describing a handsome man in creative writing

How To Write A Damn Good Man

• by Robert Wood
• March 7, 2016
• 33 Comments

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What is a man? If you believe Dracula in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night , the answer is ‘a miserable little pile of secrets’. Far be it from me to question the dark lord (again), but if you’re going to try and write a convincing male character then there might be a bit more to it.

I’ve written before about how difficult it can be to write outside your gender, but in fact it’s difficult to get a grip on any character’s personal experience and expression of their gender. Compare, for example, Pride and Prejudice ’s uptight but upright Mr. Darcy with the scummy, womanizing Sam Spade of The Maltese Falcon . Compare either to the kind, imaginative Haroun of Haroun and the Sea of Stories , Patrick Bateman of the appropriately named American Psycho , or secretive, heartbroken Patrick from The Perks of Being a Wallflower .

Could it be that these male characters, so different in their expressions of what it means to be a man, are reacting to a similar set of experiences and values? Surprisingly, the answer is yes, and by understanding how expressions of gender can be so complex, authors can write far more realistic men than they might ever have suspected.

Gender performativity

The term ‘ gender performativity ’ was coined by philosopher Judith Butler, and is used to describe a theory of what gender is, and how it influences us, that many authors will find revolutionary in terms of how they craft their characters.

Butler suggests that society’s concept of gender is prescriptive rather than descriptive – it creates a set of expectations and rules that define our behavior, rather than just being an observation of natural behavior. According to this theory, men are less emotionally expressive than women because they have grown up understanding this as the norm, rather than because of an inherent and gender-wide impulse towards stoicism.

Whether you subscribe to this theory or not, it foregrounds a truth that is essential to writing a complex male character; a man’s expression and experience of his gender is a reaction to how society defines that gender. Certain attributes and behaviors are understood as ‘masculine’, and in his everyday life a man is constantly reacting to that understanding. He is, in other words, comparing himself to an ideal man.

The ideal man

The ideal man is a theoretical individual – a man who embodies perfect and unfaltering masculinity. This fictional construct is seen to define the male gender, and is an essential component of men’s experience of gender.

In effect, men construct their own personal masculinity in reference to their version of the ideal man. They ask – sometimes consciously, sometimes unconsciously – what this idealized figure would do in a given situation, and judge their own actions in comparison. That’s not to say that every man does what the ideal man would do, or that every male character should behave as the ideal man. Remember that the ideal man is a point of comparison – if a man is in a situation where he can fight or run, he makes his decision while knowing what his version of the ideal man would do. He may fight or he may run, but if he fights then he knows he has lived up to this idea of masculinity, and if he runs then he understands he has failed to live up to the ideal. This is why a man confronted with impossible odds may make the sensible decision to run but still feel he has done the wrong thing – he has failed in comparison to the ideal.

Real men, and your male characters along with them, can be understood via their relationship to the ideal man. This is gender as a form of absolute morality – what the ideal man would do is often treated as the right thing to do. Understand how your character imagines the ideal man, and how they understand their personal masculinity in comparison to his, and you’ll understand exactly how they feel in any given situation. Since that’s the case, it might be useful to know a little more about how the ideal man behaves…

Defining ideal masculinity in writing

Much of literature is given over to considering what it means to be a man, and while there’s no definitive account, Rudyard Kipling’s If comes pretty close. The entire poem can be read here , but it’s so popular that the extract below may be all it takes to jog your memory:

If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you… If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breathe a word about your loss… If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with Kings — nor lose the common touch, If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much… Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it, And — which is more — you’ll be a Man, my son! – Rudyard Kipling, If

The poem celebrates traditional concepts of masculinity, lauding attributes such as:

• Pragmatic thinking,
• Capability,
• Isolationism,
• Leadership,
• Physical ability.

These are the qualities of the ideal man – the standards which influence your character’s behavior and worldview. They’re powerful motivators, but remember that your character experiences them through a middle man. It’s not that every male character is striving to be brave, stoic and able, but that they understand that these qualities are what society expects of them.

This may mean a character tries to be brave, but it may also mean that a character who knows they are cowardly is especially sensitive about this being discovered. It may mean that a character will go out of their way to confirm that they are brave – this is the case with Marty McFly in Back to the Future Part II , who is talked into a deadly race when a rival brands him a ‘chicken’. Marty’s ideal man isn’t afraid of anything, and when an antagonist suggests he does not live up to this ideal, he jumps into a foolish action in order to prove him wrong.

It’s important to understand that these standards, compelling as they are, aren’t something the narrative has to agree with. It’s entirely possible to write a story where the character holds a certain idea of masculinity as the ideal, but the narrative suggests something different. This is the case in About a Boy ; musician Will Freeman begins the story with a strict isolationist attitude, believing emotional attachment to be a dangerous weakness.

All men are islands. And what’s more, this is the time to be one. This is an island age… With the right supplies, and more importantly the right attitude, you can become sun-drenched, tropical, a magnet for young Swedish tourists. – Peter Hedges et al, About a Boy

This changes, however, when Will comes into contact with vulnerable schoolboy Marcus Brewer. Will protects Marcus from bullies, and is drawn into meeting, and caring about, more people through his efforts. The story suggests that Will’s ideal man is flawed, and that Will is much happier once he allows his experiences to change his concept of masculinity.

Will’s ideal man gives him an idea of what he ‘should’ do, and influences decisions which would not otherwise make sense. Why would a man eschew real emotional connection? A lazy reading would suggest he’s incapable of establishing it, but Will’s status is clearly a choice. His journey isn’t learning how to be around other people, but learning that his conception of the ideal way to be is flawed.

This is something you can apply directly to writing male characters – how do they imagine the ideal man, and how do they imagine they live up to, and fail to live up to, their idea of him? When you consider your male characters’ decisions, focus on what parts of the ideal he is trying to emulate and the perceived failings for which he is attempting to compensate.

Remember, also, that some male characters may abhor society’s idea of the ideal man. They may go out of their way to flout this perception of masculinity. Even here, however, their self-perception still exists in contrast to the ideal. A male character who embraces his emotions is still aware that society’s ideal man is stoic – he has either come to terms with not meeting this standard or he remains conflicted.

This relationship between the character’s ideal man and his actual behavior is key to his point-of-view and all his decisions, but if the ideal man is shaped by wider societal attitudes, then how can he provoke such different behavior in different characters?

Male psychological narratives

Kipling’s poem doesn’t touch on sex or violence in great detail, and yet they’re two of the most frequently addressed aspects of masculinity. They are, really, just extensions of the blanket ‘capability’ a man is expected to have – both things to be ‘good at’ – but also seem to run counter to attributes such as stoicism and isolationism. This begs the question of how one character’s understanding of the ideal man could lead him to avoid violence, while another’s could lead him to seek it out. In other words, how do the hero and villain differ in their understanding of masculinity?

Often, in fact, the broad definition of masculinity is something which characters share. What differs is their relationship to the ideal, the emotions that this stirs up and the masculine narrative the characters imagine to be at play.

One near-perfect example of a masculine narrative is Jack Shaefer’s famous cowboy story Shane . Shane is a gunslinger who goes to work on a ranch, seeking to leave behind a violent past and attain solitude. Unfortunately the local gang have targeted his hosts, and Shane is forced to engage in an orgy of violence to set the situation right. What’s more, Shane is so attractive to women that the farm owner’s wife quickly falls in love with him, and Shane leaves the farm rather than break up the family who own it.

Here, the narrative is constructed so that Shane is all things. He is stoic to a fault – has changed his life to avoid violence – but when he is forced to fight, he is deadly. Likewise, he is intensely desirable and yet too honorable to act on it. Studied in detail, Shane is a near-impossibly perfect man. Even when being praised by other characters, the paradoxical nature of his being is difficult to escape:

“He’s dangerous all right,” Father said it in a musing way. Then he chuckled. “But not to us, my dear… In fact, I don’t think you ever had a safer man in your house.” – Jack Schaefer, Shane

This is the example of one incredibly popular masculine narrative – the nonviolent stoic who is forced to enter into combat. The key to understanding how this same narrative can influence characters in very different ways is in realizing that the terms which make it up are subjective.

In Hydra Ascendant , the human protagonist finds himself in combat with the vampiric Baron Blood. Blood is preparing a plan which would place humans under the thrall of vampires, creating ‘a feast eternal’ that would allow vampires to thrive as the planet’s dominant species. Blood says:

Nature demands we kill any who bar us from our tribe’s needed resources. A true man would kill a nation to provide for his family. – Rick Remender, All-New Captain America: Hydra Ascendant

While Blood’s plan is catastrophically villainous, his words highlight that he is engaged in a nearly identical narrative to the protagonist – both believe they are fighting to protect their people, and are able to justify extreme actions on that basis.

This is often described as ‘toxic masculinity’, where a man’s perception of his situation – and what the ideal man would do in his place – drives him to redefine immoral acts as the right thing to do, or as what is expected of him by society. A less extreme example might be the man who cheats on his wife, seeking out the sense of sexual ability that will bring him closer to his ideal man. At this level, the character’s need to establish an acceptable sense of self can be as insistent a drive as any other – a character who feels deprived of a deserved or badly desired sense of masculinity may behave as extremely as if his life was under threat.

The ideal man can therefore inspire heroic feats and acts of unspeakable evil, all depending on how the character frames their situation. Knowing this can help to give even the most diabolical character a cohesive worldview, or inspire seemingly illogical or dangerous acts from seemingly normal men.

There’s a lot of theory behind how masculinity is constructed and how it’s performed, but for authors it’s also important to think about the most basic levels of practical application.

Male dialogue and body language

The ideal man is stoic but he’s also an incredibly capable leader. This means that if you’re trying to portray the perfect man, body language and speech should be basic, insular, but packed with meaning. Generally, in this style of writing, when a man’s physical actions are described, it’s because they’re particularly effective or evocative.

Parker couldn’t tell yet whether it would be best to claim to knowing nothing or everything, so he went on waiting. Younger had been trying some rudimentary kind of psychology, because now he said, “Or is it here? Do you know for sure it’s here? How come you were digging in the cellar?” Parker shook his head, but didn’t say anything. – Richard Stark, The Jugger

Here, a single shake of Parker’s head shows that he is unwilling to talk. It’s a response that’s cool under pressure but also effective – his opponent doesn’t press him or force him to deny again. Parker is a version of the ideal man, and so his communication is clear and absolute.

As with everything else I’ve described, however, the ideal man is just a concept of which more complex male characters are aware. This is the model of communication that your male character strives for, is conscious of not meeting, or actively rebels against. This may mean he over-explains, seeking the ideal of being totally understood, or is accidentally brusque. He may be overly verbose, conscious that he is not trying to be the gruff he-man, or grow irritated when questioned. The outcomes are varied, but they can be kept consistent and understandable by understanding the ideal against which they are defined.

Graphic storytelling offers a host of good examples, as body language choices are immediately visual while remaining static. Marvel comics character Luke Cage acts as a great case study in this medium, showcasing the dialogue and body language choices used to portray an ideal man. Cage has many idealized male attributes – he is a leader, a concise speaker, and possesses bulletproof skin and enhanced strength. Cage can literally take a bullet, adding great weight to any attempt to end things peacefully; he chooses nonviolence even though violence would usually guarantee his success. As an (at least partially) idealized man, Cage’s speech and movements are simple but effective:

– Al Ewing and Greg Land, Mighty Avengers

Here Cage expounds on his worldview, vowing to take action but remaining stoic while doing so. While extolling his commitment to family and detailing a major life choice, Cage sips coffee, an accepted visual shorthand for casual behavior. As he states his intention to change the world he has one eyebrow raised – an incredibly mild gesture given the impact of his words. Cage’s words have intense personal and emotional relevance, but Ewing uses repetition to reinforce this rather than having Cage be more emotionally expressive in other ways.

This is the body language and dialogue of the ideal man – a huge subconscious influence on male characters. This is the accepted standard for confidence; a way that a confident character might behave, having been taught that it properly expresses their surety, but also something that a less-confident character might try to establish authority.

In contrast is the scene below, where Spider-Man attempts to apologize to Cage:

– Al Ewing and Luke Ross, Captain America and the Mighty Avengers

Here Spider-Man adopts body language and dialogue that stands in direct contrast to Cage’s. He performs large, frequent movements and rambles, having difficulty making his point. This, however, is not simply a failure of masculinity. Spider-Man is abasing himself before Cage – he acts counter to the masculine ideal because he is both consciously and subconsciously submissive. He places Cage in the dominant position, making it easier for Cage to be the ideal man (one who Spider-Man hopes will be magnanimous enough to forgive him).

This brings us to the final, and perhaps most important, aspect of masculinity to consider when writing male characters.

Masculinity as a dialogue

One of the defining traits of masculinity I listed above is ‘leadership’. Because of this, male characters will generally have some appreciation of the power relationships in any given group, or will make attempts to understand those relationships.

Again, this does not mean that a male character will always be in charge, or always try to take charge, but it means they will be aware of whether or not other characters are trying to do so, and of where they stand in the hierarchy of a group. They may be comfortable with a lower position or chafe under orders, but they will have a particular awareness of where they stand, and a sensitivity to occurrences that may alter the status quo.

In Hellbent , Anthony McGowan details his teenage protagonist’s journey through hell. Throughout the book, the character pretends he has no knowledge of why he’s there, but the conclusion of the story sees him admit his single greatest sin; the mistreatment of a bullied classmate.

I certainly didn’t join ‘the line’. And what was ‘the line’? Every few days the school thugs would make Jason walk slowly down a line of boys – they tried to make everyone join in – taking a punch or a slap from each person as he passed. The ‘winner’ was the one who made him cry… Sometimes I caught [Jason] looking at me. It was unsettling. I felt bad because I thought he might want to join in with my gang, play footie… But what did he think I was? A social worker? I’d fought hard for my status as maybe the second or third coolest kid in the year… Next time, I thought, I’ll join the line. It’s that or get infected with monkey fever. – Anthony McGowan, Hellbent

Here the character makes a horrifying moral decision not out of cruelty, but because he fears for his own place within the group. He is not attempting to gain anything, but simply to retain his standing and the regard of his peers.

The character might have made another decision, but the point is that he would still have considered his place in the schoolyard. Likewise when a male character is mocked, challenged, corrected or praised; they may react to it in many different ways and for many different reasons, but they will always factor in how it influences the way in which they are seen.

In A Visit from the Goon Squad , Jennifer Egan writes several male characters who are intensely aware of the way in which they are perceived.

‘You don’t want to do this,’ Bennie murmured. ‘Am I right?’ ‘Absolutely,’ Alex said. ‘You think it’s selling out…’ Alex laughed. ‘I know that’s what it is.’ ‘See, you’re a purist,’ Bennie said. ‘That’s why you’re perfect for this.’ Alex felt the flattery working on him like the first sweet tokes of a joint you know will destroy  you if you smoke it all… Alex felt the sudden, riveting engagement of the older man’s curiosity. – Jennifer Egan, A Visit from the Goon Squad

Here the characters make decisions not just according to their own sense of masculinity, but in an attempt to manipulate that of the other man. They flatter each other, and Alex is even aware that an older man’s curiosity validates his masculine identity. Bennie wants something, and is trying to both leverage his own masculine power as an older, more successful man, and to frame what he wants in terms of a masculine narrative Alex might accept.

This is the next level of writing masculinity – not just being aware of how masculinity acts as a drive and influence on a character, but making that character aware of how masculinity can influence the behavior of other characters.

Writing male characters

There is, of course, no one way to write ‘a man’. What I’ve detailed above is instead a way to get into a male character’s head and identify some of the key motivators that may drive him to make one choice or another.

As Judith Butler rightly pointed out, gender may be performative but it is not separate from ourselves. We’ve been performing since we were born, and masculinity is no easier to study as an isolated quality than race or sexual preference. Indeed, masculinity is bound up in these things and should be considered alongside them.

Safe ‘truths’ like ‘men can’t process their emotions’ are inaccurate and, worse, they’re useless to authors. Instead, consider that men have been told that not engaging with their emotions is key to masculinity. A male character who just doesn’t have emotions is a joke – less than two-dimensional. More interesting, and more realistic, is the character who has strong emotions but suppresses them (and why he does so) or the character who has rejected the masculine standard and chosen to express what they feel. Consider, also, the character who tries to suppress their emotions but fails, or the character who has suppressed their emotions for so long that they have trouble bringing them to the fore.

These characterizations ask questions and let characters grow. Why might a character be trying to excavate long suppressed emotions, and why did they suppress them in the first place? Perhaps their father was unemotional, a masculine ideal, but now they want to engage more fully with their kids. Perhaps that suppression led to unhealthy behavior and they want to change. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.

You’re probably expecting me to end on the advice to ‘write a character first, and a man second’, but I’m not going to. Gender is an inextricable part of who we are – it’s something that’s baked into our identity, not sprinkled on once we’re already fully formed. To not think of a character as a man is to ignore one of the most formative qualities that would define their personality. What I would suggest is to explore every nook and cranny of your character’s identity, and to spend as much time as you feasibly can mixing each part of it together, finding their unique backstory.

Do you have a favorite depiction of masculinity in fiction, or do you think it’s the least important part of a character’s world view? Let me know in the comments, or check out  How To Write A Damn Good Woman and  Why Authors Need To Take Care When Writing The Other Gender for more great advice on this topic.

• Characters , Point of view , Protagonist , Writing gender

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Robert Wood

33 thoughts on “how to write a damn good man”.

Excellent piece, and a good angle to consider when writing characters.

One error, though: you say “proscriptive” when you mean “prescriptive”. To “proscribe” something is to forbid it. To “prescribe” something is to require it. It’s a common error – I’ve seen Samuel R. Delaney make it – but it is an error.

Thanks very much for your comment, and for catching that typo. It’s been corrected above.

