At 12:33 PM 8/23/98 PDT, The Critic wrote:

Many unexperienced writers feel the need to explain facets of a 
character we already know (canonical characters, not new characters whom 
we naturally know nothing about). This practice clutters the prose, it 
can make the reader annoyed when the material contradicts his own 
perceptions of the character, and it's often taken by experienced 
readers, such as myself, as a set-up for an OOC description.

In a nutshell--don't do it. You know how a character looks, acts and 
what is capable of, and so does the reader. It's acceptable only when 
done through the eyes of a new character who doesn't know anything about 
the canonical characters, and only then when it isn't gratuitous.

And in total disagreement is a so-called "experienced reader" and writer,
namely me. 
Writers should do what they need to do to make their characters live for
the reader. If that includes character descriptions, so be it. These
descriptions of the character (physical, emotional, likes, dislikes,
whatever) come in very handy when the reader isn't familiar with the
characters being written about. If they're not used as needed, the writer
is running the unnecessary risk of alienating a potential reader. I think
reaching out to bring in a new audience is a good thing to do. 

Besides, Pro writers do it, to some extent, all the time. It's called by
various names, including exposition and 'filling in the back-story'.




Jeanne Hedge

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