Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Description: Is More Just...More?

There was a really interesting discussion on querytracker.net recently about how much character description is too much. What really surprised me was the vast differences in opinion. Some said it depended on the genre, some LOVE tons of rich description of facial features, clothing, mannerisms, while some truly enjoyed the mystery of not knowing anything and imagining their favorite actor as the hero (Christian Bale, anyone? ;) ).

What do you think?

I know several people who stopped reading the series The Wheel of Time simply because of the increasingly long clothing descriptions, but some that are attracted to fantasy just for that type of rich detail.

What adds more to your overall experience? Mystery? Or the number of freckles on the heroine's nose?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmm this is hard. I say if it is fantasy especially in an imagined world brought to life by a writer I want, no need to see the clothing, the kingdoms, etc. to make me believe it. I only like mystery when it is necessary for the plot. Nice post!

Rebecca Knight said...

Veeeery interesting! ;) I prefer hair, eye color if someone is staring into someone else's eyes, and then to be bascially left alone. Unless they are getting fancy for a ball or something, I don't care what they're wearing. It is actually really fascinating to me that there are so many preferences with something I totally took for granted.

Thanks for the comment, Sara!