How to properly describe a beautiful character?

Bartun

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I always describe how a character feels and reacts rather than describing them. Take a look at the example below. ?

Rudo’s heart now pumped wildly, a powerful feeling twisted his insides, and his breath caught in his throat. Nina ended the embrace after just a few seconds, awkwardly retracting her arms, and shyly looking away with a hint of a smile on her face. Rudo gulped. He could only gape at her, completely petrified. Every single gesture that Nina made, from looking down at her boots, and biting her lips, to wiping her tears with her sleeves, her eyes blinking, and even soft breathing… everything she did made his heart flutter more and more. It was terrifying. He had never felt like this. No one had ever made him feel like this.

What was this feeling?! Rudo didn’t have the slightest clue.

But he liked it.​
 

ReadLight

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BTW, if you're writing Xianxia/Chinese female with unbelievable white skin, please put "Jade-like skin" as a references/tribute for Xianxia's Jade beauties.
Thx for the tips. Funny thing I did use "Jade-like" to describe skin. It was a coincidence though, not writing a Xianxia type of novel.
every time she appears in a chapter, you must write at least three paragraphs of description to remind readers that she is a virgin pure-yin kingdom-toppling cold jade beauty.
Um, k, thx. *Sip tea
First rule: write something short and memorable, even if it's not as detailed as you want it to be.

Second rule: do not describe the appearance objectively, but subjectively - focus on impressions and emotions.

I always try to do both of these things, and it's important because no one is going to remember a number of details about a character that was described twenty chapters back. I could write three paragraphs about someone's body shape because I imagined how they would look like exactly, but no reader is going to apprieciate something like that unless it's a situation that calls for it (for example a detailed examination of a corpse or describing a detail, such as a mark, important to the story).

I personally do three things. Keep in mind that's my own method that might not work for everyone.

1. General impression, for example "a scrawny boy" or "an exotic beauty that caught his eye". This is the simplest part, but arguably the most important, since the impression is what people pay attention to the most. Say a blonde bimbo and everyone will remember who the blonde bimbo is next time she's mentioned. Say someone has blue eyes, and most people will forget it unless you remind them.

2. Noticeable details. This can be literally anything, but generally you have a couple of things that are most noticeable in a character. What it is exactly would depend on who it is, because you obviously won't write a man had narrow hips cause it would sound weird. Try to choose two or three things and don't describe anything else, only skim over it.

3. Feelings, impressions, and thoughts (not necessarily said directly, can be implied), which can be inserted alongside the two other, for example "hair that looked like it hadn't been washed in too long" or "her short stature highlighted the ridiculous size of her sword".

A lot of it also applies to different things apart from appearance, for example clothing.

Also as a random tip, try not to describe what can't be seen or known when you describe the appearance. When you're not doing omniscient pov, you can write "his hands, covered in callouses, made her think he did a lot of physical work" but try not to do something like "his hands, covered in callouses from physical labor, ...". Unless there's a good reason to, such as redescribing character appearance after some event.

The difference is subtle and some may say unimportant, but it helps to set a specific perspective and keep to it.

And to apply all of this to describing a beautiful character.

First, impression, what kind of beauty it is. It can be cute, hot, otherworldly. Every beauty has some kind of type, even if it's androgynous. That can be said directly, but doesn't have to.

Details, so what's most noticeable. Golden hair cascaded down her back, seemingly sparkling as she approached. Her expression turned impassive and her face tightened, only ephasizing its sharp lines and not betraying any emotions. They stared at her, at the generous bossom held tightly in a revealing light green dress and at the dark skin underneath, black like smoke and ethereal. It was the eyes, however, that stopped theirs - narrow, deep green like gemstones, and strinkingly bright in the dim lighting.

