I'm obsessed with writing but I think it can be improved (to be honest, I like to improve my writing and it makes me feel good and gives me confidence). My question is how can you introduce or set up a solid character? Could anyone give me a set way to build up the character? Like the air they carry, hair, eyes, skin colour.
Sometimes I don't even write five or six lines. I have one character who is simply described as a spiky-haired Scot. You later learn he has a narrow frame and comes from Port Glasgow, but that's about it. In my mind he's one of those kids who was born blond and went dark as he hit his teens, but I've never bothered the reader with that. It was far more important to get across his insecurities and the fact he is the joker because he always feels like an outsider. I think each reader will develop their own idea of Kenny based on that.
I don't really like physical descriptions at all - I once read a book where the character was not described at all until about two thirds of the way through; up until then, I'd pictured her with brown hair, and found it rather disturbing to hear that she was supposed to have blonde! Of course, the odd physical detail is important, I think - I can never resist ensuring that my readers will picture my character in a broadly similar way.
Was it John Steinbeck who had a character who said that he didn't like being told what the 'person speaking' in a novel looked like? I can't really remember, but whoever it was, I to a certain extent agree.
I would read character descriptions from award winning contemporary authors. See how they layer a character through the narrator, streams-of-thought, or the dialogue between the other characters. But do not overload the reader with too much detail. A few sentences at most at any given time.