Creating a distinctive look that isn't a knockoff of something else

Xelah

Xelah

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Harry Dresden has his black duster jacket.
Harry Potter has the lightning scar, ruffled hair, and glasses.
Kate Daniels has a big sword.
Sherlock Holmes has his pipe.
Honor Harrington has her treecat.
Samuel L Jackson has the color purple. (Okay, so this one isn't a fictional guy, but he's got a purple bladed lightsaber with bad motherf***er engraved into it.)


I was just wondering how the creative process for this works. I tend to not care much for fashion, so it's rather difficult for me to imagine my own characters and then write it down.

For my scifi work, it isn't that difficult. Just make some minor adjustments to another military uniform and I'm done.

For my urban fantasy universe, I'm a bit stuck. The only people I have a good physical description of are the protagonist's girlfriend (because I don't have to think hard on how to describe an attractive girl) and her brother that hates the protagonist (because I'm familiar with scary tattooed men wearing muscle shirts that don't like me and can superimpose that onto a minor antagonist).

My descriptions and styles for the protagonist and his sidekick are a little more vague though.

Protagonist is tall, fairly muscular, half Mexican, half Native American. (copper skinned, black hair, dark eyes).

Sidekick is short, black, and a little overweight, built like an truck.

How do you come up with a style that sticks with people's memories and doesn't sound retarded? I don't want to give them something outlandish like pimp canes, but I'd like something that stands out that isn't a physical feature.


Also, if you're wondering, no, I look nothing like my protagonist. I'm average height, thin, paler than moonlight, brown haired and blue eyed.
 
We have to create a distinctive feature for the main character as well as everything else?? Doesn't being tall, dark and incredibaly handsome count? *starts ripping up notes yet again*

Really, Xelah, I would just write the story and let your characters find out what they want to wear/carry. For instance, Sancho Panza may decide he loves superheroes and/or he believes he is one, so he wears a T-shirt emblazoned with a stylised 'S'. Main character (?Coyote) may be haunted by the death of his mother, so wears a piece of woman's jewellery because it was the last present he bought for her -- and which she never had a chance to open before she was killed.

Don't try to superimpose something on your people in the hope it will make them seem cool -- it is unlikely to work. Their dress, their style, is as much a part of their character as anything else. Let them find it. If you get to the end of the novel and they still have no spotted bow tie or primrose-coloured silk pyjamas, it's because they don't need such fripperies.

J
 
Xelah said:
Protagonist is tall, fairly muscular, half Mexican, half Native American. (copper skinned, black hair, dark eyes).

Sidekick is short, black, and a little overweight, built like an truck.

How do you come up with a style that sticks with people's memories and doesn't sound retarded? I don't want to give them something outlandish like pimp canes, but I'd like something that stands out that isn't a physical feature.
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Protagonist: How about Dwayne 'the Scorpion King' Johnson as a starting template? He's a Hawaiian, but that'd be close enough, I think.

Sidekick: just browse through any recent edition of Muscle and Fitness, or Musclemag International, and take your pick. Then feed him McDonalds every day for a month.

Style: a hugely oversized, glossy as heck, brightly coloured, rainbow coloured Mexican fedora?
 
I tend to find accesorisation works better with secondary characters, especially if they're non-humans. That way they are easier to identify quickly for the reader.

My characters can be real clothes horses, I have to admit. If I'm stuck for ideas I'm not ashamed to admit I'll scan through fashion magazines and Sunday supplements.
 
Maybe it's just that I'm jaded to that description, because tall, copper skinned, black haired, and dark eyed effectively describes about half the people in my neighborhood. Most of the rest fit into that category, just switch tall with short.

As opposed to "the white guy" . . . it's pretty distinctive in my neighborhood... there's no confusion.
 
With the exception of Eddie Tudorpole, most people who try to accessorise with cool objects end up looking like complete wazzocks. One can only argue that they are being all groovy and ironically post modern for so long.....

In reality, pimp canes, flowing robes or odd hats are all just crutches and your character should not need such a crutch if you are doing your job as an author properly. Physical quirks or imperfections are fine (Harry Potter's glasses help him see and are not primarily a fashion statement), but whatever he or she looks like, your character should be strong - or at least described and presented to the reader in a clear way. Digging around in the props cupboard and pulling out a pimp cane is a cop out, as you are inviting the reader to do your job for you by associating the character with whatever people who carry pimp canes are associated with (mindless misogyny and overweening arrogance, in my book).