This is an excellent piece, and I’m in full agreement that one’s gender identity is baked into life at all times. I am, however, fairly astounded that a discussion of masculinity and the perfect man did not include Bond, James Bond. Flemming’s badass spy with a weakness for women probably inspires men daily to ask, “What would JB do in this situation?” Okay, maybe not daily. But every time I’m strapped to a nuclear warhead with supermodel, that’s my go-to.

Thanks for the kind words. James Bond is a great example of masculine narratives in fiction. Interestingly, I believe he was originally created as an amalgamation of many of Ian Fleming’s wartime associates,

Excellent example as in “Bond, James Bond”

Fantastic article. It’s come at just the right time. It’s always challenging building the layers of a male character, but comparing him to an ‘ideal guy’ seems like an effective way to make his actions plausible in all situations. Thanks for the advice! 🙂

No problem, I’m glad it’s useful. Characterisation is so difficult – there are always going to be blindspots when a writer invents a person – but finding consistent behavioural traits is one of the best ways to nail it.

Wow, I have no words… I loved your article and how you went deep into the subject. Very enlightening, and since I like psychology, it was a joy to read. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks very much – what a great reaction. I’m glad the article was useful.

Fascinating. Thank you for sharing.

My pleasure, Karyn.

What about Clint Eastwood? His leading roles in movies like, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly I think he’s an ideal man. I really liked this article!

Clint Eastwood is a fantastic example – thanks for commenting.

This article has helped me reconsider how I’ve written male characters and has affirmed some of the other choices I’ve made. Basically, you’ve pinpointed, what has been up to now, elusive. Greatly appreciated.

My pleasure, Jubilee . Thanks for commenting.

Thank you for this excellent article. It has given me actionable advice and insight that I will use. Much appreciation.

Thanks for the feedback, Sue. I’m really glad the article was useful.

Excellent, thank you. There’s so much more to men than what society prescribes.

Thanks for commenting – I’d certainly like to think so.

Great article! Thank you so much for sharing these tips. I’m sure the male heroes of my romances will benefit from them. 🙂 PS: An example for your “deadly stoic” ideal type: Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen) in “A History of Violence”.

Thanks for commenting, and with a fantastic example. Perhaps the ultimate ‘great at violence but trying to escape it’ character.

I have a book that I’m writing, and I’m thinking of doing each book in a different point of view, i.e., that there is going to have a book from Tanis’s male friend (Possibly boyfriend, I’m not sure yet, I haven’t even gotten a name for him) and this helped. Still not sure if I want to do the “Multiple character views” thing.

Hi Annabelle,

Thanks for commenting. What you describe is an interesting approach, I hope the articles below will be useful in considering it further.

//www.standoutbooks.com/choosing-right-perspective/ //www.standoutbooks.com/avoid-head-hopping/

Do you have one about writing female characters? I mean from a similar standpoint as in examining the ideal woman. Admittedly, it might be harder to find examples of the feminine ideal written by women but I think they do exist. (Also, I suppose feminism has changed the ideal woman to be extremely complicated, but she still does exist)

Ah I see that you seem to have one my bad!

Not at all – the articles below may be of interest on this subject, and I’ve made them more prominent in the article above.

//www.standoutbooks.com/how-a-damn-good-woman/ //www.standoutbooks.com/writing-the-other-gender/ //www.standoutbooks.com/writing-strong-female-characters/

Thank you sir The article is worth understanding.i wanna to ask one thing about it,The masculinty framework which you have discussed in the article Stoicism Bravery etc is drived from which theory of masculinty? Thanks in anticipation

Thanks for your question and kind words. The stereotyped masculine qualities I mentioned are drawn from a general overview of current Western gender theory. As I mentioned, the suggestion isn’t that these qualities are inherently or exclusively masculine, but that there’s a historical precedent of them being used to codify what masculinity is and how it ‘should’ be expressed.

I write my male characters based around the idea that “a real man is someone who stands up and does the right thing regardless of the cost to themselves.” The more likely they are to do this the more masculine they are. The “right thing” is different in every situation. At one point it might be protecting your family from a home invasion and at another point it might be knowing to not get bated into a fight. Being a man in anything I write never means, lack of emotion and always willing to solve a situation by physical force. Sure, those things may be necessary, but they’re not what makes a man a man…it doing those things when, and only when, they’re the “right thing.” And the harder the “right thing” is, if the man steps up and does them, the more of a man he is. Showing emotion, asking for help, NOT being an island, can and often are the “right thing.” I want to put male characters in positions where they have to do those things and if I want them to be real men, I have them stand up and do them. Knowing when to back down from or when to not even get involved in a fight is one clear example I use (when it fits the story) to show a man being a “real man.” Sure, brute forcing your way through a problem head on shows a man being a man and I do have male characters do this, but if it’s not necessary then it takes a real man to know this.

You’ve saved my character, this article is brilliant! I’m trying to write a YA fiction that will attract male readers as well as female ones and give them both strong role models, but my male protag’s motivations have felt so one dimensional. I’ve done more fleshing out of this character while reading this article than I have in years of idly tinkering with this story, thank you!

Very, very much my pleasure, Leslie. Glad it was useful.

Thanks so much for the insightful article. I’m in the planning stages of my fantasy novel and the one male character which was supposed to be an “extra” is turning into the protagonist. This has made me really nervous because of the masculine perspective but I feel much better about placing him in front.

For obvious reasons your content on this page is spot on for various reasons. It steers away from the usual pitfalls and traps most fall into- getting defective alternatives. Thank you!

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BRYN DONOVAN

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Master List of Physical Description for Writers

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.

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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If you like what I do, please support me on Ko-fi!

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!

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!

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127 thoughts on “ master list of physical description for writers ”.

Thanks, Bryn! This list has sparked a spark in my brain. I haven’t seen one of those for a while. I was getting worried I’d lost my flint!

I’m so glad you like it!

I love this, do you mind if we share on our blog WritersLife.org ?

Thanks for the positive feedback! You can’t reproduce it on your blog, but you can share an excerpt of 200 words or less plus a link to my site.

As a new novel writer all I can say is thank very much for sharing with us this wonderful list.

Ah you’re welcome! Thanks for visiting!

This is amazing! Thank you very much!

Thanks for the kind words–glad it seems helpful!

Reblogged this on looselyjournalying.

Reblogged this on Of Fancy & Creativity .

• Pingback: Bryn Donovan | Shadows Publishing

Aw thank you for this it helped so much! I’m 15 and I’m trying to write a novel and this was sooooo helpful so thank you a billion 🙂 Best wishes.

Ah you’re welcome! Thanks for stopping by. Good for you for working on a novel, and good luck–I bet it will go great!

Hi, Bryn Thank you for doing these lists. They helped me a lot. Can you make a list on how to describe emotions like sadness or anger.

It’s funny you should ask 🙂 There’s a list like that in my book MASTER LISTS FOR WRITERS coming out this fall! I haven’t officially announced it yet, but hey 🙂

You can get a free copy when it comes out if you agree to give it an honest review. SIgn up for my newsletter if you’re interested!

Reblogged this on Kalynn Bayron and commented: Yes! This is great!

Was just looking for this type of lists.Great work.

This is so helpful.

I love your blog, btw. Your posts are informative and/or inspirational.

Are you on any social medial where I can follow you?

Oh, thank you so much! I just checked out your blog — I love the dream casting post! http://sbhadleywilson.com/blog/pull-ideal-cast-2/

I’m @BrynDonovan on Twitter, just followed you!

VERY helpful. I need to get basic descriptions of people done and out of the way to move on with plot. This quickens any details that might have taken me a long time to think through, or strain a sentence. Yuck. I know my females characters would pay attention to lots of physical details. not so with the males. Thanks!

Oh, so glad it’s helpful! That’s always what I’m trying to do with my lists — speed things up. I hate getting stuck on a detail and losing my momentum 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!

godsent list! Bryn, I wish you more brains.

Reblogged this on Jessica Louis and commented: This list is beyond helpful. Who knew there were so many eye colors!?

Thanks Bryn your list was amazing. I’m an aspiring writer and it really helped me a lot. When I can I’m going to get a copy of your book. I think it would help me become a better writer. My genre of choice is erotic, but it is so hard to get out there, but I’m hopeful one day I will. It’s what I love to do and I’m going to keep trying.

Hi Beth! Thank you so much for the kind words. If you do get the book, I hope you like it! And good luck on writing erotica — I’m doing a “WIP Wednesday” this Wednesday where you can share a bit of your work in progress, if you like 🙂

That would be great. I have some short stories publish on a site called Literotica. I have some editing issues that I’m trying to work out, nothing a few classes wouldn’t help. How do I share my work.

I am so sorry! I missed this comment before. The next WIP Wednesday on the blog is Dec. 2… if you’re following the blog you’ll see the post! (The follow button is on the righthand side of this page.) Hope your writing’s going well 🙂

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• Pingback: MASTER LIST: Physical Descriptions |

Reblogged this on PRINCE CHARMING ISN'T HERE and commented: what an amazing list! I always have a hard time describing features! words sometimes fail me!

i loved this list! thank you so much for making it! 🙂

So glad it was helpful!

• Pingback: Describing People « Chestnut ESL/EFL

Thank you! This is so helpful to have for reference. Occasionally I’ll have a particular word in mind and can’t think of it, and I can usually pop over here and find it right away!

I absolutely love your master lists. They have helped me so much in diversifying the words I use when I’m writing. 🙂

Ohhh thank you! That is so great to hear. 🙂 Hope your writing projects are going great!

Thank you, and they are. I’m just about to publish a works I’ve been working on for the past couple of months, which is so exciting. XD Hope all your writing projects are going great as well. 🙂

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19,890 quotes, descriptions and writing prompts, 4,964 themes

a handsome man - quotes and descriptions to inspire creative writing

• alterations and repairs
• facial features
• look and appearance
• mysterious man
• personality
• quotes of beauty
• quotes of love for him

He was the kind of handsome that got into my bones, that spoke to me of olden times before he'd said a word.

Bigorexia - the wave of young men damaging their bodies with steriods to gain big muscles - is founded on a misconception. If they are a guy who wants to attract gals, here's the thing. I say this as a straight biological female. Women, beyond a sense of averageness, don't care what their man looks like. They don't. Once a guy is somewhat average other factors take over. They are looking for a great partner who would make a great father. It's biologically hardwired. Women don't chose mates based on looks. By all means, be healthy, do a sport or whatever makes you feel good... but a lot of women actually don't like big muscles in real life. That's what's real.

A handsome man's beauty starts from his hearty loving soul and radiates from there to create his final form.

Handsome is a state of the soul that carries through the man.

He was handsome from the depth of his eyes to the gentle expressions of his voice. He was handsome from his generous opinions to the touch of his hand upon my own. I loved the way his voice quickened when he sparkled with a new idea, or was so enjoying one of mine that he lost himself for a moment and quite forgot the mask he wore for others. So I gave him my heart and kept his safe, that's the way it was.

No one feature makes Mark so handsome, though his eyes come close. People often speak of the colour of eyes, as if that were of importance, yet his would be beautiful in any shade. From them comes an intensity, an honesty, a gentleness. Perhaps this is what is meant by a gentleman, not one of weakness or trite politeness, but one of great spirit and noble ways. What he is, what is beautiful about him, comes from deep within; it makes me want to feel how his lips move in a kiss, how his hands follow the curves of my body. As each year passes the lines will deepen upon his face, he will be more handsome still, as if his soul shines through his skin.

He had the kind of face that stopped you in your tracks. I guess he must get used to that, the sudden pause in a person's natural expression when they looked his way followed by overcompensating with a nonchalant gaze and a weak smile. Of course the blush that accompanied it was a dead give-away. It didn't help that he was so modest with it, it made the girls fall for him all the more. Despite all the opportunity that came his way he was a one-woman-man who prized genuineness and thoughtful conversation above lipstick and high-heels. He was handsome alright, but inside he was beautiful.

When a man has become his good wolf self, as the Cherokee legend tells, he is handsome to every eye and heart.

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

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 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 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 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.

Originally published at Scribbler .

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Six Ways to Describe An Attractive Character

When it comes it describing an attractive character, “show don’t tell” is crucial. But how do you describe the love interest without just repeating “she was beautiful” or “he was drop-dead gorgeous”? Just like any kind of writing exposition , good description can make or break the introduction of a stunning new character. Never fear! Here are six ways to write about a good-looking guy or gal in your book without being boring, repetitive, or flat.

Get physical. As with writing kissing scenes , physicality is, if not everything, then a lot of things. Instead of focusing on the purely visual aspects of an attractive character, focus on how their appearance affects the other characters. Stomach butterflies? Racing heart? Rising temperatures? Don’t hold back.

Use all five senses. Another classic romance writing tip—but applying all five senses specifically to appearance of an attractive character is absolutely crucial. Don’t just focus on the visuals; consider how the person smells, sounds like when they talk, and feels (if your POV character is lucky enough to touch them, anyway!).

Don’t go crazy with adjectives. Too many descriptors can make your character sound like a laundry list of features rather than an actual human being (or wolf shifter, or vampire, or whatever). A hero with “sapphire eyes” and “bronzed caramel skin” ends up being more distracting than specific to the reader—the ten-dollar words aren’t adding anything, and in a pile-up, can read as clumsy and amateurish.

Use voice. All that said, it is actually okay to “tell” what the attractive character looks like—as long as it’s grounded in the voice of the narrator. Using the turns of phrase that your narrator is accustomed to in writing about an attractive character does double duty, because it not only conveys information about the character being described, but also the worldview and particular attitudes about the narrator.

Avoid cliché. You know this, of course! But in romance and YA romance in particular , readers want writers to know how avoid clichés in their writing. Clichés make books feel generic, and make readers skim—which is the opposite of what you want! The only real way to avoid clichés is to know what they are in the first place, and the only way to know that is to read widely in your genre. It’s a fine line between delivering on genre expectations and settling too heavily into cliché, but the more you know about the other books in your category, the better you’ll be able to make your writing stand out.

Subtext, subtext, subtext. Dialogue is a big part of showing off a character’s magnetic appeal. But it’s human nature that people don’t mean what they say or say what they mean. (Seriously, when was the last time you just walked up to someone and said “hey, you’re hot!”?) When your character is talking to someone they find attractive, what they talk about isn’t as important as the way they say it. Too much talking about mutual attraction outright is a sure way to kill tension. Amp up the mystery and sensuality by cloaking their real intentions—even a discussion over something as simple as grocery shopping can become electrically charged when attraction is at a fever pitch.

Want a free eBook guide to querying? The Coffee Break Query Letter  is our  free  workbook for brainstorming, drafting, and polishing a killer query.

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How to Write a Descriptive Paragraph About a Person (With Examples)

4-minute read

• 7th January 2023

Describing a person or character is difficult for even the most successful authors. It requires a balance of words to make sure they shine through without the language being too heavy. In this article, we’ll look at how to write a descriptive paragraph about a person, share some examples, and talk about different strategies.

1.   Brainstorm Your Ideas

Brainstorming is crucial to any writing process. It’s the process in which you think of ideas for what you’d like to write about. In this case, you’re writing a descriptive paragraph about a person. It’s important to use adjectives to describe the features or characteristics you want to focus on.

One way to come up with ideas for a descriptive paragraph about a person is to go through the five senses. Use the questions below to get some ideas for what you want to highlight about your person.

Appeal to your reader’s senses – smell, taste, sound, sight, and touch

Smell: How does the person smell? Do they wear perfume? Are they doing an activity that would make them have a certain smell?

Taste: Do you associate a certain food with this person? Does it make you think of a specific taste? Can you taste something due to a certain smell they have?

Sound: Do they have a unique voice or laugh? Are they doing an activity that has distinctive sounds?

Sight: What prominent features do they have? For example, think about their dressing style, their smile, or their surroundings. What do you see them doing in your mind when you see a photo of them? What memories do you have of this person? Does this person remind you of something or someone?

Touch: What textures do you see? For example, imagine their skin or clothing. How does it feel if you hug them?

2.   Begin With a Short and Snappy Sentence

Like with any type of writing, you want to hook your reader so that they want to continue reading. In this case, you can use a topic sentence, if appropriate, to introduce your reader to the person. For example:

Or, if you want to be more creative, you can reel them in with a short and snappy sentence about this person. This is called a writing hook . This sentence should focus on a stand-out detail or characteristic about the person you’re describing. For example:

3.   Describe the Person

Now, this is the hard part. But, if you’ve brainstormed plenty of ideas and know which ones you want to focus on, it will be easier. Let’s look at some examples to get a better idea of how to write a descriptive paragraph about a person using the prompt “describe a person you admire.”

Comments: This paragraph is pretty typical of most students. It gives lots of visual details of the person and uses a simile or two (“ Her eyes are like the color of honey” and “Her smile shines like the sun” ). While this strategy gets the job done, it’s not very exciting to read. In fact, it can be quite boring!

Let’s look at how we can rewrite this to make it more exciting.

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Comments: In this example, we focused on one defining characteristic of the person we are describing — her laugh. This strategy places more focus on the person you’re describing, rather than the adjectives you use to describe them.

4.   Edit and Revise

After you write your descriptive paragraph, be sure to read it over. Read it out loud. Read it in a funny voice. Doing this will help you to hear the words and identify which parts do not work or sound awkward.

5.   General Tips for Descriptive Writing

●  Avoid using too many descriptive words.

●  Remember to show the reader, not tell.

●  Appeal to the reader’s five senses – smell, touch, taste, sight, and sound.

●  Focus on a striking or defining characteristic.

●  Use contrasting details from other people or surroundings for emphasis.

●  Use literary devices (metaphors, similes etc.) sparingly and with intention.

●  Use a hook to reel your reader in.

●  Use a variety of short and long sentences.

●  Practice creative writing exercises to improve your descriptive writing skills.

