BRIGITTA MOON BOOKS: Describing a Character for Your Novel

I will admit that in my novellas, The HIM Series, there was not much character description. This was intentional as the goal was to have characters that a reader could mold in their fantasy as they read. In the beginning the characters were fashioned to fit any age group. I experimented with this concept. I gave the book to a woman over 60, a young woman in her early 20s, A woman in her 40s and a man in his 50s. Each person enjoyed book one. Each person had the same comments:

I couldn't stop reading. I had to know what was going to happen next.

How long was this woman going to let herself go through this?

He was something else.

I could almost smell his cologne.

It seems that although minimal descriptions were given, the readers had developed their own fantasy of what attributes each character possessed. Surprisingly, the women loved HIM. The one man who read the book enjoyed it but was quite put off by the portrayal of HIM.
I have decided for the next book that is already in the making to build the characters for the readers. To build a character there needs to be more than just a physical description. The character needs a personality, a background. The personality may stem from the background. Maybe the character is withdrawn, shy or aggressive because of an event in their past.
The character may be a happy one or maybe optimistic or pessimistic. Maybe the character is playful, seductive, outgoing or overbearing, never satisfied. If each character is given a complete personality from appearance to social status to quirks to tone of voice, your reader will more than likely know who is speaking the dialogue or who did what without being given the characters name, just as you would know which one of your family members made a particular comment or performed a certain action.
So pull out the post it, index card or notebook and write a detailed description for each character. Give your character a physical description, a background, a voice. Give your character their own personality for the part they will play in the story.
If you are interested in experiencing the story of HIM, read it online here https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20820366-him?ac=1
Click the read book link. Enjoy.

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