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Q&A How to make clear what a part-humanoid character looks like when they're quite common in their world?

If you are writing third person, you can always just provide a brief description up front if you really feel you need one. Otherwise, you'll need to find reasons for your POV character to notice t...

posted 6y ago by Chris Sunami‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T10:55:05Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/42316
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Chris Sunami‭ · 2019-12-08T10:55:05Z (almost 5 years ago)
If you are writing third person, you can always just provide a brief description up front if you really feel you need one. **Otherwise, you'll need to find reasons for your POV character to notice these characteristics.** The key is to integrate them into details that would be meaningful to the character. "He wore an ill-fitting shirt that was clearly designed for a human, with crudely cut slits for his wings." "His underdeveloped pecs were barely more muscled than a puny human's would have been."

You should also ask yourself **"Why is it important that the reader know what this character looks like?"** The answer will give you the clues in how to present it.

One possibility you should consider is that it doesn't actually matter to the reader. If you're telling a strong story, and people respond well to it, **you might not need them all to be visualizing the same thing as you** for the story to be a success. On the other hand, if the character's physical characteristics play an actual part in the story, you can detail those when they actually come into play.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-02-18T19:29:20Z (almost 6 years ago)
Original score: 6