●  Always edit and revise your writing.

If you need more help with writing a descriptive paragraph or essay , send your work to us! Our experts will proofread your first 500 words for free !

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Tricks for Describing a Character’s Appearance (With Examples)

Introducing a new character to your story can be difficult. There’s a lot that goes into it, and to make matters worse, you only have one chance to give readers a good (and memorable) first impression of that character. One of the ways you can do this is by giving them a distinct appearance, but many writers tend to fall short of describing appearance well. 

We’ve all heard the same cookie-cutter descriptions for characters a million times before. Golden hair, a heart-shaped face, a chiseled body, piercing eyes, yadda yadda… The problem with these descriptions is that they’re bland, they’re cliché, and they don’t really help your characters stand out. 

However, if you break from clichés, you can create uniquely vivid descriptions that will give your characters life. There are endless ways you can describe characters, and I’m not going to walk you through how I would describe every single possible human feature (or humanoid, animal, alien, etc). For one thing, that would take too long, but for another thing, descriptions are based on more than just the character’s physical appearance—their personality plays a part too. 

Tips for Describing a Character’s Appearance in a Story

There are a number of things to keep in mind when describing a character’s appearance. Here are just a few general tips before we dive into some more specific techniques for describing different parts of a character’s appearance. 

Don’t Make Everyone a Supermodel

This is probably one of the most (if not the most) important things to remember when describing a character. You should never objectively describe your characters as flawless. Humans aren’t perfect, so if you describe your characters like perfect little supermodels, they just won’t feel authentic. Worse still, they won’t stand out from the protagonists of every single young adult novel out there. You need to make them distinct, and to do that, you need to give your characters flaws . And I mean real flaws, not fake flaws that are actually just endearing traits packaged like flaws. 

Don’t Dump Everything Out at Once

Describing your characters is important, but you need to be able to keep it concise. No one wants to read a 7-page summary of every detail of a character’s appearance. You can go in-depth, sure, but don’t put your readers through a word-avalanche just for them to figure out what the character looks like. 

Remember, you can reveal more about the characters over time. When you introduce a character for the first time, you should focus on the things a person would naturally notice first, such as their face, hair, clothing, voice, and general energy. You can further elaborate on their appearance later when it is relevant, and describe their gait, posture, temperament, and more. 

There is one exception here I want to highlight. If you are telling a story from the first-person perspective, and you want to illustrate a character’s obsession with another person, hyper-fixating on the details can be a good way to show this. It can make the character seem creepy , and it can foreshadow the protagonist doing something bad to the person they are obsessing over. 

Don’t Sell Them Short

Opposite to the point above, you shouldn’t make your introductions too short. To some extent, it can be good to leave some parts of the character’s appearance up to the reader’s imagination. However, you should give them something to help them visualize the characters in the beginning. Otherwise, if you later reveal that the character has dark hair, all the readers that imagined them with light hair might have a difficult time accepting that. 

Descriptions are important, and they help to include a reader in the narrative. Like a well-described setting, vivid characters can help immerse readers into the world and make them part of the story. 

Use Their Personality

A character’s personality can have a large impact on how they are perceived, and therefore should alter the words you use to describe them. Two characters might have similar features, but based on their personality, you would describe them differently. 

For example, two characters might both be tall, but one would be described as “awkward and long” while the other is “towering.” In this case, the characters’ levels of confidence impact how they are perceived. For another example, think about two characters who both have light skin. You could describe one as looking like “porcelain” and describe the other one as “pasty,” depending on their other traits. Those two descriptions create very different perceptions from each other.   

Use the Point of View

If the character in question is being described from the first-person perspective of another character, then the protagonist’s opinions should sneak into the description. Your protagonist probably isn’t going to objectively evaluate the other person—they’re likely to rely on stereotypes, biases, and things they have heard from others about the character they’re looking at. Rely on that to make the description fit into the story more organically. 

Here are some examples: 

• She had no right to have such a disarming smile.
• His expression was empty—just like his head.
• His dark, tangled hair reminded me of a swamp.
• She didn’t even wear any makeup! But even more frustratingly, she didn’t really need it.
• They looked divine… like I wasn’t even worthy to look upon them. 
• He looked like the type of person to stare at his own reflection before getting in the shower. 
• They were short and stocky, but they could still probably beat me in a fight. 

Remember, your protagonist can make speculative judgments about the character they’re looking at. You’re telling the story as they experience it, so their judgments are part of the narrative!

“…he was greeted by the barista—a young teen who had not yet matured enough to be handsome. Once his soft cheeks hollowed and his jaw squared, and the childish optimism fled his eyes, then he would have the chance to smolder. That crooked smile would win over many hearts in the blink of an eye, but not just yet.”  – excerpt from a draft

Keep the Description Balanced

A good rule of thumb when describing characters (or anything else really) is to create a balance of concrete details and flowery imagery. You should alternate between those two, as well as general and more specific details, to make the description flow more naturally, and to make it more interesting to read. 

Imagine reading a description like: 

“His hair was red and curly. His eyes were large and green. He had freckles, but they weren’t that noticeable. He was tall but very thin.” 

That’s so dry, and it’s not fun to read. Compare that to a description that varies how the information is provided:

“His hair was like a massive red bush surrounding two wide, green eyes. Freckles faintly dotted his cheeks, but they were only really visible in the sunshine. His long, lanky body and large hair made him look a bit like a big red lollipop—which was only heightened by his tendency to blush often.”

Wasn’t that a lot more fun to read? Not only does it make the character description more interesting, but it also influences a reader’s perception of what the character is like. Certain words help readers to gauge what kind of person this character is. The first example gives no indication of personality, but the second one uses words like “sunshine” and “lollipop” to associate the character with lively, happy things. Additionally, using words like “lanky” and “blush” suggests that the character is awkward or shy, saving you the time of having to spell that out for readers. 

Give them Something Special

One helpful thing that I’ve learned over the years is that you should give your main character some distinctive feature that sets them apart from the other characters around them. Diverse descriptions are great, but it never hurts to make your main character a little more unique. This could be something like a distinctive scar, a tattoo, a weird eye color, a patch of silver or white hair, a missing or extra finger, a birthmark, or something else along those lines. That can make them stand out more, and it can be a really clear indicator that they are special. 

Although your story won’t suffer if you don’t give your main character a distinct feature like this, it is usually a good bet—especially if you think your story could ever conceivably be adapted into a visual medium, like a comic, animation, or film. That character could become iconic. People may just see your character somewhere and that alone could motivate them to read or watch the whole story. As another plus, it could give you a cool opportunity for your story’s cover. 

How to Describe a Character’s Face

When describing a character’s face, the easiest way to do that is to first break the face down into its essential parts: the eyes, the mouth, the nose, and the facial structure.

So let’s start with the eyes since they are the focal point of the face. Stay away from the descriptions you’ve heard a million times, like “piercing” or “doe-eyed.” The eyes are the window to the soul, and they can tell a reader a lot about a character. Instead of “piercing,” try “icy” or “sharp,” and instead of “doe-eyed,” try “wide,” “innocent,” or “full of wonder/awe.” The goal is to describe the character in a unique way to make it more interesting to read, while still creating a vivid image of that character. 

You can describe the shape, color, and depth of a character’s eyes, but you should be careful not to rely on insensitive generalizations. For example, instead of “Asian” eyes, use “almond-shaped” or “mono-lid.” Not all Asian people have mono-lids, so simply using the word “Asian” to describe the character’s eyes doesn’t actually narrow down what they look like. 

That goes for all the other features of the face, too. Though it is true that some features are more prominent in certain races, nothing is inherent. You shouldn’t rely on the character’s race or ethnic background alone to be the basis of your description. Saying that a character is Japanese or Jamaican without giving other details doesn’t do any more for the character’s description than saying they are European or white. Doing this only encourages your readers to stereotype your characters, even if that wasn’t your intention. 

With that said, don’t get too caught up in describing every detail of a character’s face. Give the most important information, such as the eyes, face shape, scars, and other notable details or imperfections, then move on. If a character has an exaggerated feature, such as a large nose or bushy eyebrows, then that’s important to mention too.

How to Describe a Character’s Hair

There are lots of different types of hair colors, textures, thicknesses, and shines, so try not to make all your characters have the same kind of hair—unless they’re related or part of a small, isolated community, of course. Hair can be curly and blond, sleek and black, coily and auburn, and even dyed wild colors. Making your characters’ hair more distinct will make them easier for readers to visualize, especially if you introduce many characters at one time. 

Beyond the basics, you can use words to describe a character’s hair that reflects who they are as a person. For example, describing a character’s hair as springy or bouncy could indicate the character is upbeat and moves excitedly. Slick, greasy, or wispy hair could suggest an untrustworthy or sneaky character. The words you use to describe the character’s hair will be subliminally applied to the character themself. 

How to Describe a Character’s Clothes

Clothing is an important element of self-expression, and what your character decides to wear can reflect a lot about them. However, unlike with the character’s face, you should not spend a lot of time describing their outfit. For one thing, they’re probably going to change their outfit at some point in the story—likely more than once. Secondly, readers just won’t care unless you give them a good reason to. 

If you want to describe what your character is wearing, make sure to keep it short. If it’s just a simple way of helping the reader visualize the character’s style, present the information objectively and in only a paragraph or two, such as: 

“She wore short-shorts and a denim jacket, and pink thigh-high socks that she had to keep pulling up because they always slipped down to her knees. Her tennis-shoes were white and bulky, as was the belt bag she wore off to one side. This free, laidback style was completed by the two messy buns her faded purple hair was pulled up into.”

However, there are a few times in which you can use clothing to explore more complex ideas in the story. For example:

• An article of clothing might have special significance to a character. It could have been handed down from a relative, it could be a favorite shirt, or it could be meaningful in other ways. That would merit drawing more attention to it. 
• An article of clothing might have special significance to the story. This could be a type of ceremonial outfit, a piece of magical armor, or something along those lines. That would require a more thorough in-depth description of the item. 
• An article of clothing may be unfamiliar to most of your readers, such as a specific cultural outfit or an unusual costume, in which case a descriptive explanation could help illustrate what it looks like. 
• A particular outfit could draw attention to a character, such as an attractive or surprising outfit, that could merit taking more time to describe it (and explain why it garners the character extra attention). 

How to Describe a Character’s Body

Describing a character’s body is fairly straightforward. Like with many other aspects of a character’s appearance, there are a few methods you can use to approach describing their body. You could take the objective approach, which would do just fine in most cases, or you could toy with your readers’ perceptions. 

I’ll start out with a word of caution. Too many times, I’ve seen unrealistic descriptions of characters’ bodies. Whether it’s a waist that’s impossibly thin or muscles like a bodybuilder on a teenager, people tend to push the boundaries of what the human body is even capable of. You need to keep your characters within the limits of what’s actually possible, unless you have a good reason for doing otherwise (genetically modified supersoldier, not actually human at all, etc). 

Now, as with some other aspects of the character’s appearance, you can get away with a simple, objective description, like “tall and muscular” or “short and curvy.” Honestly, that’s usually all you’ll need to do. However, bodies are commonly associated with physical attractiveness, and if attraction is the point of your description, you need to take a different approach. 

Writing about attraction is tough (which is why I go more in-depth about how to write about attraction in my other article, Romance 101: How to Write Characters Falling in Love ). You’ll want to highlight the positives of the character’s body—the elements of them that have caught your protagonist’s attention. Whether it’s biceps, legs, or a large chest, you’ll want to describe it in detail, as well as highlight what it is about them that has the protagonist so interested. Here’s an example:

“He was tall and sturdy, and even in this relaxed environment, his pose held power. The way his shirt stretched taut around his shoulders when he shifted snagged and held my attention—I couldn’t help but stare. Did he pick that shirt on purpose? He had to know the thin fabric clung close to his body, showing off every rippling muscle underneath…” 

How to Describe a Character’s Posture and Body Language

Body language is an often overlooked element of describing a character, but you should give it some thought even if you don’t intend to draw a lot of attention to it in the story. How does your character stand? How do they emote? Do they gesture when they speak? Do they fidget? Try to envision what they look like when they are waiting, actively engaged in a passionate conversation, and when they are uncomfortable. 

People move in different ways, even if they aren’t thinking about it. Come up with a list of movements and behaviors that are typical for the character, and utilize those movements to make dull scenes and conversations more interesting. Instead of just dialogue, you can give readers more to imagine as your character shifts their weight, runs their hand through their hair, or twists the hem of their shirt. This can also help to establish the tone of the conversation.  

A person’s body, personality, and mood will all influence how they move. If you establish a baseline for how the character stands and behaves when they are in a neutral mindset, this will help you keep them consistent over time by casually mentioning their body language throughout the story. As a bonus, it can also help you tip readers off if you want them to notice that something is bothering the character. If you have established that a character is pretty relaxed in most situations, readers will instantly notice if they exhibit anxious body language even if you don’t draw a lot of attention to it. 

How to Describe an Attractive Character

Describing an attractive character isn’t all that different from describing any other character. You still shouldn’t make them flawless, but you can put off mentioning their more negative qualities until later—especially if another character is looking at them through rose-colored glasses . 

One recommendation that I have for describing a character who is supposed to be extremely attractive is to keep their description vague. Beauty is subjective, so each reader is going to have a different idea of what “attractive” means. By all means, describe the basics of their appearance, such as hair color, eye color, skin tone, and whatnot, but don’t dive deep into the shape of their features. This will leave a little bit up to the reader’s imagination, and they will fill in the gaps in the character’s description with the traits that they find most attractive. 

Another helpful tip is to utilize the reactions of background characters to establish that the character is, in fact, attractive. Other people staring at the character or nudging and whispering to each other about them would help your reader understand that the character is good-looking, and alter their mental image of them accordingly. 

The Importance of Creating Vivid Visual Descriptions for your Characters

Creating vivid visual descriptions for your characters is incredibly important for a number of reasons. For one thing, being able to imagine the characters will help draw your readers into the story and immerse them in the world. Additionally, by giving your characters more distinct appearances, they will stand out more from each other, and from characters in other stories. The more complex and interesting the character, the more likely they are to stick in a reader’s mind for years after they finish reading the story. 

Good luck with writing your descriptions! I know you’ll write something great.

Describing characters: How to describe faces imaginatively

Describing characters imaginatively is an essential skill when writing fiction. It helps readers to invest in your characters’ storylines and experiences if they feel real. Read on for five tips for describing characters’ faces:

• Post author By Bridget McNulty
• 17 Comments on Describing characters: How to describe faces imaginatively

Describing characters imaginatively is an essential skill when writing fiction. It helps readers to invest in your characters’ storylines and experiences if they feel real. Read on for five tips for describing characters’ faces:

Describing characters: 5 tips for drawing faces with words

Ready to write great characters? Here’s how to make sure each character feels real and distinctive. This will ensure that you reader can create a mental image in their mind of what your characters look like. 

Tip 1: Use gestures more than easy adjectives

Beginning writers will often use adjectives for specific emotions to describe faces: ‘Her eyes were angry’ or ‘his mouth was mean’. Avoid simply listing facial features. Because adjectives that use abstract words for specific emotions don’t show the reader the character’s face, they tell rather than show emotion. Ask yourself: What makes the character’s eyes seem angry? Does she glare, unblinking? Are her brows knitted together? What distinctive features does your character have? Can describing these show what your character is going through? Our faces are mobile and you can use this movement to convey a character’s mental or emotional state lucidly.

Instead of ‘Her face held an amused expression’ think of what makes a face have this appearance and try to describe the visual elements of this amusement. You could describe a slight smile that seems to teeter on the edge of a loud cackle or a single-sided smile, a curled lip that could indicate sardonic, begrudging amusement.

The eyes are elements of character description that budding writers often rely on too heavily:

Tip 2: Avoid descriptions of eyes that are generic and say nothing about your character

Description of eye colour is often used in place of eye descriptions that give characters more personality or individuality. ‘He was a blue-eyed surfer’ doesn’t tell the reader much about the character other than the surface physical appearance. Instead, focus on how the eyes can say more about a person: their emotions, passions or attitudes. An example: ‘His blue eyes were often red underneath, whether from the constant irritation of salt water or the countless sleepless nights he spent at the beachside bar, she didn’t know.’ Or: ‘Her deep-set eyes were rimmed with black kohl but that couldn’t hide how she still looked exhausted after being on call for 24 hours.’

Some common clichés to avoid in describing eyes:

• Changes of colour designating changing emotions: In real life people’s eyes don’t change colour like mood rings. ‘Her usually blue eyes were now a steely grey’ reads as strange because it doesn’t ring true
• Overworn similes and metaphors: Similes such as ‘her eyes grew wide as plates’ or ‘his eyes bulged in anger’ are overused and (especially in the case of the former) exaggerations. Sometimes, instead of making faces your first stop for describing emotions, it’s wiser to involve the whole body in descriptions. Bring everything together – posture, voice and movement – so that your characters don’t float through your novel as disembodied, over-animated faces.

Even though facial movement can be effective for describing your characters’ inner thoughts and feelings and outward expressions of these, facial tics should also be handled with care:

Write vivid descriptions

Get a practical workbook with description exercises, examples plus videos to level up your characters.

Tip 3: Aim for natural use of facial tics and expressions

Overuse of facial tics is a common pitfall. Often (in fantasy novels especially) writers use the stock character of a stern female character who raises one eyebrow archly, continuously. Too many characters raise eyebrows to show disdain too many times in too many books. Think about people you know personally – how often do they perform the facial gestures you describe? Raising the entire forehead is far more common an expression of questioning surprise, for example, than raising just one eyebrow.