I'd say build your character from the inside rather than the outside. If you do that right, no-one will care what they look like.*

Regards,

Peter

* errata. No reasonably intelligent reader will care what they look like. If you are hoping for your book to be made into a Hollywood blockbuster you might want to stick with:-

Male lead: Tough, independent, craggily good looking and physically strong, with flashing white teeth, an appealing but inobtrusive alcohol problem and a good repertoire of sassy one-liners.

Female lead: Caring, independent, prettily good looking and physically much stronger than her willowy 00 frame might suggest, with great hair, an appealing but inexplicable lack of a partner and the ability to withstand all weather conditions in naught but a bikini/ a chainmail bra/ a skintight leather jump suit/ some tiny denim shorts (delete according to chosen genre).
 
One of the two main characters in my upcoming Urbis Morpheos is based on a real person I saw a few years back. I was in KwikFit, getting my tyres fixed, when this amazing-looking woman walked in - black leathers, long red hair, freckled face. I was so struck, the image & appearance of her remained with me...
 
Peter Graham said:
Male lead: Tough, independent, craggily good looking and physically strong, with flashing white teeth, an appealing but inobtrusive alcohol problem and a good repertoire of sassy one-liners.
Click to expand...

:eek: Have you been eavesdropping on my lap top to know so much about my main character??

Female lead: Caring, independent, prettily good looking and physically much stronger than her willowy 00 frame might suggest, with great hair, an appealing but inexplicable lack of a partner and the ability to withstand all weather conditions in naught but a bikini/ a chainmail bra/ a skintight leather jump suit/ some tiny denim shorts (delete according to chosen genre).
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... and that's me described to a T... *cough cough*

J
 
Stephen Palmer said:
One of the two main characters in my upcoming Urbis Morpheos is based on a real person I saw a few years back. I was in KwikFit, getting my tyres fixed, when this amazing-looking woman walked in - black leathers, long red hair, freckled face. I was so struck, the image & appearance of her remained with me...
Click to expand...

This is a good example of a way to make a character stand out: apparent contradiction. In this case the dangerousness of the black leather contrasts with the freckles, which we tend to associate with child-type cuteness.

A man with a hawk nose, duelling scar, shoulder-length raven hair and a cerise tutu would also work.
 
Also, does anyone know what the name of the hat Angelina is wearing here is?

<-----------------
 
Stephen Palmer said:
One of the two main characters in my upcoming Urbis Morpheos is based on a real person I saw a few years back. I was in KwikFit, getting my tyres fixed, when this amazing-looking woman walked in - black leathers, long red hair, freckled face. I was so struck, the image & appearance of her remained with me...
Click to expand...
Oh yeaahhh. I know the feeling.

I once saw a woman, Middle Easternish aristocratic look, in a hotel lobby. She was in a regular working dress. I ended up hanging around an extra couple of hours there so I could catch several more glimpses of her face and body. 'Amazing' wouldn't decribe her well enough. Maybe more like ... 'goddessy'. She had that tall, big-framed, meaty beauty (Amazonian, perhaps?) ... fair-golden Mediterranean complexion with light brown eyes ... topped up with a face that said Venus-Aphrodite-Europa ... and a glorious mane of jet black hair ... that just sends my hormones through the roof. I was like, 'Corrrr, blimey!'

I thought about getting a camera from somewhere and just going up to her ... saying something like ... "Excuse me, Miss, err, I'd dearly love to have your beauty grace my book's cover ..." or something similar. But ... somehow it didn't seem so cool then. Sometimes now I wish I did.
 
dreamhunter said:
Oh yeaahhh. I know the feeling.

I once saw a woman, Middle Easternish aristocratic look, in a hotel lobby. She was in a regular working dress. I ended up hanging around an extra couple of hours there so I could catch several more glimpses of her face and body. 'Amazing' wouldn't decribe her well enough. Maybe more like ... 'goddessy'. She had that tall, big-framed, meaty beauty (Amazonian, perhaps?) ... fair-golden Mediterranean complexion with light brown eyes ... topped up with a face that said Venus-Aphrodite-Europa ... and a glorious mane of jet black hair ... that just sends my hormones through the roof. I was like, 'Corrrr, blimey!'

I thought about getting a camera from somewhere and just going up to her ... saying something like ... "Excuse me, Miss, err, I'd dearly love to have your beauty grace my book's cover ..." or something similar. But ... somehow it didn't seem so cool then. Sometimes now I wish I did.
Click to expand...

Stalker much?
 
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