - “driven to be the least evil thing around her, euronym chooses to use her manipulation and intelligence for what she believes is the betterment of others. but does it really know what's best for others, so blinded by its own trauma?”
Valentine Adelaide by DEADRKGK - “Personality wise, Valentine is a man with many facets to him, and all are generally expressed and felt in extremes. To call him unpredictable would be both correct and incorrect. For those around him often, he can be much more easily predictable of a person. He’s open with his thoughts and feelings and expresses them freely with a poor social filter– good or bad, he’ll speak his mind regardless of if people want to hear it or not.”
Tessa Verisey by LuminaLyric - “Standing at 5'8" with chestnut brown hair cascading in loose waves to her shoulders, her hazel eyes conceal a depth of intelligence and charisma.”
Seth Salem by Paracosmic - “If looks could kill, Seth's would be the firing squad.”
Aries by AFishWithAGun - “Aries is not a good person. At least, not anymore. Greif is a funny thing, pushed by a whirlwind of emotions. Anger, regret, betrayal. It spins its way into a palpable rage. His jagged psyche knows how best it can ruin a man.”
Sidney Ignacio by soupysoupster - “Throughout his days, Sidney can’t seem to get past his own thoughts and anxieties. As a result, he comes off as withdrawn and uninterested to most. Despite what people may think though, Sidney is nothing short of a caring and compassionate person and will do anything he can do to help others. He’s a great listener, and will often catch onto things others don’t. ‘The devil is in the details’ as their father would say.”
Adem Petrovic by lysesander - “Athletic enough to make a quick escape over a side wall if the situation calls for it. Face is unmemorable, and hard to spot in the crowd.”
The Depths by celestrian - “A mysterious and enigmatic traveling merchant of the depths, a man whose past is shrouded in secrecy and his appearance completely hidden beneath a strange fox mask as well as a hooded cloak, wrapped in layers of cloth that cover his entire body. He claims to have knowledge of the entire kingdom and forbidden secrets, despite seeming quite young.”
Clawfoot by Sunckeys - “Naivete is not a word known to poor Clawfoot, yet it may just be the best word to describe him. Unknown to him are the ways of man, of conversing with another and sharing pleasantries. No, for Clawfoot's expertise lies in savagry, ravaging, of ripping and tearing. Yet he hungers not for prey- though he much enjoys a meal or four- but for connection.”
Soffice Pluvia by bunnymacaron - “Recently, he's found himself in an...unusual situation. Almost as soon as he entered the country he went through the Magical Girl transformation process. Immediately after, he got roped into the schemes of a sadistic Magical Girl and is stuck unraveling the tangled web of Kannazen City's Magical Girls to hopefully finally have some peace and quiet...or die trying.”
Joshua Vox by ThaLizardWizard - “In terms of appearance, he is very skinny, pale, and sickly looking, with wild black hair that stands on end, and freckles all over his body and face. He has intense eye bags under enormous pale gray eyes, and to be completely honest, has frequently been mistaken for a ghost.”

Further fantastic examples of evocative character descriptions can be found all over CharacterHub . Browsing the thousands of existing character descriptions will inspire anyone to create character descriptions for their OCs. In particular, searching tags to find the kind of characters that inspire you most is super easy.

Further Examples of Character Descriptions

We’ll leave you here now with the following massive list. This list features different examples of character descriptions from various stories. Try to match the selections to some of our established principles. The descriptions here are very inspiring for any OC creator.