Other facial tic clichés:

• Eyes scrunched tight in anticipation of something bad: Again, body language is often stronger than facial description for these scenarios. For example, if a character is expecting a beating, their body is where they will imagine approaching pain and thus it is where this expectation will register first
• Wrinkling your nose:  Ask yourself how often people do actually wrinkle their noses. Besides the nose being connected to surrounding facial tissue, someone is probably more likely to hold their nose closed when noticing a bad smell, or they might breath through their mouth until the odour has passed

There are other facial tics to avoid. A good exercise to become skilled at describing faces is to watch a TV series or movie featuring good actors and observe and note how each type of emotion or scenario changes a character’s face. Observe colour, movement and anything that is particularly striking or individualistic about a character’s expression. One person’s lip might protrude a little when holding back tears, while another might remain resolutely tight-lipped. With another person you may find that their skin tone changes colour when have an angry expression on their face or they may have rosy cheeks when they get angry. These small details enrich facial description.

Tip 4: Be inventive in the similes you use to describe characters

Instead of relying on clichés to describe characters’ faces, think up similes that convey something essential about your characters and mark them as unique. In Charles Dickens’  Great Expectations , the clerk Wemmick is described as having a mouth like a postbox, a ‘post-office mouth’ that is used for sorting and relaying information. The postal metaphor for Wemmick conveys a lot about the character: The mechanical, practical nature with which he goes about his professional life as well as how his working life asks so much commitment of him, even down to affecting his physical appearance.

Be an inventor like Dickens in describing characters’ faces. Think about not just the appearance of their facial elements and structure but how they use them and what causes them to use their features in this identifying way. You can also find more articles on describing character at our character writing hub.

To make your characters’ faces vivid and lifelike, also think about their attitudes to their faces, the features they like or dislike or the care they take (or don’t take) over how their faces appear:

Tip 5: Combine facial description with behavioural description

One of the useful elements of describing characters and using their faces in description is that you can show cause and effect in a character’s life. A character who is a night owl or is up awake fretting for a long period of time will come to have dark circles under their eyes. Don’t just say that a character has dark circles: Instead show how the character’s behaviour starts to affect the way their face appears.

To illustrate: You could say ‘she had dark circles beneath her eyes’, which suggests tiredness and lack of sleep, or you could say ‘the circles beneath her eyes darkened with each night she stayed up to fill out job applications’. In the latter, direct behavioral cause and physical result are clear.

Another advantage of the latter type of facial description is that it shows readers that characters’ faces, like the rest of them, do not need to be static and mask-like but can and should alter with time according to their thoughts, feelings and behaviours. Similarly, consider how facial hair might play a part in description. If a character shaves their facial hair, this might indicate that they want a change after a life-altering event, or they are shaving to evade detection from the police. Or, changing their hair color might indicate all sorts of things about your character. Perhaps they are dyeing the gray and don’t want to look old, or again, maybe they’re avoiding the police. If they have black hair and are dyeing to have blond hair, this will alter their appearance drastically.  

Want to write better characters?  Start creating vivid characters and get feedback on their portrayal from other members of the Now Novel community now.

Image from here , here and here .

Related Posts:

• Describing characters' first appearances: 6 tips
• Character posture: How to describe characters' bearing
• How to describe hands: 6 ways to make characters real
• Tags character description , how to describe eyes , writing description

By Bridget McNulty

Bridget McNulty is a published author, content strategist, writer, editor and speaker. She is the co-founder of two non-profits: Sweet Life Diabetes Community, South Africa's largest online diabetes community, and the Diabetes Alliance, a coalition of all the organisations working in diabetes in South Africa. She is also the co-founder of Now Novel: an online novel-writing course where she coaches aspiring writers to start - and finish! - their novels. Bridget believes in the power of storytelling to create meaningful change.

17 replies on “Describing characters: How to describe faces imaginatively”

[…] Talking about your character: Face […]

Brilliant article! Your post reminds me 13 wonderful and extremely useful tips from Chuck Palahniuk that I’ve recently read ( https://litreactor.com/essays/chuck-palahniuk/stocking-stuffers-13-writing-tips-from-chuck-palahniuk ). Thanks for your precious advice.

Thanks, Selena! Sorry for the delayed response, Disqus didn’t give me a notification for some reason. Love Chuck Palahniuk’s words on writing, thanks for sharing.

I am from Brazil and love your blog.

Thank you, Bruna! Thanks for reading.

Thanks for this! and good ideas.

It’s a pleasure! Keep writing.

My name is Kersten Fitzpatrick, I am a fantasy writer, but I am having trouble putting my characters onto paper. I do good stories but putting my characters onto paper is really hard

very nice and useful article

As a student that loves to write and do his best in everything possible while having to bother as little people as possible this article along with many others have been extremely helpful and am so appreciative that the articles contain accurate and useful information but it is also short so that I can read it without having to worry too much with the time it would take me to learn. Thank you!

Thanks for your kind feedback, we’re glad to help and that you’re enjoying our articles. It’s a pleasure. Good luck with your studies!

Very useful guid! It really helped me to write ideas in my novel! =)

Thank you for this feedback, A.J.! We’re glad you found it helpful.

Boring do better kidding .This was excellent

Haha, ouch, Brooklyn. I’m glad it was helpful, thanks for your feedback.

This was really amusing to me and I learnt true things from this. Thank you.

It’s a pleasure, Goodness. Thank you for reading our articles and taking the time to share your feedback.

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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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David Davis

David Davis is a cartoonist with around twenty years of experience in comics, including independent work and established IPs such as SpongeBob Squarepants. He also works as a college composition instructor and records weekly podcasts. Find out more about him at his website!

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How to Describe a Face in Writing (21 Best Tips + Examples)

To bring your characters to life, you need to do more than just list their features. You need to describe their face.

Here’s how to describe a face in writing:

Describe a face in writing by focusing on the eyes, nose, mouth, skin, and overall shape. Use descriptive words to convey emotions, and vary your expressions based on the character’s mood, personality, and situation. Avoid clichés and aim for fresh, unique descriptions.

In this comprehensive guide, you’ll learn everything you need to know about how to describe a face in writing.

Tip 1: Show, Don’t Tell

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Remember, you’re not a police sketch artist.

Avoid listing down facial features as it can be uninteresting and unengaging for your reader.

Instead, let your reader see your character’s face through the emotions and expressions they show.

For example:

• “His eyes, a blend of sea and sky, lit up like a lighthouse in the storm when he laughed.”
• “Wrinkles marked the map of her life, telling tales of the smiles and sorrows she had experienced.”
• “The way her eyebrows knitted together gave away her concern more than any words could.”
• “His sharp jawline, a chiseled stone, became more prominent when he clenched his teeth in anger.”
• “Her freckles danced like constellations across the bridge of her nose when she squinted in the sunlight.”

Tip 2: Use Metaphors and Similes

Using metaphors and similes can help create clear and lively images in the reader’s imagination.

They make your descriptions more vibrant and interesting by comparing your character’s features to something unexpected yet relatable.

• “Her eyes were emeralds, sparkling with mischief and curiosity.”
• “His lips were like rose petals, soft and enticing.”
• “Her hair was a golden halo, shimmering under the summer sun.”
• “His smile was a crescent moon, illuminating the dark corners of her heart.”
• “Her nose, small and button-like, reminded him of a delicate seashell.”

Tip 3: Focus on Unique Features

Every face has something unique.

Concentrate on these distinctive features to make your character stand out and remain memorable in the reader’s mind.

• “His silver scar zigzagged down his cheek, a stark reminder of the war he survived.”
• “Her eyes held two different hues—one a warm hazel, the other a striking blue.”
• “A lock of his jet-black hair forever rebelled gravity, standing up at the back of his head.”
• “Her dimples formed deep craters of joy on her cheeks every time she laughed.”
• “His long eyelashes cast shadows on his cheek, adding a touch of enigma to his countenance.”

Tip 4: Describe Emotions

Faces are windows to the soul.

Emotions can dramatically alter the way a face looks. Incorporating emotions in your descriptions makes your characters more believable and relatable.

• “His eyes turned steely grey when he was angry, like storm clouds ready to burst.”
• “Whenever she was excited, her whole face lit up like a child’s on Christmas morning.”
• “In the throes of despair, his features twisted into a sorrowful mask.”
• “Her face, usually so calm, crumbled like a sandcastle when she received the bad news.”
• “His face softened with love when he looked at her, his eyes holding a warmth that melted her heart.”

Tip 5: Involve Other Senses

While visual descriptions are vital, engaging other senses can create a richer image.

The feel, sound, or even the smell associated with a face can offer a deeper connection to your character.

• “His beard was like rough sandpaper against her palm.”
• “Her laughter was music to his ears, a melody he could listen to on loop.”
• “Her skin smelled like vanilla, comforting and sweet.”
• “His face was as cold and clammy as a fish under her touch.”
• “Her voice was soft and soothing, smoothing the wrinkles of his troubled mind.”

Tip 6: Note Changes Over Time

Faces change over time.

Describing the transformation of your character’s face is an excellent way to showcase growth or decline, adding depth to your story.

• “Age had not been kind to him; wrinkles had invaded his once smooth face.”
• “Years of laughter had etched deep joy lines around her eyes and mouth.”
• “The trials of life had left their mark on her face in the form of a permanent frown.”
• “His face had lost its boyish charm over the years, replaced by the rugged handsomeness of a man.”
• “Her face had blossomed like a flower over the years, shedding the awkwardness of adolescence.”

Tip 7: Use Characters’ Reactions

The way other characters react to someone’s face can say a lot about their appearance.

It’s a subtle way of description without being too direct.

• “At her radiant smile, people couldn’t help but smile back.”
• “His stern look was enough to make the room fall silent.”
• “The sight of her tear-streaked face made him feel a pang of guilt.”
• “The sight of his bloodied face made her stomach churn.”
• “Her pale face caused him to ask, ‘Are you feeling alright?'”

Tip 8: Use Light and Shadow

Playing with light and shadow can add a dramatic touch to your descriptions.

It helps set the mood and gives an interesting perspective on the character’s face.

• “In the candlelight, her eyes glowed like two golden orbs.”
• “His face, half-hidden in shadows, held an inscrutable expression.”
• “Under the harsh sunlight, her freckles appeared like a sprinkling of gold dust on her nose.”
• “The firelight cast long shadows on his face, making his sharp features seem more sinister.”
• “In the dim light of dawn, her face held a serene, ethereal quality.”

Tip 9: Describe Facial Movements

A face is not a static thing. It moves, it expresses, it reacts.

Describing these movements brings dynamism and life to your character.

• “His eyebrow arched in surprise.”
• “Her lips puckered in a pout.”
• “His nostrils flared in annoyance.”
• “Her cheeks puffed out as she held in a laugh.”
• “His eyes narrowed into slits as he concentrated on the task at hand.”

Tip 10: Use Cultural and Historical Context

Different cultures and time periods have different beauty standards and distinctive features.

Using these contexts can make your character more realistic and relatable.

Just use caution and discernment here so that you don’t disrespect any culture or person.

• “Her face, painted with tribal markings, told a story of her heritage.”
• “His Victorian-era sideburns lent him an air of classic charm.”
• “Her Hanbok highlighted her soft, round Korean features.”
• “The vertical lines tattooed on his face revealed his Maori lineage.”
• “The smallpox scars on her face were a harsh reminder of the epidemics in 18th-century Europe.”

Tip 11: Mention Age Appropriately

Different ages have different facial characteristics.

Children have softer, rounder features, whereas the elderly have wrinkles and age spots. Describing age-appropriate features lends credibility to your characters.

• “Her face was still round with the chubbiness of early childhood.”
• “His teenage face was plagued with an army of rebellious acne.”
• “Her middle-aged face had started showing the first signs of crow’s feet around her eyes.”
• “His elderly face held a network of wrinkles, each one a tale of a year gone by.”
• “Her face, though young, held a mature expression far beyond her years.”

Tip 12: Highlight the Mood

The mood of the scene can drastically alter the way a character’s face is perceived.

Use the mood to your advantage to add a layer of depth to your descriptions.

• “In the glow of the setting sun, her face held a peaceful tranquility.”
• “His face seemed even more grotesque under the flickering neon lights.”
• “In the soft, romantic moonlight, her face held an ethereal beauty.”
• “Under the harsh fluorescent lights, his scars appeared even more pronounced.”
• “His face seemed drawn and tired in the gloomy dawn light.”

Tip 13: Make Comparisons

Comparing a character’s face to another character or even to their younger self can offer insight into their appearance, and also their relationships and growth.

• “His face held the same stubborn chin as his mother.”
• “She had her father’s eyes, sparkling with the same intense curiosity.”
• “He had aged, his face no longer the smooth canvas of his youth.”
• “Her face was a mirror image of her twin, yet her eyes held a different story.”
• “His face, once so similar to his brother’s, had grown hard and cold.”

Tip 14: Use Action

Action can reveal a lot about a character’s face.

By showing what your character does with their face, you can describe their looks in a dynamic, engaging way.

• “She bit her lip, deep in thought.”
• “He rubbed his chin, a sign of his deep contemplation.”
• “She hid her face behind her hands, peeking through her fingers.”
• “A vein throbbed in his forehead as he tried to keep his temper in check.”
• “She pressed her cool palms against her flushed cheeks.”

Tip 15: Include Flaws

Perfection is boring.

Including flaws makes your character more human and relatable. It adds depth and makes your characters more interesting.

• “Her nose was a bit too big for her face, but it gave her a distinctive look.”
• “His teeth were crooked, but they made his smile endearing.”
• “Her eyes were slightly asymmetrical, making her face uniquely hers.”
• “His chin had a small cleft, a flaw that added to his charm.”
• “She had a birthmark on her cheek, a small blotch of reality on her otherwise perfect face.”

Tip 16: Think About the Character’s Background

Your character’s face can say a lot about their past or their lifestyle.

This includes their occupation, past traumas, or even their habits.

It’s a subtle way to give your readers more information about your character.

• “His face was sunburnt and weathered, a testament to his life as a sailor.”
• “Her smooth, delicate hands and well-maintained face revealed a life of luxury and leisure.”
• “The multitude of small cuts on his face were the occupational hazards of a rookie barber.”
• “The permanent frown on her face spoke volumes about the hardships she had faced.”
• “His nicotine-stained fingers and the deep lines around his mouth hinted at years of chain-smoking.”

Tip 17: Describe the Shape of the Face

The shape of a person’s face can create an instant image in the reader’s mind.

Use it effectively to describe your characters. But remember, avoid clichéd descriptions.

• “Her face was heart-shaped, with a wide forehead and a narrow, pointed chin.”
• “He had a square-shaped face, with a broad forehead and wide jawline.”
• “Her oval face was perfectly symmetrical, a pleasing sight to the eyes.”
• “His triangular face, with a broad forehead and narrow chin, gave him a distinctive look.”
• “She had a round face, full of soft curves.”

Tip 18: Use Colors for Description

Colors can create vivid imagery in the reader’s mind.

They can be used to describe the color of the skin, eyes, lips, or even the blush on a character’s face.

• “His eyes were the color of a stormy sea, intense and unpredictable.”
• “Her lips were a vibrant red, standing out against her pale skin.”
• “His skin was a rich, dark chocolate, smooth and unblemished.”
• “Her cheeks turned a rosy pink when she blushed.”
• “His face turned a shade of beet red at the mention of his crush.”

Tip 19: Use Personality Traits

Sometimes, you can describe a face by linking it to the character’s personality traits.

This way, the face serves as a reflection of the character’s personality.

• “His stern face was a perfect match for his no-nonsense personality.”
• “Her ever-smiling face mirrored her optimistic nature.”
• “His brooding eyes were as mysterious as his personality.”
• “Her twinkling eyes were a testament to her mischievous nature.”
• “The calm, serene expression on his face was a reflection of his patient demeanor.”

Tip 20: Use Body Language

The way your character holds their face or their facial body language can say a lot about their mood, personality, or even their current situation.

It’s another great tool for description.

• “He held his face high, a sign of his arrogance and pride.”
• “Her face was always buried in a book, her eyes scanning the pages rapidly.”
• “His face fell at the news, disappointment written all over his features.”
• “She turned her face away, avoiding his gaze.”
• “He leaned his face on his hand, deep in thought.”

Tip 21: Combine Different Tips

Using a combination of the tips above can lead to a richer and more comprehensive description of a character’s face.

Experiment with different combinations to find what works best for your story.

• “His weathered face, tanned from years of working in the sun, was square-shaped with a strong jawline. His stormy sea-blue eyes sparkled with mischief, revealing his playful personality.”
• “Her heart-shaped face was adorned with a splash of freckles, a little too much on the nose. Her emerald-green eyes, always filled with curiosity, were her most striking feature.”
• “He had a round face, boyish yet showing signs of age. His brown eyes, usually sparkling with joy, were dull and downcast.”
• “Her oval face, pale as moonlight, held an otherworldly charm. But it was her violet eyes, shimmering with hidden secrets, that caught everyone’s attention.”
• “His triangular face, coupled with his almond-shaped eyes of liquid amber, were a testament to his Asian heritage. His stern expression softened when he smiled, revealing a dimple on his left cheek.”

Here is a good video about how to describe your character’s face in writing:

How to Describe a Man’s Face

When it comes to describing a man’s face, focus on the key features that highlight (or contrast) masculinity.

This could include a chiseled jawline, broad forehead, deep-set eyes, or facial hair.

However, be sure to avoid stereotypes and allow for diversity in your descriptions. Not all men have “strong, chiseled features” and “thick beards.”

Some might have soft features or be clean-shaven.

The key lies in describing the unique features that make your character who they are.

Tips and examples:

• “His face was rugged, with a chiseled jawline that was covered in a five o’clock shadow.”
• “His cheekbones were high, giving him a somewhat stern appearance.”
• “His face was a blend of soft and hard features, an intriguing mix of his tough upbringing and gentle nature.”
• “He had a clean-shaven face, which accentuated his dimples when he smiled.”
• “His face, while not conventionally handsome, had a certain charisma that was very appealing.”

