Addicted to YA discussion

Greetings everyone,

I was having a discussion with two different groups of authors about describing characters and locations, and they had pretty strong opinions. So, I became curious on what readers preferred.

Do you like a detailed physical description of the major characters in a book? Minor characters? What about locations? What if authors gave no physical description of a character at all?

I would appreciate any responses!

What I learned in my creative writing course is that character description for major characters is a must. This description should be quite elaborate and including the character's looks, thoughts, words, and actions. My personal opinion is that a minor character doesn't need that elaborate of a physical description if they are only mentioned once or twice in a book. But if this minor character continues to pop up, maybe a small physical description may be necessary.

It is all about HOW the description is given. If it flows smoothly and is released over time it allows me to build my own image in my head. If it is a character dump upon first meeting, it is obnoxious. I don't know about you, but when I first meet someone I notice the basics, height, hair color, distinguishing features. The more significant the meeting, the more I will notice, but often will only walk away remembering a few of them. It takes time to learn and notice things about people in the real world. Writers who master this form of character description win my heart and soul!!

I like detailed descriptions and I need to have descriptions of what the characters look like. However I don;t like when the entire book is filled with details. I want the necessary details, not a paragraph of the color of an apple

I wouldn't so much as mind if there were no details at all as sometimes details in books can go on for days. I do like having physical descriptions of the major characters and the minor also. It helps with me imaginging as I go along.

Heidi wrote: "It is all about HOW the description is given. If it flows smoothly and is released over time it allows me to build my own image in my head. If it is a character dump upon first meeting, it is obnox..."

I feel exactly the same! Well said, Heidi!

I think that this is an important topic, because some books have way too much description. I think my favorite is when the character is learning along with the reader. I hate it when authors spend half of the book explaining the setting. I think the book flows best when the author begins the book by making the character and the reader wonder what's going on. This way they can add description as the characters are figuring out what is happening.