alunaloverworld

[alunaloverworld]

When Should You Describe a Character’s Appearance? (And When You Really, Really Shouldn’t)

It’s one of the first instincts writers have: describe your character. What they look like, what they wear, how they move. But the truth is — readers don’t need to know everything. And more importantly, they don’t want to know everything. At least, not all at once. Not without reason.

Let’s talk about when to describe a character’s appearance, how to do it meaningfully, and why less often says more.

1. Ask: Who Is Seeing Them? And Why Now?

The best descriptions are filtered through a perspective. Who’s noticing this character, and what do they see first? What do they expect to see, and what surprises them?

She looked like someone who owned every book you were supposed to have read in school. Glasses slipping down her nose. Sharp navy coat, sensible shoes, and an air of knowing too much too soon.

Now we’re not just learning what she looks like — we’re learning how she comes across. That tells us more than eye color ever could.

2. Use Appearance to Suggest Character, Not List Facts

Avoid long physical checklists. Instead, choose a few details that do double work — they imply personality, history, class, mood, or context.

Ineffective: She had long, wavy brown hair, green eyes, a small nose, and full lips. She wore jeans and a white shirt.

Better: Her hair was tied back like she hadn’t had time to think about it. Jeans cuffed, a shirt buttoned wrong. Tired, maybe. Or just disinterested.

You don’t need to know her exact features — you feel who she is in that moment.

3. Know When It’s Not the Moment

Introducing a character in the middle of action? Emotion? Conflict? Don’t stop the story for a physical description. It kills momentum.

Instead, thread it through where it matters.

He was pacing. Long-legged, sharp-shouldered — he didn’t seem built for waiting. His jaw kept twitching like he was chewing on the words he wasn’t allowed to say.

We learn about his build and his mood and his internal tension — all in motion.

4. Use Clothing and Gesture as Extension of Self

What someone chooses to wear, or how they move in it, says more than just what’s on their body.

Her sleeves were too long, and she kept tucking her hands inside them. When she spoke, she looked at the floor. Not shy, exactly — more like someone used to being half-disbelieved.

This is visual storytelling with emotional weight.

5. Finally: Describe When It Matters to the Story, Not Just the Reader

Are they hiding something? Trying to impress? Standing out in a crowd? Use appearance when it helps shape plot, stakes, or power dynamics.

He wore black to the funeral. Everyone else in grey. And somehow, he still looked like the loudest voice in the room.

That detail matters — it changes how we see him, and how others react to him.

TL;DR:

Don’t info-dump descriptions.

Filter visuals through a point of view.

Prioritize impression over inventory.

Describe only what tells us more than just what they look like — describe what shows who they are.

Because no one remembers a checklist.

But everyone remembers the girl who looked like she’d walked out of a forgotten poem.

[alunaloverworld]

This is how I pretty much see Haymitch's relationship to the kids after SOTR:

Katniss: She's my sweetheart, I've noticed her her whole life, such a spunky little girl, she was so much better than me and she changed the world.

Peeta: He's here, too. I like him.

Prim, the second daughter of his best friend: 🦗🦗🦗

[alunaloverworld]

Writing Advice #1

...for figuring out who your protagonist actually is (like really is, not just what trauma you gave them in chapter two)

⭒ Write their dating app bio⭒ No, I don't mean the cringe-perfect one with the sunset hiking pic. I mean the one they write at 2:14am, fully spiraling but trying so hard to sound like they have their shit together.

Like, what do they say they’re “working on”? Do they admit they have control issues or do they phrase it like “I’m just really passionate about organizing things”? What’s their weird hill to die on? (Because everyone has one... Mine is that people who say “I’m brutally honest” are just mean and proud of it. What’s theirs?)

Would someone fall in love with them immediately or read that bio and swipe left so hard they sprain a finger? Both answers are useful, btw. The more specific and mildly unhinged it gets, the closer you are to understanding how they see themselves, which is honestly way more interesting than how you, the god-writer, view them from on high.

Make them messy (Please) And for the love of stories, give them a hobby besides “being the main character.”