How to Describe a Woman’s Face

Describing a woman’s face allows for a broad spectrum of details.

From delicate, soft features to strong, bold ones, women’s faces can be as diverse as their personalities.

You could describe her high cheekbones, full lips, or slender eyebrows.

But again, avoid clichés and overused descriptors.

Try to paint a picture of her uniqueness and individuality through your descriptions.

• “Her face was oval, framed by a cascade of curly hair.”
• “Her features were strong yet feminine, with a sharp nose and full lips.”
• “Her face was as delicate as a porcelain doll, with rosy cheeks and soft, blue eyes.”
• “She had a square-shaped face, with a broad forehead that hinted at her intelligence.”
• “Her face was radiant, even without a hint of makeup, with high cheekbones and almond-shaped eyes.”

How to Describe a Kid’s Face

Kids’ faces are often rounder and softer, with big, curious eyes.

When describing a child’s face, pay attention to their innocence, their expressive eyes, their freckles, or their baby fat.

Also, kids are usually more expressive, so don’t forget to incorporate their changing facial expressions in your descriptions.

• “His face was cherubic, round with rosy cheeks and bright, twinkling eyes.”
• “Her face was a canvas of freckles, her eyes wide with a child’s innocence.”
• “His face lit up with a toothy grin, eyes sparkling with mischief.”
• “Her face, smudged with dirt, was the picture of a child’s adventurous spirit.”
• “His face, though young, held an expression of seriousness that belied his tender age.”

How to Describe an Angry Face

An angry face can be a powerful tool to convey emotion and tension in your story.

When describing an angry face, focus on the tightening of features, the flare of nostrils, the furrow of brows, or the gritting of teeth.

Show your reader the anger rather than just telling them about it.

• “His face turned crimson, veins throbbing at his temples.”
• “Her eyes flashed fire, and her lips thinned into a tight line.”
• “His face twisted in rage, the usually calm features barely recognizable.”
• “Her face was a mask of fury, her eyes glaring and her lips curled in a snarl.”
• “His jaw was set, and his nostrils flared, an unmistakable sign of his anger.”

How to Describe a Serious Face

Describing a serious face is a way to communicate a character’s mood or the gravity of a situation.

In such descriptions, focus on elements that suggest concentration, intensity, or even a lack of emotional display.

The narrowing of eyes, a firm setting of the jaw, the pursing of lips, or the hardening of facial features can all convey seriousness.

A serious face isn’t necessarily an angry or sad one.

It can be the face of a person deep in thought, someone intent on their work, or someone who’s just received surprising news.

By describing the subtleties of a serious face, you can provide a deeper understanding of your character’s mindset and the situation at hand.

• “His face was stern, eyes narrowed in concentration as he read the document.”
• “Her face was solemn, the corners of her mouth turned slightly downwards, lost in her thoughts.”
• “His face hardened, eyes cold and unblinking, as he heard the tragic news.”
• “Her serious face was a mask of professionalism, not a hint of emotion visible.”
• “His face was devoid of its usual playfulness, replaced by a solemn expression as he listened to the speaker.”

How to Describe a Sad Face

Describing a sad face requires delicacy and empathy, as it’s one of the more profound emotions.

It’s about more than just downturned lips or tear-filled eyes.

Sadness can show in subtle signs like a dull look in the eyes, a slight droop of the shoulders, or a vacant stare.

These cues can create an emotional connection between your readers and your characters, drawing readers deeper into your narrative.

Remember, sadness varies from person to person.

Some people might openly cry, while others might have a quiet, resigned sadness.

• “Her face was etched with sorrow, her eyes dull and vacant.”
• “His face was a picture of desolation, the sparkle in his eyes replaced with a forlorn gaze.”
• “Tears streaked down her face, each one a testament to her heartbreak.”
• “His lips trembled as he tried to hold back his tears, the effort visible in his face.”
• “Her face, usually so full of life, seemed to age years in moments, the weight of her sadness apparent to all.”

How to Describe a Tired Face

When describing a tired face, you’re not just depicting the physical signs of exhaustion but also hinting at the underlying reasons.

Perhaps a long day of work, emotional stress, or sleep deprivation.

Tiredness can be seen in drooping eyelids, dark circles under the eyes, a lack of focus, or a general lack of energy in the face.

Also, a tired face can also be a metaphor for the exhaustion a character feels due to life events or situations.

In such cases, the tired face is a reflection of an internal state rather than just a physical one.

• “His face was drawn, his usually bright eyes clouded with exhaustion.”
• “Her face bore the brunt of her sleepless nights, with dark circles under her eyes and a pallid complexion.”
• “His face seemed to sag, the lines on his forehead deepening with fatigue.”
• “Her tired face was a stark contrast to her usually vibrant self, her eyes dull and her smile forced.”
• “Despite his attempts to appear energetic, his face betrayed his exhaustion, the usual spark in his eyes replaced by a weary glaze.”

How to Describe a Worried Face

A worried face can help to reveal a character’s concerns or anxieties.

This doesn’t always mean a furrowed brow or biting of the lips.

It can be more subtle, like a slight twitch of the mouth, darting eyes, or an unsettled look.

It’s essential to focus on how your character uniquely expresses worry to make the description authentic.

Keep in mind that worry is often directed at something specific – a person, an event, or an outcome.

• “His face was etched with worry, his brows knitted tightly together.”
• “Her face held a look of concern, her eyes scanning the horizon for any sign of him.”
• “His face bore an expression of unease, his gaze darting around nervously.”
• “Her worry was visible on her face, her lips pressed together in a tight line.”
• “His face was filled with apprehension, his eyes reflecting the turmoil of his thoughts.”

How to Describe a Disappointed Face

A disappointed face can manifest as a downturned mouth, a furrowed brow, a sigh, or a vacant look in the eyes.

However, disappointment can also be subtle, a slight change in the eyes or a brief flicker of an expression.

Disappointment often comes from a place of hope or expectation.

Highlighting what led to the disappointment can add depth to your character and make the emotion more palpable for the readers.

• “His face fell, the joy replaced with a grimace of disappointment.”
• “Her eyes lost their sparkle, her face reflecting the disappointment she felt.”
• “His face hardened, the blow of disappointment visible in his tightened jaw.”
• “The look of disappointment on her face was unmistakable, her eyes welling up with unshed tears.”
• “His face mirrored his disappointment, the excitement fading from his eyes as he took in the news.”

How to Describe a Happy Face in Writing

Happiness is an emotion that can light up a character’s face and make them come alive for the readers.

When describing a happy face, focus on the warmth of the smile, the spark in the eyes, or even the lift of the eyebrows.

However, happiness isn’t always about broad grins.

It can also be a soft smile, a content look, or relaxed features.

• “Her face lit up with a smile that reached her eyes, transforming her features.”
• “His face was aglow with happiness, his eyes sparkling like diamonds.”
• “Her face softened, a gentle smile playing on her lips, reflecting her contentment.”
• “His face was alive with joy, every feature radiating his excitement.”
• “Happiness was etched on her face, her eyes warm and inviting.”

Exercises for Practicing Facial Descriptions in Writing

Improving your facial description skills requires practice.

Here are a few exercises you can try:

• Observe and Describe : Look at faces around you or pictures of faces, and write descriptions for them. Try to capture the unique features and expressions.
• Show, Don’t Tell : Write a scene showing a character’s emotion (like anger, sadness, or happiness) through their facial expression without naming the emotion.
• Avoiding Clichés : Take a clichéd facial description and rewrite it in a fresh, original way.
• Genre-specific descriptions : Pick a genre and write a facial description that fits that genre.
• Character Descriptions : Take a character from your current writing project and write detailed facial descriptions, focusing on their usual expressions, unique features, and how their face changes with different emotions.
• Expressing Age : Choose three different ages (child, adult, elderly) and describe the same face at each stage of life. Concentrate on how age changes the appearance and expressions of the face.
• Emotional Shifts : Write a scene where a character’s emotion changes dramatically. Describe how their face changes from one emotion to another. For example, how does their face transform from surprise to joy, or from anger to sadness?
• Personality Depiction : Choose a specific personality trait (like kindness, arrogance, or shyness) and describe a face that reflects that trait. Avoid clichés and aim for a vivid, unique description.
• Describing Without Sight : Challenge yourself by describing a character’s face using other senses. How does their face feel to the touch? What sounds do they make that might give away their facial expressions? This can be a challenging exercise but it will make you think outside the box!
• Mixing Metaphor and Simile : Write a facial description using a simile (e.g., “Her eyes were like calm lakes.”) Then, rewrite it using a metaphor (e.g., “Her eyes were calm lakes.”) Compare the two and see how each one affects the description and the image it evokes.

Final Thoughts: How to Describe a Face in Writing

In any descriptions (including faces) try to weave theme, plot, and character into your words.

If you liked this guide, you’ll probably enjoy our other helpful guides on how to describe dogs, cities, voices, and more.

Related Posts:

• How to Describe a Smile in Writing (700 Ways & Examples)
• How to Describe a City in Writing (100+ Best Examples)
• How to Describe the Wind in Writing (100 Words + Examples)
• How to Describe a Dog in Writing (100+ Examples)

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Home / Book Writing / How to Write Amazing Character Descriptions (with Examples)

How to Write Amazing Character Descriptions (with Examples)

A good character description is walking a fine line between too much and too little information. Not only that, it's how you deliver the information to the reader that can make or break a good description. So whether you already have a vivid picture of your characters in mind or you don't know where to start, you've come to the right place. Read on to explore character description.

• What is a Good Character Description?
• Descriptions for Character Profiles
• Descriptions in Prose
• Character Description Examples
• Tips for Writing Character Descriptions for Profiles

Table of contents

• Description in Prose
• 1. Start With a List
• 2. Edit it Down
• 3. Get Creative With Surroundings and Movement
• 4. What Is and What Isn't
• 5. Adjectives Can Help or Hinder
• 6. Practice Makes Perfect
• 7. Description Can Help Reveal the Narrator

A good character description isn't just about describing how a given character looks. It's also about describing the character through the world around them and through their actions. When these factors come together, you can create a vivid description that not only tells the reader a lot about your character's personality but also sparks the reader's imagination. That, after all, is what reading is all about.

And while we'll mostly be discussing character description in prose, we'll also be discussing how character description is important when writing your character profiles. Since character profiles are best utilized before you write your novel, we'll start there.

Creating a character profile can help you when it comes time to write. It can ensure that you know your major characters intimately before you start writing. These profiles are about more than just character description, but for the purposes of this article, we'll focus on the physical attributes, as they're the building blocks for writing descriptive prose.

Think of a profile as a character sketch. You're not trying to get every single detail down, as it's always good to leave room for spontaneity when you're writing your novel . But when it comes to the basics of how the character looks, it can help to nail down the details.

This includes things like eye color, facial expression, height, weight, build, hair color, skin color, any disfigurements or scars, and things like tattoos or birthmarks. This should also include clothing and any other accessories, such as hats, watches, necklaces, and piercings.

You don't have to get fancy with the profile. Just get the information down so you can refer to it later. If you want to go the extra mile, you can write down some varying descriptions of your character as if you're writing the novel. It's often easiest to focus on one physical attribute at a time until you're comfortable. These practice descriptions can lend inspiration when you start writing in earnest.

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Easy to use, and and full of amazing features, you can quickly turn your book into a professional book.

Description in your book is a bit different than in your profile. A good description can give the reader a glimpse at the character's personality traits as well as their appearance. There are many different ways to write a great character description, but they all have one thing in common: they're creative and anything but boilerplate.

Many new writers opt for the list-style of description, thinking that less is more. They often look like this:

“He had piercing green eyes, sandy blond hair, and stood a stocky and solid six-foot-two. He had a slight limp and the musculature of a man who works hard for his living.”

While this may be fine for a minor character, it falls a little flat for a major character that you want the audience to know intimately. So for ideas on how to write character descriptions, let's look at some examples from some masters of the craft.

“His present dog was a huge white brute, a mountain dog from the South. He had named it Halina, after his second wife, with whom it shared some personality traits. . . It weighed almost as much as he did and its coat was matted and filthy; it lifted its massive head and watched him with lunatic eyes.”

This description, from Dave Hutchinson's Europe in Autumn , is a great example of how to describe physical appearance. Neither the man nor his dog is a major character in the story, but the description tells you a little about the K9 and its owner in a few concise sentences.

“He did not look like anything special at all.”

This one-sentence description in Jonathan Safran Foer's Everything is Illuminated is an excellent example of “less is more.”

“When he did appear his eyes were as brown as I remembered, pupils flecked with gold like beach pebbles.”

This description is from Sub Rosa by Amber Dawn. It's a compelling use of simile to create a picture of a character's appearance in the reader's mind. Note that she doesn't use tired and worn-out similes such as “eyes as blue as the summer sky” or “hair as red as autumn leaves. Getting creative with figurative language can work out very well.

“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. It faced — or seemed to face — the whole eternal world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor.”

This description, from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, focuses on the character's actions to tell the reader about him. Or, rather, on a single action: a smile. At the same time, the writer is telling the reader something about the POV character, giving insights into how the narrator sees the character while describing him.

Tips for Writing Character Descriptions in Prose

Most writing teachers and authors will tell you that if you want to write, you need to read. And the descriptions above should be shining examples of why that is sage advice. Reading how the authors you love write character description is key. But I've included some tips you can use when it comes time to write your own masterpiece!

This is where the character profile comes in handy. Not only does it keep you on track (there's nothing worse than realizing you switched a character's eye color halfway through a book) but it also allows you to keep a picture of your character fresh in your mind's eye.

So keep a list handy. Even if it's just the basics, like “black hair” or “brown eyes” and the like, it helps.

One of the most oft-quoted pieces of advice from Strunk & White's The Elements of Style is “Omit needless words.” For writers old and new, this advice is sound indeed for writing character descriptions. We've all read a book where the description of a character goes on for pages and pages and we find ourselves asking, “When will we get back to the story?”

This is something to avoid at all costs. So edit your descriptions down as much as possible. Don't use flowery language for its own sake. Instead, try to get your point across to the reader in as concise a manner as possible. You don't have to get into a character's backstory with the description if it will interrupt the flow of the story.

Remember that you want to create a vivid character in the reader's mind, but that doesn't mean that you want to take all of their imagination out of it. Leave something for the reader to interpret, if at all possible.

Description isn't all about a character's physicality. It's also about how the character interacts with the world around them. The way a man sits on a couch or a woman drives a car or a child eats an ice cream cone can all add to the character's description. A sentence about what a couple does while waiting in line at the movies can tell the reader more than a paragraph of straight description.

The way a character walks, the way they gesture when they talk, the way they squint when they're thinking. These are all great ways to add to a character's vividness and depth through description.

Describing a person, fictional or otherwise, can be done by looking at what is there and what isn't there. In fact, sharing what isn't there — what's missing — can be a great way of describing a person. As a writer, this can also help you develop your craft and keep your prose fresh. Whether this is a missing limb, a shirt pocket that has been torn off, or the lack of seeming intelligence on a vacant face, the absence of things can say a lot about a character.

As a rule in fiction, it's best to limit your use of adverbs. And the use of adjectives in character descriptions is no exception. Like adverbs, adjectives can become a crutch that holds back more concise and creative writing. This is not to say that you shouldn't use them on occasion. Sometimes an adjective is just the right kind of word for character description. Just keep in mind that overusing them can lead to reader fatigue and overly flowery language.

This should go without saying, but practicing your description will go a long way to becoming a better writer. When you consciously sit down to write a compelling character description, you can really think about what you want to say and how best to say it.

To do this, choose a character archetype and flesh that archetype out into a full-fledged person through descriptive language. Try writing several descriptions of the same character type, focusing on a few different tributes each time. You can try writing one where you focus on appearance. One on movement. One on how she/he interacts with the world around them. One on clothing. And one on what's missing (if anything). These practices can help you get your head around how best to describe a character in any given situation.

Description can also tell the reader about the POV character or narrator. And if your narrator is also your protagonist, this can be very important. This is because, short of having your character stand in front of a mirror and describe herself, there aren't many easy ways to describe your POV character without taking the reader out of the story. So, a great way to enlighten the reader is to use the way your narrator sees other characters. This can often be in the form of physical comparisons that the narrator makes or insights that they glean from watching/interacting with another character.

Not only does this add to the main character's believability, but it also provides an opportunity for character development as the story progresses. Perhaps your POV character has a bad habit of comparing himself to others he learns to break. Or perhaps he focuses too much on physical attributes to the detriment of seeing who other characters really are.

Whether you're writing a short story , novella, or a 1,000-page tome, you'll want to get familiar with character descriptions. The best way to start this is with a character profile. This will help you with your character analysis, which is great for fleshing out your main character, villain, and even secondary characters that need brief but compelling descriptions.

Once you have the basics of your character down, you can start experimenting with description. By focusing on one major character trait at first, you can develop your own style of description. Then you can incorporate more attributes, sharing only a couple at a time as your novel progresses.

Be concise, creative, and don't forget to look for what is and what isn't there. Use movement, interactions, and gestures to make vivid and crisp character descriptions. 

Dave Chesson

When I’m not sipping tea with princesses or lightsaber dueling with little Jedi, I’m a book marketing nut. Having consulted multiple publishing companies and NYT best-selling authors, I created Kindlepreneur to help authors sell more books. I’ve even been called “The Kindlepreneur” by Amazon publicly, and I’m here to help you with your author journey.

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WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®

Helping writers become bestselling authors

Physical Feature Entry: Muscular Build

August 17, 2013 by BECCA PUGLISI

Physical description of a character can be difficult to convey—too much will slow the pace or feel ‘list-like’, while too little will not allow readers to form a clear mental image. If a reader cannot imagine what your character looks like, they may have trouble connecting with them on a personal level, or caring about their plight.