Denis Lehane’s A Drink Before the War : “He had a shock of stiff white hair you could land a DC-10 on and a handshake that stopped just short of inducing paralysis.”
Amber Dawn’s Sub Rosa : “When he did appear his eyes were as brown as I remembered, pupils flecked with gold like beach pebbles.”
Sherman Alexie’s The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven : “I thought she was so beautiful. I figured she was the kind of woman who could make buffalo walk on up to her and give up their lives.”
Louisa M. Alcott’s Little Women : “Amy, though the youngest, was a most important person,—in her own opinion at least. A regular snow-maiden, with blue eyes, and yellow hair, curling on her shoulders, pale and slender, and always carrying herself like a young lady mindful of her manners.”
Frank Herbert’s Dune : "Through the door came two Sardukar herding a girl-child who appeared to be about four years old. She wore a black aba, the hood thrown back to reveal the attachments of a stillsuit hanging free at her throat. Her eyes were Fremen blue, staring out of a soft, round face. She appeared completely unafraid and there was a look to her stare that made the Baron feel uneasy for no reason he could explain."
Kury Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five : "He was a funny-looking child who became a funny-looking youth — tall and weak, and shaped like a bottle of Coca-Cola."
Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? : "Black-haired and slender, wearing the huge new dust-filtering glasses, she approached his car, her hands deep in the pockets of her brightly striped long coat. She had, on her sharply defined small face, an expression of sullen distaste."
John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces : “Full, pursed lips protruded beneath the bushy black moustache and, at their corners, sank into little folds filled with disapproval and potato chip crumbs.”
Ralph Ellson’s Invisible Man : “I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids — and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, simply because people refuse to see me.”
George Eliot’s Middlemarch : “The rural opinion about the new young ladies, even among the cottagers, was generally in favour of Celia, as being so amiable and innocent-looking, while Miss Brooke’s large eyes seemed, like her religion, too unusual and striking. Poor Dorothea! Compared with her, the innocent-looking Celia was knowing and worldly-wise.”
Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness : “He was commonplace in complexion, in feature, in manners, and in voice. He was of middle size and of ordinary build. His eyes, of the usual blue, were perhaps remarkably cold, and he certainly could make his glance fall on one as trenchant and heavy as an axe…”
Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Books : “But he had a voice as soft as wild honey dripping from a tree, and a skin softer than down.”
Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice : “…your manners, impressing me with the fullest belief of your arrogance, your conceit, and your selfish disdain of the feelings of others, were such as to form the groundwork of disapprobation on which succeeding events have built so immovable a dislike; and I had not known you a month before I felt that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry.”
Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn : “He was most fifty, and he looked it. His hair was long and tangled and greasy, and hung down, and you could see his eyes shining through like he was behind vines.”
Lindsay Faye’s Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson : “The door flew open, revealing a wrinkled, forward-thrusting face wreathed with a nimbus of wispy white hair, a face resembling nothing so much as a mole emerging from its burrow. Her spectacles were so dirty that I could hardly see the use of them.”
Adlous Huxley’s Brave New World : "Tall and rather thin but upright, the Director advanced into the room. He had a long chin and big rather prominent teeth, just covered, when he was not talking, by his full, floridly curved lips. Old, young? Thirty? Fifty? Fifty-five? It was hard to say."
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby : “He smiled understandingly — much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life.”
J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring : "The face of Elrond was ageless, neither old nor young, though in it was written the memory of many things both glad and sorrowful. His hair was dark as the shadows of twilight, and upon it was set a circlet of silver; his eyes were grey as a clear evening, and in them was a light like the light of stars."
Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight : “I vividly remembered the flat black color of his eyes the last time he glared at me – the color was striking against the background of his pale skin and his auburn hair. Today, his eyes were a completely different color: a strange ocher, darker than butterscotch, but with the same golden tone.”
Joan Johnston’s No Longer A Stranger : “Her straight, boyishly cut hair fell onto her brow haphazardly and hid beautiful arched brows that framed her large, expressive eyes.”
Anne Rice’s The Vampire Armand : “I saw my Master had adorned himself in a thick tunic and beautiful dark blue doublet which I’d hardly noticed before. He wore soft sleek dark blue gloves over his hands, gloves which perfectly cleaved to his fingers, and legs were covered by thick soft cashmere stockings all the way to his beautiful pointed shoes.”
Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations : “Though every vestige of her dress was burnt, as they told me, she still had something of her old ghastly bridal appearance; for, they had covered her to the throat with white cotton-wool, and as she lay with a white sheet loosely overlying that, the phantom air of something that had been and was changed, was still upon her.”
Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn : “He was sunshine most always-I mean he made it seem like good weather.”
N. K. Jemisin’s The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms : “His long, long hair wafted around him like black smoke, its tendrils curling and moving of their own volition. His cloak — or perhaps that was his hair too — shifted as if in an unfelt wind.”
Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings : “Her skin was a rich black that would have peeled like a plum if snagged, but then no one would have thought of getting close enough to Mrs. Flowers to ruffle her dress, let alone snag her skin. She didn’t encourage familiarity.”
China Miéville’s The Census-Taker : “His hand was over his eyes. He looked like a failed soldier. Dirt seemed so worked into him that the lines of his face were like writing.”
Louisa M. Alcott’s Little Women : “Fifteen-year-old Jo was very tall, thin, and brown, and reminded one of a colt; for she never seemed to know what to do with her long limbs, which were very much in her way. She had a decided mouth, a comical nose, and sharp, gray eyes, which appeared to see everything, and were by turns fierce, funny, or thoughtful.”
Henry James’ The Aspern Papers : “Her face was not young, but it was simple; it was not fresh, but it was mild. She had large eyes which were not bright, and a great deal of hair which was not ‘dressed,’ and long fine hands which were–possibly–not clean.”
Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death”: “The tastes of the duke were peculiar. He had a fine eye for colors and effects. He disregarded the decora of mere fashion. His plans were bold and fiery, and his conceptions glowed with barbaric lustre. There are some who would have thought him mad. His followers felt that he was not.”
Becca Fitzpatrick’s Hush, Hush : “He was abominable…and the most alluring, tortured soul I’d ever met.”
William Golding’s Lord of the Flies : “Inside the floating cloak he was tall, thin, and bony; and his hair was red beneath the black cap. His face was crumpled and freckled, and ugly without silliness.”
Maggie Stiefvater’s The Raven Boys : “As always, there was an all-American war hero look to him, coded in his tousled brown hair, his summer-narrowed hazel eyes, the straight nose that ancient Anglo-Saxons had graciously passed on to him. Everything about him suggested valor and power and a firm handshake.”
John Safran Foer’s Everything Is Illuminated : “He did not look like anything special at all.”
J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring : “He wore a tall pointed blue hat, a long grey cloak, and a silver scarf. He had a long white beard and bushy eyebrows that stuck out beyond the brim of his hat.”
Andrew Lang’s The Crimson Fairy Book : “When the old king saw this he foamed with rage, stared wildly about, flung himself on the ground and died.”
Rudyard Kipling’s Many Inventions : “He wrapped himself in quotations – as a beggar would enfold himself in the purple of Emperors.”
Bram Stoker’s Dracula : “The Count smiled, and as his lips ran back over his gums, the long, sharp, canine teeth showed out strangely.”
Hugh Lofting’s The Story of Doctor Dolittle : “For a long time he said nothing. He kept as still as a stone. He hardly seemed to be breathing at all. When at last he began to speak, it sounded almost as though he were singing, sadly, in a dream.”
M.L Legette’s The Orphan and the Thief : “Its gray, slippery skin was stretched taut upon its face. Its mouth was wide and full of needle teeth.”
Julia Stuart’s The Tower, The Zoo, and The Tortoise : “Blooms of acne highlighted his vampire-white skin.
James Lee Burke’s The Neon Rain : “His khaki sleeves were rolled over his sunburned arms, and he had the flat green eyes and heavy facial features of north Louisiana hill people. He smelled faintly of dried sweat, Red Man, and talcum powder.”
Becca Fitzpatrick’s Black Ice : “His brown hair was cropped, and it showed off the striking symmetry of his face. With the sun at his back, shadows marked the depressions beneath his cheekbones.”