See that the third point is already there, within the second. The first is there as well, although it's only implied.
Thank you. I really appreciate this input.
"The first thing he noticed about her was that she did everything to look as ordinary as possible, which ironically made her stand out even more. Her choice of clothes also did a terrible job of making her as plain and unattractive as possible, sure, they hid everything but her face, but if you hide too much then people are going to notice what you try to hide... One also needn't be a detective to notice that she wasn't really here by her own will. Her eyes were continuously darting through the room, frantically looking for a way out, this, combined with her petite frame made her look like a small animal in front of a predator."
Well-written, thanks. Btw, keep on staying alive.
Say she has legs so long despite her height that she might as while be 2/3 legs, green rock like skin, and a face that puts Tinker Bell to shame, and constantly regurgitate how beautiful she is.
Okay, I'll try: The first thing I noticed was those beautiful pair of legs. My goodness, those puppies are THICC!!! and LONG! I look up, legs. I raise my head up, yep, more legs. After what seemed like an attempt to star gaze, I finally captured her beauty in full: there are only legs below her neck. /s
Describe her features and figure in a subtle and smooth way so that the reader can decide that for themselves. Never explicitly say that they are beautiful unless the character thinks they are beautiful and make it an afterthought to the descriptions.
Food 4 thoughts, THX!
 
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Kenjona

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Could always take the Disney route:
How does Disney describe Snow White?



Snow White is a teenage girl blessed with beauty so flawless and enchanting, she is the "fairest in the land." The phrase "lips red as the rose, hair black as ebony, and skin white as snow" describes her most notable features, being her rosy red lips and rosy cheeks, and both her hair and skin color.
 

ThrillingHuman

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Talk about minerals. Mortals love talking about minerals.

Her skin had the consistency of high grade marble, and her hair was the color of granite. Her gravelly voice was arousing the senses and her topaz eyes sparkled in the daylight. Her ruby lips were plumb and as soft as jadeite
 

ThrillingHuman

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My mom is dead. That's sick.
indeed. I should've gone easier on her. Who knew she was that fragile. Don't worry, I put a granite tombstone for her. Considering how much she loved minerals, she should've been happy
 

ACertainPassingUser

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...you must write at least three paragraphs of description to remind readers that she is a virgin pure-yin kingdom-toppling cold jade beauty.
If there's a "Kingdom-Toppling" beauties in the story, make sure the story would include actual Kingdom-Toppling plot caused by said female, including hundreds of chaotic events like multiple kingdom invasion, demon sects band together and figt each other, dynasty collapse, broken factions, warlord causing war everywhere, and the already suffering peasant get suffering even more, causing influx of scavenger protagonist, revenge protagonist, and orphans ruling the world as 75% of population are now orphan as the parents died chasing this one beauty.
 

Maldrasen

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Just give the character an objective value in millihelens, which is the amount of beauty needed to launch a single ship.
 

ThrillingHuman

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If there's a "Kingdom-Toppling" beauties in the story, make sure the story would include actual Kingdom-Toppling plot caused by said female, including hundreds of chaotic events like multiple kingdom invasion, demon sects band together and figt each other, dynasty collapse, broken factions, warlord causing war everywhere, and the already suffering peasant get suffering even more, causing influx of scavenger protagonist, revenge protagonist, and orphans ruling the world as 75% of population are now orphan as the parents died chasing this one beauty.
maybe she's concubine daji kind of kingdom-toppling, seducing and emotionally manipulating only 1 person who causes a really big mess, leading to creation of a liberation movement, the working class and peasantry uniting against the king and establishing a socialist utopia?
 

Missivist

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After all those writings, I kinda feel like "She cute" or "She pretty" may actually be better.

How would you properly write a beautiful character? (Not the beautiful heart kind of beauty, just physical.)
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and the details of "pretty" vary culturally, from place to place, or person to person. So, I would describe the character through the reactions of one or more other characters – the beholders. A man's total inability to look away from her long, wavy hair. A woman's jealousy of her flawless complexion. A man's late realization that his mouth had been hanging open the whole time she was present. A woman's appreciation of the effort that must have gone into exercising that tight waistline.

Eye color? Who looks for that? Seriously.
 

ReadLight

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Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and the details of "pretty" vary culturally, from place to place, or person to person. So, I would describe the character through the reactions of one or more other characters – the beholders. A man's total inability to look away from her long, wavy hair. A woman's jealousy of her flawless complexion. A man's late realization that his mouth had been hanging open the whole time she was present. A woman's appreciation of the effort that must have gone into exercising that tight waistline.

Eye color? Who looks for that? Seriously.
Good point!
 
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