One way to balance the showing and telling of physical description is to showcase a few details that really help ‘tell the story’ about who your character is and what they’ve been through up to this point. Think about what makes them different and interesting. Can a unique feature, clothing choice or way they carry themselves help to hint at their personality? Also, consider how they move their body. Using movement will naturally show a character’s physical characteristics, keep the pace flowing and help to convey their emotions.  

Descriptors : brawny, beefy, built, stacked, burly, hulking, robust, powerful…

Muscular individuals go beyond toned muscle structure and verge into defined, well built curves often visible through clothing. Muscles strain against fabric at the forearms, biceps and chest. Calves are bulkier than normal, the back broadened with muscle layers and a neck may appear wider at the base…

Things Muscles Do:  

• Flex : jump, bulge, ripple, jerk, strain, swell, rise, balloon
• Harden: tense, firm, freeze, set, strengthen, knot, bunch

Key Emotions and Related Muscle Movements:  

• Anger: when angry or frustrated, muscles tense in aggression. The body naturally takes up more space, creating a bigger target and sending a message to opponents that one should not be messed with.
• Fear: When experiencing fear, a person feels the desire to shrink and make oneself less of a target, aligning…

Simile and Metaphor Help:

•  Metallica came on and Randy began flexing his bulky chest muscles to the beat. Valerie and I roared; they jittered like twin bowls of Jello left on the counter during an earthquake…

Clichés to Avoid : muscles the size of beach balls, a muscle-bound body builder with no brains…

Describe your character’s features in a way that reveals more than just a physical description. Show what he looks like while also reinforcing his personality and emotional state, thereby doing more with less.

Need concrete examples of how to describe your character in a compelling, magnetic way? Good news!  This thesaurus has been integrated into our online library at  One Stop For Writers . There, you can find help with  metaphors and similes , as well as the best ways to  describe your character using movement.  The entire Physical Feature collection is cross-referenced and linked for easy navigation. If you’re interested in seeing a  free  sampling of the updated Physical Feature Thesaurus and our other descriptive collections, head on over and register at One Stop!

Becca Puglisi is an international speaker, writing coach, and bestselling author of The Emotion Thesaurus and its sequels. Her books are available in five languages, are sourced by US universities, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, editors, and psychologists around the world. She is passionate about learning and sharing her knowledge with others through her Writers Helping Writers blog and via One Stop For Writers —a powerhouse online library created to help writers elevate their storytelling.

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Reader Interactions

March 14, 2021 at 3:17 pm

7 years ago? Wow i sure am late but these really helped my writing-thanks!

August 19, 2013 at 11:13 am

Your idea of “showcasing” some details was great. The picture of those brawny guys wasn’t bad either!

August 18, 2013 at 10:14 am

This is awesome. I love the idea of dissecting how to depict character qualities. So glad I discovered your site!

August 17, 2013 at 12:48 pm

Great stuff, as usual. And nice photo with my morning coffee. 😉

August 17, 2013 at 12:47 pm

Thank you! I have a muscular love interest and have been working on describing him in non-traditional ways. The twin bowls of jello made me laugh:D

August 17, 2013 at 9:17 am

A little beefcake with the morning coffee. 😀 As always, Angela, your posts are a delight.

August 17, 2013 at 8:16 am

Great descriptors. Really big guys spend a lot of time maintaining it, so their gym time would almost have to play a part in any story. 😀

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MissRis New Member

Describing an attractive character without sounding cheesy.

Discussion in ' Character Development ' started by MissRis , May 15, 2012 .

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_c618229314718ed241bb9682eccb3a9c'); }); My MC (call her Sofia) is trying to describe a devastatingly handsome character (we'll call him Stavros) that she's meeting for the first time. Sofia is seventeen, but overly mature. She isn't boy crazy. And would never say, "Oh. My. God. He is SO hot" and fawn all over the guy. She's fairly aloof about these things and would be more likely to say something sardonic like, "Do you expect me to swoon because you smiled at me?" and roll her eyes. Stavros is one of those men that exudes sexuality, intentionally or not, and sends her into overdrive. (Keep in mind it's for a YA audience so let's keep it PG-13). He has an older man allure (he's in his early to mid twenties). I don't know if this affects it, but he is also a character with a fair amount of power. Although Jose is young, he sits on a Council of elders (we'll find out his father was killed in battle and Stavros was the heir for his position). Brief description of Stavros: Tall: At least 6'4", maybe taller Trim build, not overly muscular. Jet black hair Bright blue eyes Strong jaw Romanesque nose I think of Ian Somerholder when I write him... Okay ladies (and gentlemen) I need perspective. I find everything I write sounds like a horrible romance novel.  

Islander Contributor Contributor

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_c618229314718ed241bb9682eccb3a9c'); }); I try to keep the physical descriptions short (because they quickly become boring), and try to show how attractive the character is through their own attitude and through people's reactions to them. The more different ways you can hint at the character's attractiveness, the stronger the impression will be.  

Youniquee (◡‿◡✿) Contributor

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_c618229314718ed241bb9682eccb3a9c'); }); Maybe you could show that she thinks he's handsome by how in depth she goes into his appearance. Maybe she notices the little details with him than she notices other characters. but she quickly covers it up by making the witty comment said above, making it obvious to reader that's she trying to deny she thinks he's attractive to him. To be honest, that description already sounds attractive to me but that's pretty subjective~ This is a tricky one for me lol but I still tried to help. I really do hope this helped :3  

Cogito Former Mod, Retired Supporter Contributor

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_c618229314718ed241bb9682eccb3a9c'); }); Don't describe the person any more than necessary. Give a vague detail or two, and show your character's reaction. Let the reader fill in the rest from her (or his) lusty imagination. The reader will build a more bodacious fantasy person.  

Afion New Member

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_c618229314718ed241bb9682eccb3a9c'); }); You could make it more about her reactions to him than what he looks like: "He glanced over at me and I felt my cheeks grow red. I'm don't usually blush much." Obviously something a bit less cliche than that but you get my general idea  

hadou New Member

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_c618229314718ed241bb9682eccb3a9c'); }); Give the essential characteristics of a character; the reader will fill in the rest with his or her imagination. Add in behavioral traits to complement described physical features; this will aid the reader as well to create an overall image of the character.  

Metus New Member

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_c618229314718ed241bb9682eccb3a9c'); }); Cogito said: ↑ Don't describe the person any more than necessary. Give a vague detail or two, and show your character's reaction. Let the reader fill in the rest from her (or his) lusty imagination. The reader will build a more bodacious fantasy person. Click to expand...

KazuHirA New Member

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_c618229314718ed241bb9682eccb3a9c'); }); Make the character sexy/attractive without using going into physical details. For one, I suggest ignoring things like bone structure or the way his face looks as those are things a character cannot control. Go into things he can. Like his style, the way he wears his jeans or whatever. Describe his style instead of his appearance, his physique(does he work out?) as opposed to his looks. Course, it's important to fit in his physical appearance, but you should try to define your character by nitty bits of who they are as opposed to what they look like. Maybe it's just me though...either way, that's my advice on the matter.  

Gnarly New Member

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_c618229314718ed241bb9682eccb3a9c'); }); I find, that with characters like "Sofia" I almost make them aggravated by their own attraction. it makes it sound more real. They don't like that they find this person handsome. Things like "Stavros is probably arrogant. I bet he forces his reflection upon every mirror he crosses paths with, forcing it to show his handsome features of (insert the features)." ... then go on to say "His physical prowess cannot be denied, although I wish very greatly that I could deny him, if he ever made a pass at me." ... I hope this is of help. That's just how I would do it... Or something of this nature.  

Silhouette New Member

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_c618229314718ed241bb9682eccb3a9c'); }); I think generally anything you describe about your character physically should reveal something about their personality (or the plot). If this guy knows that he's attractive (particularly if he has always been attractive) then that will have affected his personality. He'll carry himself as an attractive person. So instead of telling us he has beautiful eyes, you could tell us that he makes very firm eye contact, or always seems to be looking down at her, or any number of things. Combining this with your protagonist's impression of these features (maybe she feels that he tries to manipulate people with his looks and is annoyed that it's working on her) should give us greater insight about both of them.  

indy5live Active Member

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_c618229314718ed241bb9682eccb3a9c'); }); When I run out of ways to describe something, like a hot chick. I flip the scenario and describe an ugly chick and the reactions I'd have if I saw her looking at me and winking or if she was wearing a slutty dress. Once you've grossed yourself out, try and find words that replace the flipped scenario with the actual plot. I tried to hide my stares but couldn't help to study the woman that just walked in. I had no idea where her hips started because the massive rolls mounding along the side of her overly-tight dinner dress that is far to revealing for a woman of her figure. Apparently the crowd agreed with me because she scanned the room and saw everyone staring and instantly ran out of the restaurant. -Inverted- My unconscious wouldn't allow my glassed over eyes to fixate on anything else but the perfect figure that just walked into the door. I had no idea a woman could be this beautiful. She had muscles where it was attractive and curves where it counted and knew how to compliment every bit of her God given beauty with a sexy party dress and stunning make-up. Apparently I wasn't the only one staring but she knew what she was doing and walked right in as if this was a scene she's walked into a hundred time before.  

Tesoro Contributor Contributor

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_c618229314718ed241bb9682eccb3a9c'); }); Afion said: ↑ You could make it more about her reactions to him than what he looks like: "He glanced over at me and I felt my cheeks grow red. I'm don't usually blush much." Obviously something a bit less cliche than that but you get my general idea Click to expand...

peachalulu Member Reviewer Contributor

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_c618229314718ed241bb9682eccb3a9c'); }); The trouble with beauty is it's kindof a stagnate gift. The others offered some great advice in having your character react to your heros beauty , and also in keeping the description brief. For me I think of sexy , hot guys as being not just a physical presence but one in motion. I remember this great line given to Marlon Brando in the Fugitive Kind - in which Anna Magnani asks him - Why do you walk that way? ( as in so sexy! )Good idea. Try adding body language. Watch your favorite hot guys in real life or on screen and write down everything!  

Mckk Member Supporter Contributor

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_c618229314718ed241bb9682eccb3a9c'); }); I'd describe him from her POV and drop in a line like, "He strolled in like he owned the room, and I despised him because he made me feel weak. He looked around him, and our eyes meet for a moment. I blushed, and was infuriated. His lips curled into a smile - I was sure he was mocking me - and then he broke away to take a seat by the window." Or maybe what I wrote sounds like a bad romance novel. Haha 8D Or simply draw attention to one detail that strikes your character as handsome. Put your character in dialogue with him - charm and wit are often the most attractive things on a man, and if you make him charming enough, your readers will fill in the physical details that fit such an attractive and interesting character  

minstrel Leader of the Insquirrelgency Supporter Contributor

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_c618229314718ed241bb9682eccb3a9c'); }); I've said this many times before: You do not have to describe your characters in detail. If there's a physical characteristic your hero has that makes a difference to the plot at some point (such as that he's very tall, or short, or fat, or very muscular), you can mention that. But don't halt your narrative to give us a description of how handsome his face is. Silhouette and some others who have already posted here are correct. You can say everything you need through the character's confidence and body language, and how the other characters react to him. Too much gushing description can make your story look like a bad romance, or even an erotic fantasy.  

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The Gigantic List of Character Descriptions (70+ examples)

The vast majority of character descriptions are simply lazy.

They recycle typical ideas about hair, eye color, and build, giving you more information about the character’s fitting for a dress or suit than the type of information you need to know them intimately.

The first thing you should do when describing a character is to pick a category that isn’t so overused. Such as trying to describe: 

Describing your character in an innovative way will help retain the reader’s interest. You want your reader to be asking questions about this character, to not only learn something about them but to create mystery. What made them like this? How long have they been this way? Is there someone currently after them or is this paranoia because of a past experience?  Questions like these are what keeps the reader reading. 

Not only physical descriptions are needed. Consider: “How is this person viewed by another character?” Do they seem dangerous, alluring, secretive, suspicious? The way another character views someone else gives insight about them as well. Are they attracted? Repulsed? Curious? 

Another thing to take notice of is the type of person they are, despite their appearance.

• How do they think?
• What do they feel?
• How do they view/react to certain situations compared to how others would?
• What is their mental state?

Here is a list of examples of brilliant character descriptions to give you an idea and help you come up with your own:

3 Categories: Modern Literary, Literature, Popular

Modern Literary

1. vladimir nabokov, lolita.

” … Her skin glistening in the neon light coming from the paved court through the slits in the blind, her soot-black lashes matted, her grave gray eyes more vacant than ever.”

2. Marilynne Robinson, Housekeeping

” … in the last years she continued to settle and began to shrink. Her mouth bowed forward and her brow sloped back, and her skull shone pink and speckled within a mere haze of hair, which hovered about her head like the remembered shape of an altered thing. She looked as if the nimbus of humanity were fading away and she were turning monkey. Tendrils grew from her eyebrows and coarse white hairs sprouted on her lip and chin. When she put on an old dress the bosom hung empty and the hem swept the floor. Old hats fell down over her eyes. Sometimes she put her hand over her mouth and laughed, her eyes closed and her shoulder shaking.” 

3. Jeffrey Eugenides, The Marriage Plot

“Phyllida’s hair was where her power resided. It was expensively set into a smooth dome, like a band shell for the presentation of that long-running act, her face.”

4. China Miéville, This 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.”

5. Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita

“And then the hot air congealed in front of him, and out of it materialized a transparent man of most bizarre appearance. A small head with a jockey cap, a skimpy little checked jacket that was made out of air … The man was seven feet tall, but very narrow in the shoulders, incredibly thin, and his face, please note, had a jeering look about it.”

6. Barbara Kingsolver, The Poisonwood Bible

“Mama BekwaTataba stood watching us—a little jet-black woman. Her elbows stuck out like wings, and a huge white enameled tub occupied the space above her head, somewhat miraculously holding steady while her head moved in quick jerks to the right and left.”

7. John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces

“A green hunting cap squeezed the top of the fleshy balloon of a head. The green earflaps, full of large ears and uncut hair and the fine bristles that grew in the ears themselves, stuck out on either side like turn signals indicating two directions at once. Full, pursed lips protruded beneath the bushy black moustache and, at their corners, sank into little folds filled with disapproval and potato chip crumbs. In the shadow under the green visor of the cap Ignatius J. Reilly’s supercilious blue and yellow eyes looked down upon the other people waiting under the clock at the D.H. Holmes department store, studying the crowd of people for signs of bad taste in dress. Several of the outfits, Ignatius noticed, were new enough and expensive enough to be properly considered offenses against taste and decency. Possession of anything new or expensive only reflected a person’s lack of theology and geometry; it could even cast doubts upon one’s soul.”

8. A.S. Byatt, Possession

“He was a compact, clearcut man, with precise features, a lot of very soft black hair, and thoughtful dark brown eyes. He had a look of wariness, which could change when he felt relaxed or happy, which was not often in these difficult days, into a smile of amused friendliness and pleasure which aroused feelings of warmth, and something more, in many women.”

9. Jonathan Safran Foer, Everything is Illuminated

“He did not look like anything special at all.”

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10. Henry Lawson, The Bush Girl

“ Grey eyes that grow sadder than sunset or rain, f ond heart that is ever more true F irm faith that grows firmer for watching in vain —  She’ll wait by the sliprails for you.”

11. Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man

“I am an invisible man. 
No I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allen Poe: 
Nor am I one of your Hollywood movie ectoplasms.
 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.”

12. F. Scott Fitzgerald, 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. It faced–or seemed to face–the whole eternal world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor.”

13. Thomas Wolfe, Look Homeward, Angel

“My brother Ben’s face, thought Eugene, is like a piece of slightly yellow ivory; his high white head is knotted fiercely by his old man’s scowl; his mouth is like a knife, his smile the flicker of light across a blade. His face is like a blade, and a knife, and a flicker of light: it is delicate and fierce, and scowls beautifully forever, and when he fastens his hard white fingers and his scowling eyes upon a thing he wants to fix, he sniffs with sharp and private concentration through his long, pointed nose…his hair shines like that of a young boy—it is crinkled and crisp as lettuce.”

14. Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Books

“A black shadow dropped down into the circle. It was Bagheera the Black Panther, inky black all over, but with the panther markings showing up in certain lights like the pattern of watered silk. Everybody knew Bagheera, and nobody cared to cross his path, for he was as cunning as Tabaqui, as bold as the wild buffalo, and as reckless as the wounded elephant. But he had a voice as soft as wild honey dripping from a tree, and a skin softer than down.”

15. Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

“[Miss Havisham] had shut out infinitely more; that, in seclusion, she had secluded herself from a thousand natural and healing influences; that, her mind, brooding solitary, had grown diseased, as all minds do and must and will that reverse the appointed order of their Maker…”

16. John Knowles, A Separate Peace

“For such and extraordinary athlete—even as a Lower Middler Phineas had been the best athlete in the school—he was not spectacularly built. He was my height—five feet eight and a half inches…He weighed a hundred and fifty pounds, a galling ten pounds more than I did, which flowed from his legs to torso around shoulders to arms and full strong neck in an uninterrupted, unemphatic unity of strength.”

17. Ambrose Bierce, Chickamauga

“-the dead body of a woman—the white face turned upward, the hands thrown out and clutched full of grass, the clothing deranged, the long dark hair in tangles and full of clotted blood. The greater part of the forehead was torn away, and from the jagged hole the brain protruded, overflowing the temple, a frothy mass of gray, crowned with clusters of crimson bubbles—the work of a shell.”

18. Jane Austen, 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.”

19. Mark Twain, 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. It was all black, no gray; so was his long, mixed-up whiskers. There warn’t no color in his face, where his face showed; it was white; not like another man’s white, but a white to make a body sick, a white to make a body’s flesh crawl – a tree-toad white, a fish-belly white. As for his clothes – just rags, that was all. He had one ankle resting on t’other knee; the boot on that foot was busted, and two of his toes stuck through, and he worked them now and then. His hat was laying on the floor – an old black slouch with the top caved in, like a lid.”  