[alunaloverworld]

Where silence speaks two friends one human and one loyal companion are lost in the beauty of nature

[alunaloverworld]

My work blends Anime 2D 3D normal style expressive linework, vibrant color palettes, and detailed rendering], and I’m passionate about crafting pieces that capture personality and emotion. Whether you're looking for a unique character portrait, custom emotes, book illustrations, or personalized gifts, I’m excited to work with you to turn your vision into reality.

Straving Commission open Dm Me

[alunaloverworld]

yall gotta learn the difference between "this character is an asshole" and "this character was supposed to be super cool but the author is an asshole" and "this character is a teenage girl who was mean once"

[alunaloverworld]

A Master Guide to the Three Main Forms of Publishing

There are many ways to get published nowadays, but traditional, self, and hybrid are the three most popular, so here’s the gist of what you need to know for each:

Traditional Publishing

This type of publishing goes through a publishing house who often have their own editors, artists, marketing team, etc. to launch your book. They will make your cover for you, format and edit your book, nominate your book for awards and may organize events like a launch party, book signings, speaker roles at festivals etc. They are your book’s team!

Some publishing houses accept cold queries (pitches for your unpublished manuscript) from you, but many only accept queries from agents. Agents are not necessary for traditional publishing, but they can definitely help get you in front of some of the bigger publishing houses. In my opinion, I would recommend an agent for if you want writing to be your career, but would not recommend one if you’re just looking to publish one or two books.

To get an agent, you go through essentially the same process as you would trying to get a publishing house, except you’re sending your query to different agents instead. Querying is very, very difficult, tends to take a lot of time, and will force you to face many rejections. It’s important to be prepared for when you don’t encounter instant success.

If an agent likes your query letter, they may request your full manuscript, and if they like that, they may sign you on as a client. From here, the agent will take over all the work of sending your manuscript to publishing houses. They will also act as your representative to the publishing house, and will protect you from getting scammed or not getting the deal you deserve.

Most important to remember! You never have to pay for any of these services. The money works like this: You write a book, an agent believes in the book so they sell it to a publishing house—the agent takes a cut of those profits and you get the rest (this is called an advance). The publishing house then sells the book to the public, and any profit they make after your advance, they get a cut of, your agent gets a cut of, and then you get whatever is left.

Essentially: these people make money by selling your book, not from you. If you have to pay them for any reason, you are being scammed.

Pros of Trad Publishing:

You are not held liable for a large part of the work—marketing, cover art, formatting, etc.

You are more likely to see your book in large resellers (think Chapters or Barnes and Noble), and have it reach a wider audience

You are also more likely to be given further opportunities like events, interviews, or speaker roles at festivals, and you’re more likely to win awards.

You have legitimacy and credibility as an author, especially if you have an agent, to do more books in the future and perhaps move into bigger publishing houses and make larger advances. The longer you’re in the business, the more money you make.

Cons of Trad Publishing:

It is difficult as a first-time author, and takes a long time

Some of your creative control is taken from you (you may not be able to choose your own cover or your title, etc.)

Your book must be easily marketable for them to take a chance on you

You will likely not see very much money starting out

Self Publishing

Self publishing puts all of the work that a traditional publishing house does on your shoulders. You are responsible for the editing, the formatting, designing a cover, doing your own marketing, applying for awards (if you desire), etc. This means that all creative decisions are entirely up to you, but also, that any mistakes or poor choices reflect entirely on you.

There are many ways to self publish, but lately Amazon’s publishing service seems to be the easiest for authors. In other cases, you may want to design everything and then go to a printer in your area to print off copies to then sell on your website, or try to entice resellers to pick up.

In self publishing, you may have to pay upfront for everything (especially if you hire outside services to do some of the work for you), which can make it an expensive and risky endeavor. However, you also get all of the money from sales.

Pros of Self publishing:

You are fully in control of the final product

You can publish a book that others may not have seen potential in

You don’t have to share your profit with anyone, you may see more money starting off than a trad author

It takes less time

Cons of Self Publishing:

Your reach to audience is as much as you are able to market yourself (if you have a high social media following, you will sell more than if you don’t)

All of the work is up to you, which can be difficult and frustrating, especially in getting resellers

You may not be given the same sort of opportunities as trad authors

On that note, if you ever want to make the jump to trad publishing, self published manuscripts are sometimes not seen as incredibly legitimate or credible unless they sell amazingly well

Hybrid Publishing

This form of publishing takes the idea of self publishing, but hires out some of the work. For example, you may hire a publicity company to do your marketing for you, a graphic designer to make your cover, and an editor to do a proofread, and handle the rest of it yourself. If you desire, you can technically hire out basically every service needed. This can be somewhat of the best of both worlds between trad/self publishing, however, it’s also the most expensive.