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein : “His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips.”
Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado”: “He accosted me with excessive warmth, for he had been drinking much. The man wore motley. He had on a tight-fitting parti-striped dress, and his head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells.”
E.C. Sheedy’s Killing Bliss : “He stood, which put him eye to eye with the dark-haired woman whose brilliant, burning gaze poured into his worthless soul like boiling tar, whose mouth frothed with fury–and whose hand now curled, knuckles white, around a steak knife.”
Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games : “She has bright, dark eyes and satiny brown skin and stands tilted up on her toes with arms slightly extended to her sides, as if ready to take wing at the slightest sound.”
J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone : “A giant of a man was standing in the doorway. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair.”
Louisa M. Alcott’s Little Women : “Elizabeth—or Beth, as every one called her—was a rosy, smooth-haired, bright-eyed girl of thirteen, with a shy manner, a timid voice, and a peaceful expression, which was seldom disturbed.”
Anne Rice’s Violin : “What a well-formed mouth he had, and how the narrow eyes, the detailed deepened lids gave him such a range of expression, to open his gaze wide, or sink in cunning street.”
Kevin Brooks’ Lucas : “An easygoing lope. Nice and steady. Not too fast and not too slow, Fast enough to get somewhere, but not too fast to miss anything.”
Iris Johansen’s The Face of Deception : “Kinky tousled curls, only a minimum of makeup, large brown eyes behind round wire-rimmed glasses. There was a world of character in that face, more than enough to make her fascinating-looking instead of just attractive.”
Herman Meilville’s Moby Dick : “There seemed no sign of common bodily illness about him, nor of the recovery from any. He looked like a man cut away from the stake, when the fire has overrunningly wasted all the limbs without consuming them, or taking away one particle from their compacted aged robustness. His whole high, broad form, seemed made of solid bronze, and shaped in an unalterable mould, like Cellini’s cast Perseus.”
Gena Showalter’s The Darkest Night : “Pale hair fell in waves to his shoulders, framing a face mortal females considered a sensual feast. They didn’t know the man was actually a devil in angel’s skin.”
Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game : “Ender did not see Peter as the beautiful ten-year-old boy that grown-ups saw, with dark, tousled hair and a face that could have belonged to Alexander the Great. Ender looked at Peter only to detect anger or boredom, the dangerous moods that almost always led to pain.”
Caitlin Moran’s How To Build A Girl : “He had his head in his hands, and his tie looked like it had been put on by an enemy, and was strangling him.”
Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass : “Lord Asriel was a tall man with powerful shoulders, a fierce dark face, and eyes that seemed to flash and glitter with savage laughter. It was a face to be dominated by, or to fight: never a face to patronize or pity.”
J.D. Salinger’s Franny and Zooey : “She found herself looking at Lane as if he were a stranger, or a poster advertising a brand of linoleum, across the aisle of a subway car.”
L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz : “They wore round hats that rose to a small point a foot above their heads, with little bells around the brims that tinkled sweetly as they moved. The hats of the men were blue; the little woman’s hat was white, and she wore a white gown that hung in pleats from her shoulders. Over it were sprinkled little stars that glistened in the sun like diamonds.”
Bram Stoker’s Dracula : “Within, stood a tall old man, clean shaven save for a long white moustache, and clad in black from head to foot, without a single speck of colour about him anywhere.”
Algernon Blackwood’s Ten Minute Stories : “Then, by a green field that shone like a thought of daylight amid the darkness of the moor, he saw a figure lying in the grass. It was a blot upon the landscape, a mere huddled patch of dirty rags, yet with a certain horrid picturesqueness too; and his mind—though his German was of the schoolroom order—at once picked out the German equivalents as against the English. Lump and Lumpen flashed across his brain most oddly.”
John Rhode’s The Murders in Praed Street : “He was tall and thin, with a pronounced stoop and a deep but not unpleasant voice. But it was his head that you looked at instinctively. Above the massive forehead and powerfully-chiselled features was a wealth of long, snow-white hair, balanced by a flowing beard of the same colour.”
Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Telltale Heart”: “He had the eye of a vulture—a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold.”
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein : “His limbs were nearly frozen, and his body dreadfully emaciated by fatigue and suffering. I never saw a man in so wretched a condition.”
Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow : “He was tall, but exceedingly lank, with narrow shoulders, long arms and legs, hands that dangled a mile out of his sleeves, feet that might have served for shovels, and his whole frame most loosely hung together.”
Louisa M. Alcott’s Little Women : “Margaret, the eldest of the four, was sixteen, and very pretty, being plump and fair, with large eyes, plenty of soft, brown hair, a sweet mouth, and white hands, of which she was rather vain.”
Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland : “It was the White Rabbit returning, splendidly dressed, with a pair of white kid gloves in one hand and a large fan in the other: he came trotting along in a great hurry, muttering to himself as he came…”
J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan : “He was a lovely boy, clad in skeleton leaves and the juices that ooze out of trees but the most entrancing thing about him was that he had all his first teeth.”
Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis : “He lay on his armour-like back, and if he lifted his head a little he could see his brown belly, slightly domed and divided by arches into stiff sections. The bedding was hardly able to cover it and seemed ready to slide off any moment. His many legs, pitifully thin compared with the size of the rest of him, waved about helplessly as he looked.”
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper : “John is practical in the extreme. He has no patience with faith, an intense horror of superstition, and he scoffs openly at any talk of things not to be felt and seen and put down in figures.”
L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz : “When Aunt Em came there to live she was a young, pretty wife. The sun and wind had changed her, too. They had taken the sparkle from her eyes and left them a sober gray; they had taken the red from her cheeks and lips, and they were gray also. She was thin and gaunt, and never smiled now.”
Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment : “This was not because he was cowardly and abject, quite the contrary; but for some time past he had been in an overstrained irritable condition, verging on hypochondria. He had become so completely absorbed in himself, and isolated from his fellows that he dreaded meeting, not only his landlady, but anyone at all. He was crushed by poverty, but the anxieties of his position had of late ceased to weigh upon him. He had given up attending to matters of practical importance; he had lost all desire to do so.”
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter : “The young woman was tall, with a figure of perfect elegance on a large scale. She had dark and abundant hair, so glossy that it threw off the sunshine with a gleam, and a face which, besides being beautiful from regularity of feature and richness of complexion, had the impressiveness belonging to a marked brow and deep black eyes.”
Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde : “This was a hearty, healthy, dapper, red-faced gentleman, with a shock of hair prematurely white, and a boisterous and decided manner.”
Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde : “Mr. Hyde was pale and dwarfish, he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation, he had a displeasing smile, he had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness, and he spoke with a husky, whispering and somewhat broken voice; all these were points against him, but not all of these together could explain the hitherto unknown disgust, loathing and fear with which Mr. Utterson regarded him.”
Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol : “Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster.”
Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace : “Anna Pávlovna Schérer on the contrary, despite her forty years, overflowed with animation and impulsiveness. To be an enthusiast had become her social vocation and, sometimes even when she did not feel like it, she became enthusiastic in order not to disappoint the expectations of those who knew her. The subdued smile which, though it did not suit her faded features, always played round her lips expressed, as in a spoiled child, a continual consciousness of her charming defect, which she neither wished, nor could, nor considered it necessary, to correct.”
Arthur Conan Doyle’s “A Scandal in Bohemia”: “His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their own story. He was at work again.”
J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan : “In person he was cadaverous and blackavized, and his hair was dressed in long curls, which at a little distance looked like black candles, and gave a singularly threatening expression to his handsome countenance. His eyes were of the blue of the forget-me-not, and of a profound melancholy, save when he was plunging his hook into you, at which time two red spots appeared in them and lit them up horribly.”

