If there's going to be a description provided for a character, especially something that could be important to the plot such as condition or health or size, please provide it straight away. If a character is supposed to look a certain way, provide it ASAP (though in a nice way or very briefly) or else I'm seeing what I want to see.
I've read many books where I have an image of a character whether it's just a few snapshots or a full blown movie scene, and about 100 pages in there's some random mention about a trait that goes against what I was imagining or, worse, this whole breakdown of how I'm supposed to see this character. It's not the end of the world but it really takes me out more than I would like it to. I spend the rest of the book imagining what I want anyway but then the scenes feel so clunky because my brain snaps between my version and author's version.
In the book I'm reading now, a character was fully described long after I've already developed them in my head and now every other scene suddenly is very loyal to the character description so now I can't imagine it with the character I've become close with and it is throwing me off. And it sucks because everything else is so smoothly done and things are really picking up with great scenes, great pacing and I would be going through it like a movie if it wasn't for this.
And this is common, or maybe I have bad luck.
Name something worse.
by MoistCurdyMaxiPad
1 Comment
Oooohhh ok so maybe I’m weird but I actually like this practice!!
It’s like they’re finally saying hey, that character you’ve been wondering about that seems important but feels vague? THEY MATTER! You were right!!