Reading the story with your character description, you wonder whether the readers can fully picture their face, their body type. You’ve used facial features but, do the traits you’ve to imagined come through on the design?
Many writers question their writing and that won’t stop but here are some tips to bringing your character to the forefront of your reader’s mind.
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Using Facial Features To Explain Your Character’s Traits
When creating a character, we automatically associate certain features as a characteristic trait. For example, a pointy nose may make us think of strict, easily angered, evil and so forth character.
What each feature looks like can represent these traits. Below are some examples of how features can affect the reader’s perception of your character’s personality.
After all, our body is a map of our experiences.
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Stereotypes Helping To Paint A Strong Picture
Nose
Crooked | evil, old, injured, untrustworthy |
Pointy | villian, mischievous, scary |
Button | cute, young, attractive |
Long | delicate, attractive, wise |
Huge | ugly, avoided, overbearing |
Lips
Thin | authority, strict, harsh, unfeeling |
Voluptuous/full | motherly nature, flirt, fake |
Small | cute, precious, sweet |
Wrinkles
Next to eyes (crows feet) | kind, joyful, squinter |
Around mouth (laugh lines) | laugher, smiler |
Forehead | worrier, thinker, frowner |
Neck | older, looks down a lot |
Above lips | smoker |
Under eyes | doesn’t sleep much, frowner, squinter, smiler |
Skin
Dry | not looking after yourself |
Greasy | young, unhygienic |
Spotty | youthful, stresser, |
Frickles | youthful, shy |
Moles | brings uniqueness to a character |
Pale | don’t go outdoors, introvert, ill |
Tanned | outdoorsy, activity-driven, extrovert |
Teeth
Largely spaced | scruffy |
Crooked | working-class, uncaring |
Overlapping | academic, working-class, english |
White | healthy, hygienic |
Yellow | unhygienic, coffee obsessed |
Platinum white | wealthy, caress about appearance |
Props/ Additions
Glasses | intelligent, book smart |
Pierced face (nose, tongue, upper ear) | rebellious, trouble maker, experimental |
Pierced lobes | normal, average |
Tattoos | dangerous, gang, expressive |
Coloured contact lenses | originality seeking |
Hair
Short | tough, aggressive, no time to deal with hair maintenance, assertive |
Long | feminine, delicate, |
Unkept | uncaring, lazy, lethargic, busy |
Neat | tidy, cares about self |
Using Facial Feature Descriptions
These lend a hand in creating a more memorable character, through their features.
Take caution with what features you choose to use for your character, as they have largely unconscious associations attached. That’s if you want your character to keep within the themes of a certain image.
Although, it is also fun to play around with features that oppose the norm of personalities and tendencies.
As you can see, features can have contradicting traits.
People have different experiences, what we learn from them help us navigate through the world. So… These descriptions may agree with your ideals.
But like I mentioned, there’s no need to follow what people say a feature means and create your characters with traits the reader will associate thanks to your writing.
What Do I Do With This Information?
Create a word bank full of your their traits to quickly look back to when you are writing to keep the character consistent.
Here’s a free download for a word bank template, to hold each of your characters traits.
Do you agree with these? What do you use in your own characters? Let me know in the comments. Until then.
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Very detailed!
Very interesting post!
Thank you! Hope it serves you well 🙂
Very interesting. Thanks for the info
You’re welcome 🙂