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Describing Words

This tool helps you find adjectives for things that you're trying to describe. Also check out ReverseDictionary.org and RelatedWords.org . Here are some adjectives for old man : . You can get the definitions of these old man adjectives by clicking on them. You might also like some words related to old man (and find more here ).

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Words to Describe old man

Below is a list of describing words for old man . You can sort the descriptive words by uniqueness or commonness using the button above. Sorry if there's a few unusual suggestions! The algorithm isn't perfect, but it does a pretty good job for most common nouns. Here's the list of words that can be used to describe old man :

delicately frail
sarcastic and talented
intelligent and venerable
wondrously evil
upright stiff
handsome and venerable
dourly handsome
bald and fat
proud and feeble
still militant
bloated and gouty
blind and depraved
ordinarily unmoved
benevolent and gallant
sickly perverse
unbelievably unkempt
misguided but noble
rigid and fanatical
fat but healthy-looking
insignificant and grizzled
gentle and lighthearted
wicked and disagreeable
terribly gaunt
savage and enlightened
worldly cold
profligate and illiterate
decrepit and infirm
boorish and decrepit
decrepit and careworn
sad and poverty-stricken
powdered and courteous
lonely worthless
irritable and quick-tempered
patriarchally respectable
stiff and grizzled
extremely horrid
malignant and vicious
stern and pale
crazed and half-witted
suddenly scornful
covetous and stingy
intrepid and brave
clever and genial
feeble and apprehensive
self-indulgent and presumptuous
desolate and grim
rugged and grizzled
wealthy and cheerful
conscientious and rigorous
cynical and quick-tempered
morose and eccentric
bulky and weary
proud and weak
respectable and much-respected
straight and singular
withered and feeble
simple and talkative
intrepid and bold
rather hot-tempered
admirable and good
lonely hardworking
stiff and arthritic
deliciously dirty
courtly charming
malicious and tyrannical
hesitant and pale
grim and crabbed
garrulous and good-hearted
pathetically feeble
eternally black-clad
frail and withered
fussy and feeble
thin and grey
venomously puritanical
endlessly scornful
incalculable and dangerous
exceedingly decrepit
thoroughly pickled
specially wise
incomparable and amiable
deluded but grand
tottering and decrepit
exasperated and inexorable
affable and lovable
serene and strong
bald and thin
vastly busy
impatient and testy
gentle and bald
decrepit and solitary
cultured and good-natured
soft and savage
eagerly obliging
decrepit but happy
meekly inquiring
ruggedly faithful
feeble but sensuous
violent and pragmatical
gray and tremulous
vehement but whimsical

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19,898 quotes, descriptions and writing prompts, 4,964 themes

My soul, you see, is a pretty poem on paper scrunched and charred. In time, with care, she will unfold again and the words will be as beautiful as they ever were.

walking in the rain

I won't say I love the cold rain. I won't say I love being soaked to the skin. I won't say I'm alright with how long it takes for my boots to dry. But I will say it enlivens me and awakens a part of me that slumbers in the warm and sunny weather. I will say that jumping in puddles is fun and that I'm far too old to be enjoying such things. I will say that a part of me finds a beauty in wondering how many raindrops there are and listening for them in the meditative pitter patter.

essential career advice for writers

"For writers in the next half century and beyond, a comprehension of how creative writing, neurology, biology and our environment interact will be essential for a successful career." - a link to the full article is in my bio and on the Descriptionari "About" page. Much love!!! Angela Abraham (Daisy)

"When we make daily choices that are emotionally indifferent, the sort that the money-nexus makes faux-virtues of, we build our capacity for emotional indifference at the direct expense of our capacity for empathy, and thus the conflict between money and love is laid bare."

There was a happiness to her, not the kind that is loud and obvious, but more as early morning birdsong.

I wonder if the roof tiles miss the rain on these long summer days. I wonder if they miss making their together song. Or perhaps they await the tickle of bird feet and a hearth-warm breeze. Or maybe it is the variation that makes these seasons special.

blanket fort

In that artistry of wool, within a fabric that told of patient hours of tip-tapping knitting needles, we dwelled within a castle within our home.

It was a bonny path that chattered day and night, the free leaves upon it and their twig-attached brethren in seasonal conversation.

"Adjective and noun associations are worthy of our consideration because by careful linkage of words such as 'black' with strong emotionally positive words (such as in 'black heavens' and 'noble black night') we can start to program subconscious bias from the brain by creating a background neurochemistry that is more positive. This keeps the prefrontal cortex more fully operational and encourages more empathy in both thoughts and behaviours. Thus society develops better through their own choices and evolves. This is part of social evolution and this kind of awareness in writers is essential."

marvellous school of neurology

"It turns out, as obviousness would have it, that our brains (especially those of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in this case) have been teaching us neurology through comic books and the movies that have come from them." Full article linked to from my profile, click "abraham" below, awesome!!

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A description of an Old man

Siân Robinson Old Age 10B

A Description Of An Old Man

I’m writing this in a crisp, white hospital bed. I’m getting old. So many things are getting worse: my joints are creaking, shrieking with pain; my hair is getting greyer everyday; my memory is going now but I still know what I want.

Lying in a ward for elderly patients, I don’t want to be here. My daughter forced me, my Doctor forced me. Why can’t they mind their own business and let me die peacefully in my own home? It’s what I want. The first line of my Will reads,

“After dying peacefully at home, I leave...” That will never come true now. I’m too weak and feeble to go home. All this has been made worse by the medication they are pouring into my veins. I hallucinate, I forget things but I still remember every vivid detail of how I got into this state-into this ward.

Huddling by the scarce warmth of the gas fire in the hospital waiting room I knew what was coming next. The Doctor would emerge from the room next door and tell me I was dying. I didn’t need to be told. I have known for months now that I am fading away. It was just the way I wanted it to be; to die peacefully at home, no-one need ever know that I was suffering. That dream, that one last wish flew out of the window when my rude, disrespectful daughter drove me to the hospital in the next town. I didn’t want to go. In fact I didn’t know I was going.

‘Let’s go for a drive, Dad.’ WOW! That sounded lovely; ‘perhaps’ I thought ‘she loves me after all’. No such luck, I should have guessed. I thought I was going for a nice peaceful drive in the countryside, something to take my mind of my aches and pains. My happiness, however, dissolved as we entered the hospital car-park. She forced my shuffling, old body into the hospital on a wobbly walking stick. She introduced me as only my daughter would,

This is a preview of the whole essay

“My old, ill father would like to see a Doctor.” When had she ever asked for my opinion? She didn’t even stay with me. I was stuck then, no money for a taxi and no hope of being collected even if I did phone.