20. William Golding, 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.”

21. Jane Austen, Persuasion

“Vanity was the beginning and end of Sir Walter Elliot’s character: vanity of person and of situation. He had been remarkably handsome in his youth, and at fifty-four was still a very fine man. . . .”

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22. Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book

“When the old king saw this he foamed with rage, stared wildly about, flung himself on the ground and died.”

23. Joseph Conrad, 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… Otherwise there was only an indefinable, faint expression of his lips, something stealthy — a smile — not a smile — I remember it, but I can’t explain.” 

24. Anne Bronte, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

“His heart was like a sensitive plant, that opens for a moment in the sunshine, but curls up and shrinks into itself at the slightest touch of the finger, or the lightest breath of wind.”

25. Max Beerbohm, Zuleika Dobson

“He followed with his eyes her long slender figure as she threaded her way in and out of the crowd, sinuously, confidingly, producing a penny from one lad’s elbow, a threepenny-bit from between another’s neck and collar, half a crown from another’s hair, and always repeating in that flute-like voice of hers: “Well, this is rather queer!””

26. Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

“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.”  

27. Maya Angelou, 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. She wore gloves too.  I don’t think I ever saw Mrs. Flowers laugh, but she smiled often. A slow widening of her thin black lips to show even, small white teeth, then the slow effortless closing. When she chose to smile on me, I always wanted to thank her.”

28. D.H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterley’s Lover

“But her will had left her. A strange weight was on her limbs. She was giving way. She was giving up…”

29. 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.”   

30. Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Zanoni Book One: The Musician

“She is the spoiled sultana of the boards. To spoil her acting may be easy enough,—shall they spoil her nature? No, I think not. There, at home, she is still good and simple; and there, under the awning by the doorway,—there she still sits, divinely musing. How often, crook-trunked tree, she looks to thy green boughs; how often, like thee, in her dreams, and fancies, does she struggle for the light,—not the light of the stage-lamps.”

31. Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary

“Living among those white-faced women with their rosaries and copper crosses…” 

32. 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.” 

33. Rudyard Kipling, Many Inventions

“He wrapped himself in quotations – as a beggar would enfold himself in the purple of Emperors.”

34. Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

“He was sunshine most always-I mean he made it seem like good weather.” 

35. Hugh Lofting, 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.”

36. Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

“I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be.”

37. Edwin A. Abbott, Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions

“He is himself his own World, his own Universe; of any other than himself he can form no conception; he knows not Length, nor Breadth, nor Height, for he has had no experience of them; he has no cognizance even of the number Two; nor has he a thought of Plurality, for he is himself his One and All, being really Nothing.”

38. Jamie McGuire, Beautiful Oblivion

“Her long platinum blond hair fell in loose waves past her shoulders, with a few black peekaboo strands. She wore a black minidress and combat boots.”

39. N.K. Jemisin, 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.” 

40. M.L. LeGette, The Orphan and the Thief

“A creature–a frightfully, awful creature–was mere feet from her. Its eyes were enormous, the size of goose eggs and milky white. Its gray, slippery skin was stretched taut upon its face. Its mouth was wide and full of needle teeth. Its hands rested on the rock, hands that were webbed and huge with each finger ending in a sharp, curved nail. It was as tall as a human man, yet oddly shrunken and hunched.”  

 41. Amber Dawn, Sub Rosa

“When he did appear his eyes were as brown as I remembered, pupils flecked with gold like beach pebbles.” 

 42. Julia Stuart, The Tower, The Zoo, and The Tortoise

“His hair had been grown to counteract its unequivocal retreat from the top of his head, and was fashioned into a mean, frail ponytail that hung limply down his back. Blooms of acne highlighted his vampire-white skin.” 

43. James Lee Burke, 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.” 

44. Stephenie Meyer, 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.” 

45. Brian Malloy, Twelve Long Months 

“Whith her hair dyed bright red, she looks like Ronald McDonald’s post-menopausal sister. Who has let herself go.”     (This is one of my favorites, because I find it ridiculously funny)

46. Joan Johnston, No Longer A Stranger

“Actually, Reb had the same flawless complexion as her sister– except for the freckles. Her straight, boyishly cut hair fell onto her brow haphazardly and hid beautiful arched brows that framed her large, expressive eyes. She had a delicate, aquiline nose, but a stubborn mouth and chin.” 

47. Brian Morton, Breakable You

“Without her glasses Vivian did look a little frightening. She had tight sinewy strappy muscles and a face that was hardened and almost brutal – a face that might have been chiseled by a sculptor who had fallen out of love with the idea of beauty.”

48. Anne Rice, 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.” 

49. Becca Fitzpatrick, Black Ice

“His brown hair was cropped, and it showed off the striking s ymmetry of his face. With the sun at his back, shadows marked the depressions beneath his cheekbones. I couldn’t tell the color of his eyes, but I hoped they were brown…The guy had straight, sculptured shoulders that made me think swimmer …” 

50. E.C. Sheedy, 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.”  (The author gives a lot of details about the characters emotions, but there is not one specific detail about neither of their appearances. Use this as an example of how physical appearances aren’t always the most important thing.)

51. James Lee Burke, The Neon Rain

“His wiry gray and black hair was dripping with sweat, and his face was the color and texture of old paper. He looked up at me from where he was seated on his bunk, and his eyes were hot and bright and moisture was beaded across his upper lip. He held a Camel cigarette between his yellowed fingers, and the floor around his feet was covered with cigarette butts.”  

52. 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.”

53. Becca Fitzpatrick, Hush, Hush

“He was abominable…and the most alluring, tortured soul I’d ever met.”   (This isn’t describing him physically, but it is giving insight to how the main character views him)

54. J. K. Rowling, 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.” 

55. Anne Rice, Violin

“I deliberately thought of him, my violinist, point by point, that with his long narrow nose and such deep-set eyes he might have been less seductive to someone else–perhaps. But then perhaps to no one. 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.”

56. Kevin Brooks, Lucas

“As I’ve already said, the memory of Lucas’s walk brings a smile to my face. It’s an incredibly vivid memory, and if I close my eyes I can see it now. 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. Bouncy, alert, resolute, without any concern and without vanity. A walk that both belonged to and was remote from everything around it.” 

57. Anne Rice, Violin

“And she looked the way he had always hated her–dreamy and sloppy, and sweet, with glasses falling down, smoking a cigarette, with ashes on her coat, but full of love, her body heavy and shapeless with age.” 

58. Kevin Brooks, Lucas

“As we drew closer, the figure became clearer, It was a young man, or a boy, dressed loosely in a drab green T-shirt and baggy green trousers. He had a green army jacket tied around his waist and a green canvas bag slung over his shoulder. The only non-green thing about him was the pair of scruffy black walking boots on his feet. Although he was on the small side, he wasn’t as slight as I first thought. He wasn’t exactly muscular, but he wasn’t weedy-looking either…there was an air of hidden strength about him, a graceful strength that showed in his balance, the way he held himself, the way he walked….” 

59. Iris Johansen, 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.” 

60. Dennis Lehane, A Drink Before the War

“Brian Paulson was rake thin, with smooth hair the color of tin and a wet fleshy handshake…. His greeting was a nod and a blink, befitting someone who’d stepped out of the shadows only momentarily.” 

61. Gena Showalter, 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. They should have, though. He practically glowed with irreverence, and there was an unholy gleam in his green eyes that proclaimed he would laugh in your face while cutting out your heat. Or laugh in your face while you cut out his heart.”

62. Sam Byers, Idiopathy 

“Now here he was: sartorially, facially and interpersonally sharpened; every inch the beatific boffin.”

63. Maggie Stiefvater, 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.” 

64. J.R.R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings: 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.” 

65. Fredrik Backman, A Man Called Ove

“People said Ove saw the world in black and white. But she was color. All the color he had.”  

66. Frank Herbert, Dune

“…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.” 

67. Orson Scott Card, 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.”

68. Caitlin Moran, 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.”

69. Graham Joyce, Some Kind of Fairy Tale

“Peter was a gentle, red-haired bear of a man. Standing at six-four in his socks, he moved everywhere with a slight and nautical sway, but even though he was broad across the chest there was something centered and reassuring about him, like an old ship’s mast cut from a single timber.”

70. Brad Parks, The Girl Next Door

“…in addition to being fun, smart, and quick-witted—in a feisty way that always kept me honest—she’s quite easy to look at, with never-ending legs, toned arms, curly brown hair, and eyes that tease and smile and glint all at the same time.” 

71. Dennis Lehane, A Drink Before the War

“Sterling Mulkern was a florid, beefy man, the kind who carried weight like a weapon, not a liability. 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.”

72. Philip Pullman, 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. All his movements were large and perfectly balanced, like those of a wild animal, and when he appeared in a room like this, he seemed a wild animal held in a cage too small for it.”

73. Sherman Alexie, 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. She wouldn’t have needed to hunt. Every time we went walking, birds would follow us around. Hell, tumbleweeds would follow us around.”

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29 comments

woowwwwwwwwie

Love the compilation. Thank you for doing this

This is a great compilation! My students are working on writing characters right now, so I’m having them look through your list to see examples of a job well done 🙂 Thanks!

Thanks I’m using these for students to make character drawings from

This is really helpful ! Love it !

Do you have a way, where you could put the characters physical traits in this website?

Thank you for the awesome list. You should add this one; it’s from Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: “Mr. Utterson, the lawyer, was a man of rugged countenance, that was never lightened by a smile; cold, scanty and embarrassed in discourse; backward in sentiment; lean, long, dusty, dreary, and yet somehow lovable.” There’s more after, but I thought this was a good description.

And this one: “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 all of them together could not describe the hitherto unknown disgust, loathing, and fear with which Mr. Utterson regarded him.”

The quote that stood out to me the most was the quote from ‘The Census Taker’. That quote captured the characters feelings so well. The author was able to compare in self worth by saying it was as dirt, so much so that the dirt was written in his skin. I have never seen self worth and failure described as part of a person’s face.

Thank you. I echo Chris’s comment Wowwwwww and add a few!!!!

Wonderful! Reading these enabled me to rewrite the descriptions for my two leading characters.

Thank you for this, very helpful! I don’t know if this is really related, but I’m writing a story including a mean girl who bullies the main character (also a girl). I’m struggling to write what the mean girl uses to bully the main character – what I end up coming up with is way too mean or unreal, etc.

Blinded by tears, she could hear the haze of pink shout, “See, poor baby cries. Great actress, dear. Why do you waste your talent on us, here?”

great great any book for description of physical appearance in narrative

Great list. And I have one to add. It’s from Michael Moorcock, riding the new wave of British sci-fi back in the 1960s. He’s been a favorite of mine for decades. The passage is from “Elric of Melniboné:”

“It is the colour of a bleached skull, his flesh; and the long hair which flows below his shoulders is milk-white. From the tapering, beautiful head stare two slanting eyes, crimson and moody, and from the loose sleeves of his yellow gown emerge two slender hands, also the colour of bone, resting on each arm of a seat which has been carved from a single, massive ruby.”

Thanks for this – very useful compilation for teaching – makes life so much easier! And helps in my writing, to look at expressions and word arrangements… I notice how some writers seem so good in visual description, and some others seem to be much better at character expressions..

wowzers!!! this is so cool!

I planned to just read a few, but I couldn’t stop reading. These are awesome! Thank you.

“Character Description” on The John Fox’s blog is a treasure trove of valuable tips and techniques for crafting compelling characters. The blog explores the art of painting vivid and multi-dimensional personas, adding depth to storytelling. Aspiring writers will find this guide indispensable for creating memorable characters that resonate with readers.

holy MOLY, thank you!

I liked them

wow thanks you have really helped me but can you put something to describe a character that is a tyrant please? that would really help

Absolutely remarkable. So very helpful in every since of the word.

OH HELLL YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

A killer set of fine examples! Thanks for compiling it!

Please, add sentences that can apply to more characters.

Love it but should be more single sentences

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It’s a guide to writing the pivotal moments of your novel.

Whether writing your book or revising it, this will be the most helpful book you’ll ever buy.

Learn how to:

• Nail chapter endings
• Surprise your reader with plot twists
• Describe a character for the first time
• Write a killer ending

Is Your Handsome Guy Hard To Describe? 250+ Words To Capture His Essence

You’re looking for the perfect word to describe that handsome, sometimes indescribable man in your life. 

He’s pretty unique, after all, and you want to capture his essence with just the right adjectives.

Well, it’s your lucky day – we've compiled an extensive list of words that speak to the qualities of an attractive man. 

Whether you're writing a love message to your husband or boyfriend, want to send him a sweet text, or just want words to speak about him, this extensive collection of words will help you express the allure of a handsome man in all its facets. 

So, let's dive in and explore the world of enchanting descriptions!

Words to Describe a Handsome Man That Start with the letter “A”:

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As you read through this list of words describing an attractive man, mark any that fit the bill with the guy you care about. 

You might try finding words with a first letter that spell out your guy’s name. 

For example, if his name is Jason, he might be J oyful, A mbitious, S upportive, O utgoing, and N oble.

Have fun with it, and make a game of describing your guy in a way that makes him feel special and adored.

Ambitious : having a strong desire for success, power, or achievement.

Alluring : powerfully and mysteriously attractive or fascinating.

Articulate : able to express oneself clearly and effectively in spoken or written language.

Athletic : physically fit, strong, and active, with an aptitude for sports.

Amicable : displaying a friendly and pleasant manner.

Assertive : confidently self-assured and able to stand up for oneself and one's beliefs.

Adventurous : eager to explore and try new things, unafraid of the unknown.

Astute : having or showing an ability to accurately assess situations or people; shrewd.

Amiable : having a friendly and sociable disposition.

Adaptable : able to adjust to new conditions or situations with ease.

Bold: showing courage and a willingness to take risks.

Brilliant : exceptionally intelligent, talented, or skillful.

Brave : able to face and endure danger or pain; showing courage.

Benevolent : well-meaning and kind, with a genuine concern for others.

Balanced : having a healthy mix of various traits, emotions, and abilities.

Brainy : highly intelligent and knowledgeable.

Breathtaking : astonishing and awe-inspiring.

Buoyant : optimistic and cheerful, having a positive outlook on life.

Brawny : physically strong and muscular, with a powerful build.

Byronic : dark, romantic, and brooding qualities of the literary archetype, Lord Byron's heroes.

Charismatic : having a charm that inspires devotion or admiration in others.

Confident : believing in oneself and one's abilities; self-assured.

Creative : having the ability to produce original and imaginative ideas or work.

Compassionate : showing sympathy and concern for others, especially those who are suffering.

Chivalrous : courteous, respectful, and honorable, especially towards women.

Captivating : irresistibly attractive or engaging, holding the attention of others.

Caring : showing kindness and concern for the well-being of others.

Courageous : able to confront fear, danger, or pain; showing bravery.

Committed : dedicated and loyal, showing a strong sense of responsibility and devotion.

Cultured : refined and sophisticated, possessing a wide range of knowledge for the arts, literature, and other intellectual pursuits.

Dazzling : extremely impressive, beautiful, or skillful.

Devoted: giving one's time, effort, or affection generously to a person or cause.

Discerning: having or showing good judgment, especially in matters of taste.

Dynamic: full of energy, enthusiasm, and the ability to make things happen.

Dignified: having or showing a composed or serious manner that is worthy of respect.

Dashing: stylish and attractive in appearance and demeanor, with a sense of flair and confidence.

Diligent : hardworking and meticulous, displaying great care and attention to detail.

Dependable: reliable and trustworthy, consistently meeting expectations and fulfilling responsibilities.

Delightful: highly pleasing and enjoyable, creating an environment of happiness

Disarming : having the ability to remove suspicion or hostility through charm or friendliness.

Elegant : graceful, stylish, and refined in appearance, manner, or style.

Empathetic : understanding and sharing the feelings of others.

Enthusiastic : showing intense and eager enjoyment, interest, or approval.

Endearing : inspiring affection and warmth, making others feel fondness or attachment.

Exemplary : worthy of imitation; representing the best of its kind.

Encouraging : supportive and uplifting, providing motivation and inspiration to others.

Erudite : knowledgeable and learned with a deep understanding of a wide range of subjects.

Energetic : full of vitality and enthusiasm, showing a strong drive and liveliness.

Engaging : interesting and enjoyable, able to hold the attention and interest of others.

Enterprising : resourceful and ambitious, showing initiative and a willingness to take on challenges.

Fascinating : extremely interesting and captivating, holding the attention of others.

Fearless : brave and courageous, unafraid to face challenges or take risks.

Fierce : showing intensity and passion, whether in competition, determination, or personal beliefs.

Fit : in good physical shape, exhibiting strength, agility, and overall wellness.

Flexible : adaptable and open to change, able to adjust to new situations or ideas with ease.

Focused : having the ability to concentrate and maintain attention on a task or goal.

Forgiving : willing to let go of past mistakes, holding no grudges or resentment .

Fortunate : blessed with good luck or favorable circumstances

Friendly : approachable and easy to get along with, having warmth and kindness.

Fulfilled : satisfied and content with life, enjoying a sense of accomplishment.

Gallant : brave, chivalrous, and honorable, especially towards women.

Genuine : authentic and sincere with true character and emotions.

Gifted : having exceptional talent, intelligence, or skill.

Gracious : courteous, kind, and pleasant, especially towards others.

Gregarious : sociable and outgoing, enjoying the company of others.

Grounded : sensible, practical, and emotionally stable.

Gutsy : courageous, daring, and willing to take risks.

Generous : willing to give or share, especially in terms of time, money, or other resources.