Pros of Hybrid:

You still have a majority of creative control given you are paying the companies to do what you want

A professional can take on some of the tasks that you are not as confident or skilled in

Cons of Hybrid:

It is expensive—unlike trad publishing, these companies will expect you to pay them upfront for their services, so you are risking not making back the money when your book is ready to sell

You may have to manage a lot of different people and companies—it requires intense organization and deadlines!

On that note, it is also up to you to determine if a company is credible and does good work—just getting any professional is not a guarantee that the work will be high quality

If you have any more questions about publishing, feel free to leave them in my inbox! :-)

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[alunaloverworld]

Hey hey hey writers!!! Especially y'alls who are struggling to develop character or have white room/still character syndrome!!!

Look into Uta Hagen's acting techniques, specifically her 9 questions. I'm not kidding. She built off Stanislavski's techniques to help actors develop their characters and roles & bring that to the stage- specifically, and this is why I'm pushing Hagen specifically and not anyone else, their relationship with the set, props, other characters, setting (yes that's different from set), history and the play's plot, and how that changes how they act and speak. I have my textbook open I'll take some pictures.

If you need a transcript/image description I'll put it under the cut, they're a little blurry cause I'm bad at holding my phone... I know alt text is a thing but I don't want y'alls to have to scroll through a tiny box lmao.

[Image 1 alt text]

The lower part of a textbook page. The text reads:

Uta Hagen's acting exercises

[Out-of-transcript note: Most of these, with the exception of Three Entrances, are less useful in terms of writers, but you could make it work, especially for roleplay.]

Basic Object Exercise: Sometimes called "two minutes of daily life," this exercise requires the actor to replicate activities from their own daily routine in specific detail (think making breakfast or getting ready to go out). The goal of this exercise is to increase the actor's awareness of their un-observed behaviour.

Three Entrances: Starting offstage, the actor enters the environment of the scene. The actor's performance should answer three questions: What did I just do? What am I going to do? What is the first thing I want?

Immediacy: Hagen asked actors to search for a small object that they need. You can perform the exercise on a set or in your home. As you search, you should observe the behaviour and thoughts that arise as you authentically try to find something. The objective is to identify the thoughts, behaviours, and sensations you experience when you genuinely don't know the outcome, so you can use them on stage.

Fourth Side: This exercise starts with a phone call to a person you know. You should call them with a specific objective in mind. During the convention, Hagen wants you to focus on your surroundings and the specific objects that your eyes rest on. The purpose is to help actors observe how they interact with all dimensions of an enclosed physical space so they can recreate privacy on stage.

Endowment: this exercise is designed to help actors apply their observed behaviours to endow props with qualities that they cannot safely have on stage. Hot irons and sharp knives are typical examples. The Endowment excercise asks actors to believably treat objects on stage as though they have the qualities the actor needs in a scene.

Uta Hagen's exercises are her greatest gift to actors working today. She developed them between Broadway jobs to solve some acting problems she had never seen anyone tackle to her satisfaction. The result is that Hagen's exercises give actors a way to observe human behaviours and catalogue it so they can recall it onstage when useful in a role.

[Image 1 alt text end]

[Image 2 alt text]

Most of a textbook page. The image cuts off about 3 quarters of the way down the page. The text reads:

Uta Hagen's 9 Questions

Who am I? This question's answer includes all relevant details from name and age to physical traits, education, and beliefs.

What time is it? Depending on the scene, the most relevant measure of time can be the era, the season, the day, or even the specific minute.

Where am I? This answer covers the country, town, neighbourhood, room, or even the specific part of the room.

What surrounds me? Characters can be surrounded by anything from weather to furnishings, landscape or people.

What are the given circumstances? Given circumstances include what has happened, what is happening and what will happen to a character.

What are my relationships? Relationships can be with the other characters in the play, inanimate objects, or even recent events.