I sat in the cold waiting room, shivering by the open window. A nurse came to shut it and said,

“I’m afraid you’ll have to wait sir. We’re running a few minutes late.” A few minutes! A few hours more like! It was just as cold sitting to the closed window as it was by the open one. The gaps between the glass and the rotting wooden frames were so big that great gusts of wind came in and chilled me right to my bones. I’m surprised I didn’t leave this world that very afternoon. I don’t know why they were so slow; there was no-one else in the waiting room.

At ten minutes to two o’clock, four hours after my darling daughter had departed, I was finally sent in to see the Doctor. Twenty minutes of intense questioning proceeded x-rays, scans and blood tests. I’m sure he only sent me for the tests because of the huge bags under my eyes, or perhaps my face was too lined and creased for his liking. I refused to tell him the truth. I repeated stolidly that I was fine and could I please go home. They ignored me and insisted on me being sent for tests. They eventually bundled me into a taxi for home.

“The letter confirming your next appointment will be sent to you as soon as we receive your test results.” That was all that was said to me as I was hustled out of the hospital and into the taxi. My daughter didn’t step foot on my doorstep again until the day of my next appointment. Three whole months later was when she finally reappeared in my life. It just shows that she really didn’t want a poor, wrinkly, elderly father on her hands. She wanted me shoved in a nursing home or stuck on a hospital ward. Well, that’s just what she got.

Here I am, stuck on a ward with a load of old people with cancer, pneumonia and all the other heart-wrenching illnesses. My eyes, sunken into my masked face, fill with tears as I realise I have no other choice.

Well, I suppose I am in the right place. I always forget how old I am, 89 years old, I don’t think that is a bad age so why do they want to keep me alive?

Alright, forget what I said earlier, I’m a bit wrinkly and I don’t have much hair left but up to the last year I have always been very active. That makes me forget that I’m getting on a bit. People don’t last forever. I feel defeated, lonely and upset to know that I will spend the remainder of my life in this hospital. I have no visitors. My daughter doesn’t love me and I have no other relatives. My friends are all in care homes or too ill to leave their homes to come and visit me. How I envy them, I wish I could be at home. The last few weeks of my life are going to be solitary but I am not afraid of what is facing me. However confused I may appear, I am excited about the next world. If only they would let me feel this way at home.

Whenever I think about what it must be like to die, it saddens me to know that I could be next. Those sad thoughts however turn to happier ones as I remember that after you die you go to a better place, place with no evil; a quiet, loving place to rest in until the end of the world. Why don’t they let me go home and get to this happy place when God calls for me? I don’t want to go when they turn my life-support machine off. That’s if I get that far.

Document Details

Word Count 1071
Page Count 2
Subject English

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Writing About Hair: The Thick and Thin of Descriptions

You all are getting another peek into my magic notebook. This time we're taking a page out of my 17 page section that covers hair, wigs and every description of body hair you can imagine (and probably some of you can't). Now that I've scared you, we're going to talk about the hair on your character's heads - the color, the length, the style . . . We're covering it all. But there are a few very important points we should chat about first.

The #1 thing about hair descriptions is Do Not overuse them . You do not want to be known as "hair girl "or "hair boy!"

#2 on the essential List: Hair descriptions are a part of the character so make them work harder by using them to describe the person “inside,” not just what the person looks like outside.

A tomboy might have a very short, non-nonsense haircut. Then again, she might hide long tresses under a ball cap, because secretly she’d like to be noticed as the girl she really is.
A man who works as an executive might conform to a short, and very tailored look. Or, he wears expensive suits but he wears his hair a little too long because on the weekends he caters to his passion and joins his buddies for motorcycle road trips.

Okay, because I have so many descriptions and definitions, I’m going to cut to the chase.

Alternative Generic Names For Head Hair

Coiffure Curls Down Fringe Fuzz Locks Mane Mop Ringlets Shock Strands Tresses Tufts Wig Wool

Descriptive Hair Phrases

Bangs obscured her eyes like a sheepdog Flaked with snowy dandruff Bleached, bottle baby Braid like a thick black rope Bundled at the nape Bun resembled a cow patty Cascading down her back Chemically damaged Coiled in a top-knot Crowning glory Cupie curls Curls foamed luxuriously Tendrils danced on the breeze Disheveled Downy bond hair sprinkled her arms Dramatic widow’s peak Elaborately dressed with ribbons Electrified Smelled like burnt chicken feathers Snow drifts of dandruff Veiled her expression with Greased into a ducktail Flaming locks fluttered to the floor Fluffy Frizz job, bad perm Glossy locks lifted on the wind Grew like a thatch of straw on a roof Grizzled, gray hair Hair drooped around pale cheeks Hair like Rapunzel Hairy as a dog Hung like a dark river Kinky perm Knotted Left unbound to tumble Like a clown wig, artificial red, plastic shine and fuzzy Like a thatched roof Like she put her finger in a light socket Limp and lifeless Long, shaggy hippy look Lustrous as onyx stone Marcelled into fingerwaves Matted to the scalp Perm fried Prematurely gray Puffed like a bubble around her head Ragged bangs Rat’s nest Ringlets Shock of hair stood straight up Slapped her face like wet worms Sleek and chic Smooth honey dripped over her shoulders Spiky Mohawk style of a punk rocker Spilled out of the hat Spread like feathers on a pillow Standing on end Stiff in front like a cockatoo Straight as a wire Streaked, highlighted Stuck to her sweaty nape Tangled mane Tousled pixie Two-toned dye job Unconquered curls sprang loose Unruly swirl Old-lady blue rinsed hair Vibrant color and shine Wet with sweat White Pigeon Wings at temples Wispy ringlets Wondered what rubble lay beneath that mess Wreathed her face

Hair Texture Phrases

Baby fuzz Bleached hair like mushy wet works Blue feather hair of old lady Bristle top Broom chopped Cat-fur fine Cotton candy hair, fine Cottony Dandelion fuzz Down Gummy Horsetail coarse Moldy hay Short-cropped and stiff Soft and lush Soft curls and waves Yellow straw

Descriptive Hair Color Words & Phrases

Coal Crows wing Ebony Jet Indian Ink Midnight Obsidian Onyx Raven

Grays and Whites

Battleship gray, dull gray Blue dandelion fuzz Blue rinse gray Faded glory Flint Grizzled (gray) Gunmetal Maltese gray (blue gray) Mineral Mousy (gray) Pewter Salt and Pepper Shale Silver cloud Smoke Snowy white Swan’s wing Steel Wood ashes

