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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/42318
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/42318
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

If you were describing a human being, you wouldn't say "she had two arms, each the same length and ending just below her hips." That description is assumed for everyone (if it's wrong for an individual, we expect the author to point it out).

But her arms could still be strong, muscular, tanned, scarred, pale, freckled, hairless, or carrying something. By saying those things, the reader will know you mean to say normal arms, just ones particular to this character.

Do the same with your winged people. **How are their wings different from other people's.** What are the characteristics of wings that people admire or find attractive? Are there things that people take to mean something about the person's character? Unkempt feathers (appear to) mean laziness or dying the tips blue means a particular political stance?

Or other things that tell you something about the person? Are the feathers of youth a bit more downy? If someone is elderly, do the feathers droop at all or maybe the tail is more bent?

Use these tells as you describe your characters. State it as if you would describe a human's hair (you wouldn't tell the reader that humans typically have hair). Every culture picks out features and assigns them meaning.

**Also show your people using their bodies** , just like you might show a human taking a deep breath before starting to climb a long staircase, then pausing periodically and pausing more often, with a bit of panting, near the top.

How do they move from one place to another? How do they carry things? Do they have backpacks? Or would they be chest packs? Be matter of fact while still letting the reader know what your people look like.

Original score: 35