What do I want? Wants can be what the character desires in the moment, or in the overall course of the play. [Out-of-transcript note: I recommend figuring out both for writing, the former multiple times for whenever it changes! Outside of Hagen's technique, we call it objective and superobjective.]

What is in my way? This is the actor's chance to understand the obstacles the character must react to and overcome.

What do I do to get what I want? In Hagen's teaching, "do" means physical action.

Uta Hagen's nine questions help actors develop the granular details of their character's backstory. The questions come from Hagen's first book, "Respect for Acting," though in her later book, "A Challenge for the Actor," she condensed her original nine questions into six steps.

Uta Hagen's revised six steps to building a character are:

Who am I?

What are the circumstances?

What are my relationships?

What do I want?

What is my obstacle?

What do I do to get what I want?

Later in her life, Hagen distances herself from her first book and encouraged her students to rely on her second book, which she felt was clearer about her concepts. Both books are popular with acting teachers and students today, however. Hagen's questions and steps are the foundation for all of her acting exercises. Whether you rely on the nine questions or the six steps depends on personal preference.

[Image 2 alt text end]

Personally I like the 9 questions more, but like the book says, personal preference! So yeah, if you're a writer, try some of these out for your characters. :]

[alunaloverworld]

I do not think I can properly describe how much I adore the trope where full grown adults are adopted by much older adults. Granted the ‘full grown’ is usually somewhere between 18 and 27 which isn’t all that old but still. Never deny the parent child relationship between your characters if it’s there. I don’t care if they’re already in their twenties and you shouldn’t either. Don't be a coward.

[alunaloverworld]

can we talk about the despair i go through when i finish writing a book. i have a book on wattpad/ao3/quotev and the last chapter im finishing and putting out tomorrow and i’m so sad

[alunaloverworld]

You were a child when you wandered into your fathers lab during an experiment. Since then you have been able to see the worlds beyond, and occasionally your father too. Today, as an adult, they are threatening to commit you, so you decide to pull something for the first time.

[alunaloverworld]

i think that peeta was onto something about us destroying one another and letting some decent species take over. because something is significantly wrong with a creature that sacrifices its children’s lives to settle its differences (mj, 320)

this selection, while being an absolutely earth shattering theme drop encapsulating the heart of the series, screams katniss and peeta’s dynamic so much.

because this is not what peeta said. no, peeta’s offhand comment about a decent species taking over is supposed to be read as an absurd suggestion of what might the war result in. and its absurdity comes from peeta’s staunch belief that it must not come to that. we must find some other way forward.

but it is so interesting to me. that in katniss’s darkest moment, when she has lost any hope of humanity, that she turns to that phrase. and, without anything to remind her of that life can be good again, this so-called mockingjay gives up.

this mockingjay, who gave up everything for a better future, can’t seem to find it anymore. so what else even matters. who even cares.

and it is almost as if the echos of the past come to haunt her. urging her to fall to the ground. telling her that maybe it would be better if she simply died. right here under the mellark apple tree.

and that only makes it even sweeter when her dandelion comes back to her. back with the spring air. this time bearing a humble primrose. and a simple promise.

that she mustn’t need to die under that apple tree.

that he will not leave her to bear this burden of grief alone. that life can be good again. and spring will come again.

and with it, her hope.

[alunaloverworld]

★ 【Vardan】 「 スカーク 」 ✔ republished w/permission ☆ follow btt’s fanart twitch stream!

[alunaloverworld]

You win a game show no-one else has managed to win. You don't know why it's considered so hard, the final challenge was a cakewalk! As you're sitting at home waiting for your check from your winnings to go into your account, you hear aggressive knocking at the door. It's a government agent.

[alunaloverworld]

Be honest: Have you ever loved reading fanfiction for a pairing you don't actually know, without any intention to ever read or watch the actual source material?

[alunaloverworld]

You've always had a sneaking suspicion that your friend was secretly a god pretending to be human, but you've never been able to prove it. Until they slipped up one day by doing something only a god could do.

[alunaloverworld]

Fandom Problem #9315:

People making “rewrites” to movies they don’t like (whether the movie is actually bad or not, doesn’t matter) are just as irritating as the people who “fixes” art.

We get it, you just want to make your shitty fanfic.