Amber (reddish) Ash brown Auburn (reddish) Baked Clay Bison Brunette Burnished Camel Caramel Chestnut Cinnamon Clove Dark beer Dark Earth Dark toffee Dirt Fudge cycle Glazed ginger Maple Sugar Mink Mousy Muddy Nutmeg Pecan Rawhide, dark reddish Root beer Russet Tobacco Tortoise Shell Walnut

Auburn Berry Brassy Brightest Burgundy Burnished copper Carrot top Cinnabar Clown wig red Cognac Dull brick Flame Garish brass Orange Russet Scarlet Strawberry Wine

Professional Hair Color Descriptions

Ash blond -- Lacks red or gold highlights (verges on green tones); light mousy blond, medium and dark blond, dishwater, beige

Ash brown -- Browns lacking warm/red tones tones; light mousy brown, medium and dark brown

Black -- Different shades of black vary according to the amount of highlighting or pigmentation shadings present in the hair; black lacking all highlighting will be duller, ash shade; black containing a lot of red may appear as deep burgundy

Red -- Warm shades; berry, russet, strawberry (red-blonde), rusty orange, wine, carrot top, etc.

Towhead -- Whitish blond; usually an ash blond lacking warm tones but not always

Warm blond -- Blond with touch of gold and red; whiskey, wheat, honey, strawberry, brassy, golden etc.

Warm brown -- Brunette, dark or light brown that contains red or gold tones; varies from light to nearly black; reddish brown, chestnut, dark amber, auburn etc.

Hair Styles Modern And Historical

It’s impossible to name all the hairstyles but the selection here should be a good start. Many listed here also are known by other names.

[See of some these hairstyles here .]

Afro -- Unisex style borrowed from the African Americans; short and very curly, forming a bowl shaped profile; a pick is used to pull the hair away from the head and shape it

Asymmetric -- Hair is cut long on side of the head and short on the other.

Bedhead -- Popularized in 1990s by starlet Meg Ryan; short to mid-length shaggy cut worn jelled or moussed in tossed fashion

Beehive -- A 60’s French twist coiled at the back of the head and rising above it to form a cone shape (see upsweep)

Bob -- Introduced in 1915 this short cropped hair style was popular during the 1920’s; also called the shingle bob, the shingle, the Eaton crop. It is often cropped at the jawline and aligned close to the face.

Bouffant -- Puffy hair style’ hair is backcombed or ratted then barely smoothed, resulting in a bubble affect

Bowl -- Most commonly worn by young boys. The bang area cut straight cross the forehead as if measured by turning a bowl upside down on the head. The top layers are longer and cut along the this bowl line around the head.

Braid -- Plaited hair

Bubble -- 60’s hairstyle, short to mid-length, ratted/backcombed to appear like a football helmet or bubble surrounding the head

Butch/flattop/crewcut -- A man’s style; usually cut with electric shears; very short and stands on end at the front of the head and his shaved close to the head on the sides; sometimes called a GI cut.

Buzz - Modern slang for a hair shaved close to the head

Chignon -- Bun, usually at the nape or top of head; topknot

Conk -- African American textured hair that is straightened

Cornrows -- Small tightly braided rows of hair that hug the scalp; most often worn by African Americans

Duck tail -- 50’s style worn by girls and boys alike; hair on either side of nape combed toward the center of the head; reminiscent of Elvis Presley, Fabian, Doris Day, Debbie Reynolds etc.

Farraha Fawcett -- Long layered hair flipped or feathered back off the face with a bang that feathers or rolls off the face as well; made popular by the TV star of the same name; late 70’s and early 80’s

Finger waved -- Usually short haircut in which a stylist uses lotion and her fingers to create deep waves that circle the head. Popular in the 1920s and 30s.

Flip -- Feminine hair style of the 50’s and 60’s; long hair usually shoulder length turned up at the ends, sometimes in a roll.

Fontange -- Worn 1690’s to 1710; a towering fountain of frills and complex, lacy intertwining shaped around a wire frame and considered the height of fashion; nicknamed by disdaining men, the “tower and the comet”

French twist/seam -- Hair swept back from both sides the head (front to back) and rolled down the center of the head into a roll or tucked to make a seam

Fringe -- Curly bangs worn in the 1880’s; in 1900’s worn straight; alternate name for bangs

Kiss curls -- Seen immediately after Civil War; ringlets of curls on the cheeks or forehead

London Cut -- Short female cut popular during the 1960s and early 70s. The hair was cut over the ears, leaving a fringe in front of the ears, often brushed toward the face or straight down. The nape hair was cut along the hairline like a boys but more rounded instead of squared off like a man’s neckline.

Mohawk -- Shaved head with a strip of hair growth down the center of the head from forehead to the nape

Pads -- Late 1830’s long coiled curls over the ears (looked like ear muffs); at the back of the head they were called a Grecian knot or psyche knot

Pageboy -- Introduced in late 1930s early 40’s; long, hair turned under, usually just touching the shoulders

Pigtails -- Same as pony tail only the hair is parted down middle and each section is cinched into its own tail above or below the ear

Pixie -- Female short cut; feathered around profile of face and onto cheek, short at the nape line; usually with full bang and combed forward onto face; also called an Italian cut; permed version called a poodle cut

Pompadour -- Style of wearing the hair high over the forehead usually in some type of rolled affect; in 1940’s women used rats (nylon mash) to roll the hair off the forehead and puff it; a version of this also worn during the 1700’s and early 1800’s by most and women; name comes from a lady of this era called Madame Pompadour

Ponytail -- Hair gathered together and cinched with a rubber band or barrette to make a tail at the back of the head; worn high or low; worn low it’s sometimes called a George (referring to George Washington) or a Paul Revere

Poodle cut -- Short, curly haircut

Powdered hair/wigs -- Unisex style worn from about 1760’s to 1820; after 1740 men were wearing shorter, simpler wigs and began to powder their own hair

Punk -- Usually short on top and styled with lotion to stand up off the head; often a mohawk fashion from forehead to nape; sometimes dyed bright neon colors of pink, purple, blue, orange etc.

Queue -- Pigtail, esp. that of a Chinese. (Chinese queue was braided) Men of Colonial America wore these as well, usually tied back with a ribbon and in some cases men wore a periwig styled with a queue

Roach -- Hair brushed into a roll

Sausage curl -- Long tube-like coils of hair; popular in early 1800’s; in the early 1970’s these were piled on top of the head in a cluster, esp. for formal dress for teens.

