I’ve been thinking recently about how hard it is for me to visualize characters from descriptions in books and I’m curious about others’ experience and if you’ve developed any habits that help.
For much of my reading life, I realize that the characters in my head have actually almost no relation to what the descriptions say. For significant things like a scar or missing limb, sure that makes its way into my mind, but hair color/length, clothing & accessories, even skin tone usually fail to register.
More often than not, the picture I have in my head is just some character from a game, movie, or tv show I’ve seen. For example, Naomi from The Expanse I see as Krystal from Starfox Adventures (a game I played once like 15 years ago). No idea why that connection exists.
Recently I’ve been trying to correct this by slowing down during descriptions and rereading trying to form the image, but I haven’t really had success. Any tips for improving beyond this strategy? Ultimately it’s not a big deal, but I feel like my enjoyment will be enhanced if I get a clearer picture of the characters.
by Cpctheman
4 Comments
It depends on how they’re written.. I’m dragging myself through a book right now where the main descriptors are “raven black hair” (female) and “long face” “strong chin” (male).
I have no idea if this will help you or if it’ll even be in your interest, but Where the Crawdads Sing (Delia Owens) is, I think, a book that exemplifies descriptive writing. Sometimes it’s just difficult when the authors expend maybe 2 sentences on the appearance of someone because they’re so focused on the plot.
It’s a fucking *MASSIVE* deal for me. If I get to page 20 of a novel and I don’t have a name or basic description of “the main character,” I’m losing it. If it doesn’t get fixed – the book better be profound – because I kinda don’t care anymore.
Through all the opening paragraphs you get little glimpses and add them together. I know exactly what every character looks like from every book I’ve ever read. It’s weird when a movie comes out. The actor never fits.
I’d say just slow down. It’s not a race. Digest properly. Read a paragraph 3 times in a row if it’s beautiful.
You could try drawing the character based on their description.
Don’t need to be a great artist or anything; taking the time to think about the details, then the act of sketching the details out, then seeing the details as you portrayed it might help
Sometimes I google things to help. I just finished a book that took place in England in the 1920s and I had a heck of a time getting a good mental image because I couldn’t imagine clothes or hairstyles. So I googled it. And recently I looked at a wiki for a fantasy book to see the fan art to try to figure out a couple of characters. It helped!