Gentle : mild-mannered, calm, and kind, demonstrating a considerate and caring nature.

Goal-oriented : focused on achieving specific objectives with strong determination and ambition.

Hardworking : diligent and committed to putting forth effort and dedication.

Happy : experiencing or expressing a state of contentment and satisfaction.

Harmonious : having a pleasing and consistent combination of personality or demeanor.

Healthy : in good physical and mental condition. Serious about good nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle choices.

Helpful : willing and able to provide assistance or support to others.

Heroic : showing great courage and bravery in the face of adversity.

Humble : modest and unpretentious, not overly

Humorous : having a good sense of humor, able to make others laugh and see the lighter side of life.

Honest : truthful, sincere, and free from deceit, showing integrity in actions and words.

Imaginative : creative and inventive, able to think of new and original ideas.

Independent : self-reliant and able to make decisions or take care of oneself without the help of others.

Insightful : possessing a deep understanding of people and situations, with a keen sense of perception.

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Inspiring : motivating and encouraging others to achieve their best or pursue their dreams.

Intelligent : displays a high level of mental ability, understanding, and reasoning.

Intense : showing strong emotions, commitment, and focus.

Intriguing : arousing curiosity and interest due to an air of mystery or complexity.

Intuitive : able to understand or sense things.

Irresistible : extremely attractive or alluring, impossible to resist or ignore.

Innovative : introducing or using new ideas, methods, or groundbreaking techniques.

Joyful : expressing or experiencing great happiness and delight.

Judicious : having or showing good judgment, especially in making decisions.

Just : guided by fairness, reason, and impartiality.

Jovial : characterized by good humor and cheerfulness.

Jaunty : having a lively, self-confident, and carefree manner with a sense of flair.

Jocular : inclined to joke or engage in light-hearted humor.

Judicious : wise and sensible, showing good judgment and discernment.

Juvenescent : youthful in appearance or manner with a quality of freshness and vitality.

Junoesque : possessing an appearance of a stately or regal quality.

Journeyman : skilled and experienced in a particular trade or craft.

Keen : having a sharp intellect and quick understanding.

Kind : caring, considerate, and gentle, showing concern for the feelings and well-being of others.

Knowledgeable : possessing a wide range of information and understanding in various subjects.

Kempt : well-groomed, neat, and tidy in appearance.

Kindhearted : having a sympathetic and benevolent nature and concern for others.

Knightly : showing chivalry, honor, and courtesy.

Kudos-worthy : deserving praise, recognition, or admiration for achievements or qualities.

Kinesthetic : possessing a strong bodily awareness and coordination, excelling in physical activities.

Kooky : unconventional, quirky, and eccentric in an endearing manner.

Kindred : sharing similar characteristics, interests, or qualities.

Loyal : faithful and committed, showing dedication and allegiance to a person or cause.

Level-headed : calm, rational, and sensible, especially in difficult or stressful situations.

Lively : full of energy and enthusiasm, displaying a vibrant and spirited demeanor.

Logical : capable of thinking clearly and making well-reasoned decisions or solving problems.

Laid-back : relaxed, easygoing, and not easily bothered by stress or pressure.

Laudable : deserving of praise or admiration for achievements.

Learned : highly knowledgeable, educated, or well-informed, especially in a particular field or subject.

Likable : possessing qualities that make others feel positively inclined or drawn to them.

Light-hearted : cheerful, good-natured, and easygoing attitude.

Listener : attentive and responsive to the thoughts, feelings, and ideas of others.

Magnetic : possessing a strong and irresistible appeal or charm that attracts others.

Mature : demonstrating emotional and mental growth, characterized by wisdom, responsibility, and self-awareness.

Motivated : driven by a strong desire to achieve or accomplish a goal.

Modest : humble and unassuming, not overly boastful.

Mindful: aware of and attentive to the present moment.

Meticulous : extremely careful and precise, showing great attention to detail.

Masculine: possessing qualities traditionally associated with men, such as strength, courage, and assertiveness .

Multifaceted : possessing many skills or talents.

Mystical: having a spiritual or mysterious quality.

Melodious: possessing a pleasant and harmonious voice or sound.

Noble : displaying high moral principles and integrity.

Nurturing : caring and supportive, often providing guidance, encouragement, and protection.

Noteworthy : deserving attention or recognition.

Nonchalant : cool and unconcerned having a casual and relaxed attitude.

Natural : unpretentious, authentic, and true to oneself.

Navigable : able to find one's way through difficult situations or challenges.

Neat : tidy and well-organized in terms of appearance or personal habits.

Nurtured : well-cared for with strong self-worth and emotional well-being.

Natty : a stylish and fashionable sense of good taste and sophistication.

Nonjudgmental : open-minded and accepting, not prone to making harsh or critical judgments of others.

Optimistic : hopeful and confident about the future, maintaining a positive outlook on life.

Open-minded : receptive to new ideas and experiences, willing to consider different perspectives and opinions.

Outgoing : friendly, sociable, and eager to engage with others .

Observant : attentive and perceptive, able to notice and understand subtle details in people and situations.

Original : unique and creative, not bound by convention or imitation.

Organized : orderly and methodical, able to manage tasks and priorities efficiently and effectively.

Obedient : respectful of authority and willing to follow rules or instructions.

Objective : impartial and unbiased, able to make decisions or judgments based on facts and evidence rather than personal feelings or opinions.

Opportunistic : resourceful and adaptable, able to take advantage of situations or circumstances to achieve desired outcomes.

Open-hearted : genuine, warm, and sincere, with a willingness to share emotions and connect with others on a deeper level.

Passionate : showing intense emotions and a strong commitment to a cause or interest.

Patient : able to endure waiting, delays, or difficulties without becoming annoyed or anxious.

Perceptive : possessing a keen understanding of people and situations, often able to grasp subtle details and nuances.

Persistent : determined to continue in spite of difficulties with tenacity and resolve.

Polite : respectful in behavior and speech, displaying good manners and consideration for others.

Positive : characterized by a constructive or optimistic attitude.

Pragmatic : practical, realistic, and focused on finding solutions rather than dwelling on problems or obstacles.

Punctual : consistently on time and dependable with respect for the schedules of others.

Playful : lighthearted, fun-loving , and able to enjoy humor or amusement in various situations.

Protective : willing to defend or care for others.

Quick-witted : possessing a sharp intellect and the ability to think or respond rapidly.

Quixotic : idealistic and romantic in pursuit of lofty goals or ideals.

Quality-driven : committed to achieving high standards in work or personal life.

Quantitative : skilled in working with numbers, data, and analysis.

Quaint : charmingly old-fashioned or unusual.

Quiescent : calm, peaceful, and untroubled.

Quiet : reserved and not overly talkative, preferring to listen and observe rather than dominate conversations.

Questioning : inquisitive and curious, always seeking to learn and understand more about the world and people around them.

Quenchless : insatiable with an endless desire for knowledge, adventure, or personal growth.

Quintessential : representing the most perfect example of a quality, embodying the best attributes.

Respectful : showing consideration and regard for the feelings, opinions, and rights of others, treating people with kindness and dignity.

Responsible : trustworthy and reliable, able to be counted on to fulfill obligations and commitments.

Resilient : able to recover quickly from setbacks or challenges.

Resourceful : creative and inventive, able to find solutions to problems or challenges using the available means.

Romantic : displaying a love for or appreciation of romance.

Reflective : thoughtful and introspective, taking time to ponder experiences to gain a deeper understanding.

Relaxed : calm and easygoing, not easily bothered by stress or pressure.

Receptive : open and willing to listen to or accept new ideas, opinions, or suggestions.

Refined : cultured, sophisticated having good taste and manners.

Radiant : emitting happiness, confidence, or warm positive energy.

Sincere : genuine and honest, showing true feelings or intentions without pretense or deceit.

Supportive : providing encouragement, assistance, or understanding.

Sensible : having good judgment, reason, and practicality.

Spontaneous : willing to act on the spur of the moment.

Sophisticated : cultured, well-educated with refined tastes and manners.

Strong : physically and emotionally resilient, able to endure challenges or difficulties without faltering.

Self-assured : confident in one's abilities or qualities.

Steadfast : unwavering in purpose, loyalty, or commitment.

Sympathetic : compassionate and understanding, able to empathize with the feelings or experiences of others.

Seductive : alluring and enticing, and appeal that attracts others.

Trustworthy : reliable and honest, able to be counted on to keep promises or maintain confidentiality.

Thoughtful : considerate and attentive to the needs or feelings of others.

Talented : having natural aptitude or skill in a particular area.

Tenacious : determined and persistent, unwilling to give up easily in the face of challenges or obstacles.

Tactful : skilled in handling delicate or sensitive situations with diplomacy and discretion.

Tender : Warm and affectionate, displaying a caring side in relationships or interactions.

Tolerant : open-minded and accepting of differences, willing to respect and embrace diverse perspectives or beliefs.

Tranquil : calm, peaceful, and serene.

Thorough : careful and meticulous, paying close attention to detail and ensuring tasks are completed accurately.

Teasing : playfully provocative or flirtatious.

Understanding : empathetic and compassionate, able to listen and appreciate the feelings, thoughts, or experiences of others.

Unassuming : modest and humble, not seeking attention or praise.

Unselfish : generous and willing to put the needs or desires of others before their own.

Uplifting : inspiring and encouraging, able to raise the spirits or morale of those around them.

Unflappable : calm and composed under pressure, not easily upset or agitated.

Unique : distinctive and one-of-a-kind, having qualities that set them apart from others, often embracing their individuality.

Uninhibited : free-spirited and not held back by social conventions. Often willing to take risks or explore new experiences.

Unforgettable : leaving a lasting impression with a presence that is difficult to forget.

Urbane : sophisticated, polished, and refined in manner.

Undaunted : courageous and fearless, not easily discouraged or intimidated.

Versatile : adaptable and flexible, able to excel in a variety of tasks or situations.

Visionary : creative and forward-thinking, able to imagine and plan for future possibilities or innovations.

Vibrant : full of energy, enthusiasm, and vitality.

Valiant : courageous and brave, willing to face challenges or adversity with determination and strength.

Vigilant : alert and watchful, always on guard to protect or defend those around them.

Virtuous : possessing strong moral principles and commitment to honesty, fairness, and justice.

Vivacious : animated and spirited, possessing an infectious energy that draws others to them.

Venerable : respected and admired for wisdom, experience, or achievement.

Venturesome : bold and adventurous, willing to take risks or embark on new experiences.

Wise : possessing knowledge, experience, and good judgment.

Witty : clever and humorous, able to use language in a quick and inventive manner.

Warm : friendly and welcoming, having genuine kindness with others.

Well-groomed : taking care of personal appearance, dressing neatly, and maintaining cleanliness.

Worldly : experienced and knowledgeable about different cultures, customs, and perspectives.

Wistful : characterized by a thoughtful or reflective longing.

Wise-cracking : engaging in humorous or sarcastic remarks.

Wholesome : showing qualities that are considered morally good or beneficial.

Well-rounded : possessing a wide range of skills, interests, and experiences.

Willing : ready and eager to take on tasks or challenges.

Warmhearted : kind, caring, and affectionate, having a genuine concern for the well-being of others.

Xenodochial : friendly and hospitable, particularly towards strangers or foreigners.

Xerophilous : able to thrive in challenging environments, having resilience and adaptability.

X-factor : possessing an undefinable quality or charisma that sets them apart from others.

Xenial : Hospitalitable and willing to go out of their way to make others feel comfortable and at ease.

Xiphoid : sharp, incisive, or penetrating in thought or intellect.

Youthful : possessing a youthful appearance and vitality.

Yearning : characterized by a strong desire or longing for something.

Yielding : flexible and willing to compromise. Able to find solutions that satisfy the needs or desires of all parties involved.

Yare : agile, quick, and responsive with ease and grace.

Yugen : possessing a deep awareness and appreciation for the beauty and mystery of the world.

Zealous : passionately committed to a cause or goal.

Zen : calm, composed, and balanced, possessing a sense of inner peace and tranquility.

Zestful : full of energy, enthusiasm, and vitality, approaching life with excitement and enjoyment.

Zany : unconventional, eccentric, or amusingly strange.

Zeitgeist : in tune with the spirit of the times, showing awareness and understanding of current cultural or social trends.

We hope this list has inspired you and expanded your vocabulary. Now you're equipped with a range of adjectives to express the captivating charm of your favorite man. 

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Writing Tips Oasis - A website dedicated to helping writers to write and publish books.

How to Describe a Mysterious Man in a Story

By A.W. Naves

Are you writing a man of mystery in your novel? Would  some tips to help write  this character be helpful? Read on to learn how to describe a mysterious man in a story.

1. Enigmatic

A person who is mysterious and  difficult to understand  or decipher.

“The  enigmatic  stranger kept his past hidden, leaving everyone curious about his true identity.”

“His eyes held an  enigmatic  gaze, leaving me to wonder what secrets he held.”

How it Adds Description

The word “enigmatic” adds intrigue to the personality of a mysterious man character. It suggests an air of mystery and a sense of puzzlement surrounding his motives and true nature. By using “enigmatic,” you evoke curiosity in readers and make them eager to unravel the secrets behind this captivating man who may drive a great plot twist or revelation that furthers the storyline.

Someone  hard to find , catch, or understand.

“Despite the detective’s best efforts, the  elusive  fraudster always managed to slip away unnoticed.”

“The villagers were captivated by the  elusive  stranger, making it their mission to uncover his true intentions.”

Employ “elusive” to describe the character of a mysterious man if you want to add a sense of evasiveness and difficulty for other characters to understand him fully. It implies that he is constantly slipping away, both physically and emotionally, making it challenging for others to grasp his true essence or determine what part he will play in the narrative.

Characterized by secrecy , concealment, or vagueness.

“The  shadowy  figure lurked in the dark alley, arousing suspicion among the townsfolk.”

“Rumors circulated about the  shadowy  businessman who had ties to a clandestine organization.”

You can use the word “shadowy” to characterize your mysterious man by enhancing his air of secrecy and hidden motives. It conjures an image of someone lurking in the shadows, operating in the periphery of others’ awareness. “Shadowy” suggests a veil of darkness and intrigue, hinting at a hidden past and clandestine activities that may propel your plot forward.

Having a  hidden or ambiguous  identity.

“The  cryptic  message left behind by the well-known adventurer hinted at a hidden treasure.”

“The investigator was frustrated by the suspect’s  cryptic  answers during the interrogation.”

Capture the essence of a mysterious man in your story by using the word “cryptic” to describe him. It implies that he communicates in a secretive and puzzling manner, leaving others to decipher hidden meanings and messages. By employing “cryptic,” you evoke a sense of intrigue and give your character more depth.

5. Stealthy

Characterized by being  secretive , furtive, or cautious in action or movement.

“The  stealthy  vigilante moved silently through the night, leaving no trace of his presence.”

“The would-be predator’s  stealthy  gaze observed every detail without anyone noticing his.”

The term “stealthy” adds an element of covert and silent movement to the personality of a mysterious man. It suggests that he navigates through the world with the utmost care, avoiding detection and operating in the shadows. “Stealthy” evokes a sense of intrigue and danger, heightening readers’ curiosity about his motives and actions.

6. Inscrutable

Difficult or  impossible to understand  or interpret.

“His  inscrutable  expression revealed nothing, leaving his employees to wonder what he was thinking.”

“The  inscrutable  old man’s motives remained a mystery, even to those closest to him.”

“Inscrutable” precisely captures the essence of your mysterious man’s character, emphasizing his enigmatic nature and unfathomable depths. It suggests that he is impenetrable and difficult to understand, keeping his true thoughts and emotions concealed. “Inscrutable” is an excellent choice if you want to heighten readers’ fascination with your character’s complexities.

Concealed , disguised, or hidden; not openly or directly expressed.

“The  veiled  man spoke in riddles, leaving his listeners to unravel the hidden meaning behind his words.”

“His  veiled  intentions kept the neighbors uncertain about his true purpose.”

The word “veiled” perfectly fits your mysterious man, adding a touch of secrecy and hidden motives to this character’s vibe. It’s like he’s intentionally keeping things under wraps, not showing his true colors. “Veiled” fosters a sense of curiosity, making readers eager to uncover what’s going on behind the scenes.

Not familiar  or widely known; not recognized or identified.

“An  unknown  man entered the scene, his arrival sparking curiosity and speculation among the onlookers.”

“The family man’s  unknown  past held secrets that could unravel the fabric of his carefully constructed life.”

Using “unknown” to describe a mysterious man in your narrative implies that there is a lot about him that remains undiscovered and hidden. He is like a puzzle waiting to be solved. By using “unknown,” you spark curiosity in readers, making them curious about the secrets he holds and eager to unravel the mysteries he presents.

9. Reclusive

Seeking or  preferring isolation  or solitude; avoiding the company of other people.

“The  reclusive  immigrant rarely left his secluded cabin, fueling speculation about his past and motivations.”

“The hermit’s  reclusive  lifestyle made him a subject of curiosity and rumors among the townsfolk.”

Pique the interest of your readers by using “reclusive” to describe a mysterious man in your tale. It adds a sense of seclusion and privacy to his persona and suggests that he prefers to keep a low profile, distancing himself from social interactions. Using this word will automatically create interest in your mysterious man’s backstory and the potential part he will play in the storyline.

10. Shrouded

Covered or  concealed  in a secretive manner.

“The  shrouded  man’s face was hidden beneath a dark hood, leaving his identity a mystery.”

“The former soldier’s past was  shrouded  in secrecy, with only fragments of information available to those who sought the truth.”

The word “shrouded” describes the character of your mysterious man by enveloping him in an atmosphere of mystery and concealment. It implies that there is an intentional veil of secrecy surrounding him, obscuring his true motives. You can use this self-imposed mask of deception to hide his intentions until it is time to reveal his unseen role in your story.