Shag -- Like a pixie, only long at the nape. Lengths vary from short to long layered cut; popular during the early 70’s

Skin heads -- Group of radical racist youths, men and women alike, who shaved their heads

Spaniel’s curls -- Late 1840’s into the 50’s; long thick curls worn by the ear (as worn by Elizabeth Barrette Browning)

Spit curls -- First seen in 1831; flat curls on women in front of the ear

Tonsure -- Shaven part of a monk or cleric’s head

Updo/upsweep -- Generic term for long hair styled high on top of head; hair might petaled (layered curls), barrel curled, arranged in a chignon, backcombed into a beehive or styled in French roll etc.

Wedge cut -- Also called Dorothy Hamill cut; short cut worn mostly by women; sides feathered off the face, back cut longer from the drown to the occipital bone, where its layered into a wedge; nape is trimmed close the head and short; a late ‘70’s and early 80’s style.

Sharla has published three historical romances and her fourth, How to Fell a Timberman, is impatiently waiting to be formatted for Kindle.

When she’s not writing and researching ways to bedevil her book characters, Sharla enjoys collecting authentically costumed dolls from all over the world, traveling (to seek more dolls!), and reading tons of books. You can find Sharla here at Writers In The Storm, on Twitter at @SharlaWrites or on Facebook .

25 comments on “Writing About Hair: The Thick and Thin of Descriptions”

Thanks for sharing this wonderful list, along with the great pic!

Thank "you" for dropping by Erin.

Sharla, once more I must say ... you are amazing. How in the world do you do this ?? Reading your posts is like having our own personal writing coach. Each element of each writing technique in such amazing detail, that I need a workbook for your posts only.

Thanks ... everything I ever wanted to know about hair 🙂

Thanks for such a great compliment! Glad you enjoy my lists.

Goodie, another list of descriptions to add to my personal long list. Thanks so much for posting this - you save all of us a lot of long hours researching those perfect terms/descriptions for our manuscripts. Always, V

Glad you like the list Virgina. I wasn't kidding when I said I could only post a section of my hair list. But I figured you guys would be most interested in this one. 🙂

You've done it again, Sharla. The descriptive range you provide for such everyday characteristics is beyond impressive. Thanks.

Wow, you just made my top of the list for awesome. Thank you for all the work, and sharing.

Thank you ladies for stopping by. I'm happy to share. That's the best thing about being a romance writer. We share. 🙂

Wow! I'll never look at hair the same again.

Thanks Janie and thanks for stopping by WITS today.

Sharla, Thanks for the detailed description of HAIR that all writers can use in their stories.

what a helpful library you've created for hair. thank you

Thanks for posting such a useful resource! I made my own reference table, leaving a space for blonde and bald 🙂

My characters will never have a "bad hair day again!" Unless it furthers my plot, of course. 🙂

Thanks for taking so much time to compile these lists for us. It's so appreciated.

You are all welcome ladies. Now I wonder if I should tell my daughter, I used her punk hair style for my blog today. 🙂

What a great collection of facts! Thanks, Sharla! One of my characters, a Las Vegas showgirl, wears her hair in a "bob." Now I know what to call it.

Thanks for opening up your magic notebook, Sharla. I tend to get in a rut with hair and eye descriptions.

Thank you, wonderful descriptions. In Australia we also have (or had, it's a bit retro), a men's style called "short back and sides", like a crew cut but not as short. It was a conservative style that was the socially acceptable opposite of long hippy hair in the nineteen sixties. Hair styles carry a strong social message.

I love this regional information. Every country is different and sometimes even states here in the US. Thanks for sharing.

Very informative and fun, Sharla! I write stories set in the 15th century, and you included descriptions that I can use, also. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks. I write American historicals so I wanted to include styles from the past. Also I think sometimes it's fun to refer to old styles even for contemporary stories as they make great descriptions themselves.

This will save time I would have spent googling--thank you!

Your welcome Toni. You can find pictures of many hairstyles at the link I included above if that helps.

I must admit I only skimmed this, but I pinned it. It's an excellent resource. Thank you!

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Model example for writing to describe KS3 KS4 - old man's face.

Subject: English

Age range: 14-16

Resource type: Assessment and revision

Last updated

16 February 2024

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A model example for writing to describe using PEARMS (personification, emotive language, alliteration, rhetorical question/repetition, metaphor, simile). A motif of writing runs through the piece. A wide range of ambitious punctuation runs through the writing too.

