Describing a character is one of the hardest things for me to do in writing. Oh, it’s not that I don’t know what they look like. It’s not that I can’t come up with details, either. Nor is it that I can’t find the words to describe the character. I’m sure hell will freeze over before I have a loss for written words. The thing that troubles me when it comes to describing a character is the timing – sheer timing.

It’s one thing to describe a character in a setting like role-playing. When doing text-based role-playing, it is essential that everyone knows what they are looking at right up front. If the writer fails to do this, the scene is wrought with confusion and chaos ensues. So it’s not frowned upon to simply state a full description. Her skin was like antique porcelain, stained by many years of sunlight, yet retaining a delicate quality; her bladelike eyes glinted grey in the shadows of her thick black eyelashes – obviously, they were painted such a color, for the fiery mass of curls upon her head told a shockingly different tale of red, red, red. And on and on and on, right there in the first paragraph.

But in a story, it’s different. Since there is so much more time to establish a character, the timing can be much different. Sure, there are few that would claim you need to state every single minute detail of a character’s appearance on the first page (though I have seen it done), but it is common practice to state the basics, like the hair color, the height, the build, the eyes, as soon as possible.

This is because it is important to give the reader a mental picture of the story so they can better relate to what they’re reading. It makes the story immediately engaging. I respect that. I just don’t like the way it is traditionally done. Usually it is just some sentences, right out of the blue, stating a description for no other reason than to tell you what you’re looking at. Writers might try to casually drop it in there with phrases like, “she ran her slender pale digits through her curly red tresses,” but I think it just sounds forced either way. It’s like dropping two bugs in a jar and shaking it to make them get to know each other, except one of the bugs is the reader, and the other is the character.

I was once criticized because I did not describe the character enough on the first page by a professional writing coach. Although I bent to her will then, looking back I disagree and I think I know why. It’s a lot like in real life, wherein a person’s personality is best told through the mouths of the people that know them. Most people probably could not accurately describe themselves if they tried, physically or mentally. After all, Know Thyself would not have become a phrase of wisdom if everyone truly did know themselves.

Thus, I think that a character’s description is best told through the perspective of another character. I think details should come out when they are relevant, not immediately. The key, then, is to make a good handful of those details relevant as soon as possible, so that the description does fall on the first page or two in a natural sort of way. Why does the reader need to know about her red hair? Does it make her stand out in the crowd? Why do we need to know about her steely grey eyes? Is she staring at someone and making them uncomfortable?

The most natural way, I think, is to not be in the mind of the character who you are describing. Do it from another character’s perspective and let them go without immediate description instead. If the main character is the only character in the scene, then have her have a reason for the details to emerge: looking in a mirror, for instance. In any case, I would rather boldly refrain from stating any details at all rather than drop them in the readers lap like a stack of photographs. Just my two cents.