One of the perks of having our book published is that we're having some mighty fine hair days. Book signings and public appearances mean paying special attention to the anti-frizz products in the hair aisle and justifying the purchase of a jacket that conveys the message, "I wrote a mystery that will keep you intrigued, make you laugh out loud, and is only $12.99," preferably in royal blue.
But just as we are paying special attention to our own appearances, it's even more important that we focus on the clothes, hairstyles, and definitely the shoes that our characters wear (click
here to see the shoes of Evelyn David).
Ever since Adam and Eve donned those fig leaves, it's clear that clothes make the (wo)man. How you dress each character telegraphs a distinct message to the reader. For example check out this description. "Carrie had more earrings than common sense and changed her hair color as often as her underwear, although the purple streaked bangs were generally a constant." In 26 words we created a visual snapshot of Carrie that tells you her age, her style, and her general approach to life.
With vivid, detailed descriptions, create for your readers a portrait of each character, even the ones who play only a peripheral role in the story. Here are Evelyn's fashion do's and don'ts for memorably dressing your characters.
Who's Wearing What? Do give enough detail to make your character come into focus. The reader needs to be able to keep up with who's who in the book. Visual tags – Carrie's earrings – are vital. On the other hand, don't bore them to tears with so many details that the reader loses track of the real point – the plot. It's good to know that Carrie has purple streaks in her hair. The fact that they are the result of Plum Permatint Flash Fashion Forever Hair Tint is TMI.
Who's He? Who Cares. On the other hand, don't give the reader so much detail about minor characters that they forget the storyline and spend too much time trying to imagine "Milton," the five foot tall, middle-aged street vendor, with the missing thumbs, twitchy left eye, lumpy double love handles, faded Levi jeans with the gaping hole near the bottom of the zipper, and the greasy, gray-streaked ponytail that reaches past his expansive waist. After all "Milton" is only someone the hero saw out of the corner of his eye as he chased after the killer on page 47. If you give your reader that much information about Milton, they're going to expect to hear from him again. And actually he sounds kind of interesting, so maybe Milton should make another appearance. Don’t ask your readers to get invested in someone you don't care about.
Casting Call. Do leave the reader room to put a familiar face on your hero and heroine. Let the reader "cast" the movie version of your book. "Handsome" is in the eye of the beholder. Many readers have remarked that our character, Mac Sullivan, is a handsome man. But those same readers probably couldn't identify from our copy exactly what made them think he was. The descriptions of Mac were purposefully vague, more impressions, that a stating of facts. Mac could be almost everyone's ideal hero.
Name-dropping for Effect Only. Product placement is big business in the movies and television, not to mention sporting events. And if you sell your mystery to the film industry, then maybe you can negotiate an endorsement deal. But in the meantime, don't go overboard with product names. Use them sparingly and only to reinforce a character's traits or to give a shorthand description of their status. You don't need to give the labels of every piece of clothing worn by the mystery woman to clue your hero into the fact that she's wealthy. Mention the Louis Vuitton matching luggage and that's more than sufficient.
All our best wishes to each of you for good hair days
and a spring renewal of creativity and happiness.