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10 Words to Describe an Old Man's Face
You can describe the old man in your story as being particularly wrinkled if he's very old. This will show readers without needing to state outright that the character you're describing isn't a young person. 2. Graying Definition. Turning gray; having grey hair. Examples "The man was old and graying with wisps of white hair."
Describing an Old Man
Level 3 describes an old man, Level 4 describes a homeless man and Level 5 is a World War 2 story involving an old man. Level five is the highest level and it is for those able to understand complex English phrases and concepts. I hope there is something for everyone to learn from the blog. God bless and take care for now. Here is the post:
Old man
The doctor shook his head with the tiniest of smiles. "A cup can only spill over if there's something in it. There's no anger in you. You're just not going to remember things so well, and it's slow, you've got a while." By Angela Abraham, @daisydescriptionari, October 10, 2015 .
Describing Old Age-The Traps And An Idea List
An Anachronism - as in old fashion, something old that is out of place. Ancient bones creaked. Ankles swelled with gout. Arthritic. Banging his cane demandingly. Battered shell of his youth. Bending forward to keep his balance. Beyond the first blush of youth. Bingo night is her social life.
Master List of Physical Description for Writers
For all the words about describing facial features, I'm focusing more on physical descriptions rather than emotional expressions, though there's a little crossover! You can also check out my long list of facial expressions. large. small. narrow. sharp. squinty. round. wide-set.
Ways to Replace "Old" in Writing: A Word List for Writers
Colors. The colors used most often to describe old people's beards, eyebrows, and hair are shades of grey/gray such as the following. A to I alien grey, aluminum grey, anchor grey, ash grey, battleship grey, bottle grey, boulder grey, carbon grey, cement grey, charcoal grey, cloud grey, coin grey, corpse grey, crater grey, death grey, dove grey, elephant grey, exhaust grey, fling grey, flint ...
Character Descriptions: 7 Tips for Describing Faces in Your Writing
A human face reveals a lot about a person. In creative writing, describing a character's face can uncover information about who they are and how they feel. Writers can zoom in on individual features, like the eyes or mouth, or describe a face in its entirety to paint a picture of a character. Learn how to develop a character through their most telling attribute—their face.
How to describe a person vividly: 8 ways
6. Find descriptive adjectives and fitting comparisons. There are two useful tools for accurate description of characters in stories: Precise, exact adjectives, and comparative language. Finding adjectives to describe people with positive and negative connotations. Positive adjectives to describe a person include:
500+ Ways to Describe Faces: A Word List for Writers
(Discover even more words in The Writer's Body Lexicon.). Why Are Faces Important? St. Jerome said that the face is the mirror of the mind. It's usually the first thing people notice when they meet someone, and is often the body feature they rely on to make snap judgments.. That raises the question Pablo Picasso posed: "Who sees the human face correctly: the photographer, the mirror, or ...
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Tip 2: Convey the attitude of the describer. Pin down the current outlook or perspective of the character doing the describing. Zero in on their state of mind (lonely, curious, offended, prone-to-exaggeration, etc.) at this exact moment in the story. Now write your description through the filter of the consciousness of the character who is ...
PDF June 2018 Paper 1, question 5 Model answer 1
The old man·s body is present, but his mind is absent. It floats far away from these mundane surroundings, far away from where Mrs M dribbles lukewarm tea down her polyester blouse while kindly Monica doles out Rich Teas and digestive biscuits with a slapdash hand. Descriptive language Adjectives (describe nouns) Adverbs (describe verbs)
Old age
old age. - quotes and descriptions to inspire creative writing. Search entire site for old age. Arriving at old age is no achievement if all you did was hide at the back of a self-driven bus. By Angela Abraham, @daisydescriptionari, January 9, 2021 . Choosing the right roads into old age matters more than the odometer or the bumps we encounter.
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Here is an example of a character description written from another character's perspective. In this case, we have Ripley from Aliens, who first encounters Burke as she recovers in a hospital room. Notice the usage of traits in the following passage. This is taken from the film's shooting script.
1000+ Words to Describe Old man
Words to Describe old man. Below is a list of describing words for old man. You can sort the descriptive words by uniqueness or commonness using the button above. Sorry if there's a few unusual suggestions! The algorithm isn't perfect, but it does a pretty good job for most common nouns. Here's the list of words that can be used to describe old ...
250+ Ways to Describe Voices: A Word List for Writers
More Than 250 Adjectives to Describe Voices. Some of the following words tell rather than show. For instance, describing a voice as mocking tells in one word what might be better shown with dialogue and body language: "You're no better at darts than your puny brother," Jim said, eyebrows raised. "My kid sister could beat you with her ...
English Language Paper 1 Q5 AQA 2018
Students were asked to describe the face of an old man. To help students improve their description, I have created a bank of 275 words that students can use to add precision to their descriptions. The follow up tasks gives students 8 images of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth (Polanski version). Students must select the adjectives carefully to describe ...
Quotes and Descriptions to Inspire Creative Writing
Creative writing ideas by Angela Abraham, @daisydescriptionari. Adjectives "Adjective and noun associations are worthy of our consideration because by careful linkage of words such as 'black' with strong emotionally positive words (such as in 'black heavens' and 'noble black night') we can start to program subconscious bias from the brain by ...
A description of an Old man
Siân Robinson Old Age 10B. A Description Of An Old Man. I'm writing this in a crisp, white hospital bed. I'm getting old. So many things are getting worse: my joints are creaking, shrieking with pain; my hair is getting greyer everyday; my memory is going now but I still know what I want. Lying in a ward for elderly patients, I don't ...
Writing About Hair: Descriptions
Garish brass. Orange. Russet. Scarlet. Strawberry. Wine. Professional Hair Color Descriptions. Ash blond -- Lacks red or gold highlights (verges on green tones); light mousy blond, medium and dark blond, dishwater, beige. Ash brown -- Browns lacking warm/red tones tones; light mousy brown, medium and dark brown.
The Old Man by the Side of the Road
Someone dropped a dish in the kitchen. He jumped at the sound. "What a shithole, man, what a shithole, no other way to describe it, wake up each morning and clench your sphincter, pray to whatever god you pray to that you'll make it just one more twenty-four hour period, stench mixed with cloying sweetness, smiling faces in your dreams blasting you to pieces, smiling faces in the real ...
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(Discover even more words in The Writer's Body Lexicon.). Picking the Perfect Adjective Saves Words … and makes writing leap off the page. These lists contain more than 300 adjectives to describe skin color, tone, complexion, and texture.Some might be deemed cliché, but you can leverage them as springboards.
AQA GCSE English Language Paper 1, Section B: Descriptive Writing Full
A full mark Creative Writing answer, written for GCSE and iGCSE students. The original question was taken from an AQA paper, but it's suitable for students of all exam boards. ... Narrative Writing Full Mark Answer (Pyramids) Section B: Descriptive Writing A*/L9 Answer (Old Man) Section B: Narrative Writing A*/L9 Answer (Lake Narcissus) BONUS ...
Model example for writing to describe KS3 KS4
Model example for writing to describe KS3 KS4 - old man's face. Subject: English. Age range: 14-16. Resource type: Assessment and revision. File previews. docx, 183.97 KB. A model example for writing to describe using PEARMS (personification, emotive language, alliteration, rhetorical question/repetition, metaphor, simile). A motif of writing ...

10 Words to Describe an Old Man’s Face

1. Wrinkled

How It Adds Description

6. Sparkling

9. World-Weary

Best Descriptive Writing Sites Describing the beauty of nature

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How to describe a person vividly: 8 ways

8 ways to describe people in a story

1. Start with character profiles and pin boards

2. Focus on details that reveal personality

Describe habitual actions to reveal personality

Use objects such as possessions left behind to suggest persona

Detail the type of behavior characters might exhibit

Make a Strong Start to your Book

3. Practice describing people in brief

Examples of how to describe people succinctly

4. Prioritize unique character features

5. Describe character actions and gestures

6. Find descriptive adjectives and fitting comparisons

Finding adjectives to describe people with positive and negative connotations

Find fitting comparisons and use figurative language describing character

7. Describe personality via dialogue and voice

8. Read writers renowned for their characterization

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Beyond Tall, Dark, and Handsome: How to Describe Your Characters

Tip 1: Choose a dominant impression

Tip 2: Convey the attitude of the describer

Tip 3: Lean into diction

Tip 4: Go for gesture or bodily movement

Tip 5: Try something figurative

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