# Writing fictional characters with little or no physical description

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-fictional-characters-with-little-or-no-physical-description/716322>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [March 30, 2015, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-fictional-characters-with-little-or-no-physical-description/716322 "2015-03-30T04:24:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2015, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-fictional-characters-with-little-or-no-physical-description/716322/21 "2015-03-31T21:59:07Z")

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> [@mbh](#):
>
> Robert Heinlein generally did not give much description of his characters.
> 
> In _Starship Troopers_, you are about three quarters of the way through the book before you learn that the protagonist is Filipino. Several characters are discussing languages, and he mentions that his parents spoke Tagalog at home. They live in a non-racist society, so the character’s race is never relevant before or after that scene, so it never needs to be mentioned before or after that scene…

I thought it was a little bit later in the book, but yeah. The point may have been to point out to the reader that the character’s race was really irrelevant. There’s also a scene earlier where we find that Rico’s parents were in Buenos Aires, so some readers might jump to the conclusion that Rico was Argentinian or at least a Latin American. Heinlein, of course, tells you that such a conclusion would not be valid.

Another SF example is Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash. In the first chapter (ish), it is briefly mentioned that the main character is black. The topic is immediately dropped and I believe never returned to again. The point being that he’s black, so what?

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**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2015, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-fictional-characters-with-little-or-no-physical-description/716322/22 "2015-03-31T22:58:09Z")

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I write for children and unless some physical characteristic is absolutely necessary to the plot, I don’t describe my characters at all. Let the illustrators use their imagination.

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**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\
**Post date:** [April 1, 2015, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-fictional-characters-with-little-or-no-physical-description/716322/23 "2015-04-01T02:32:56Z")

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> [@Scumpup](#):
>
> What did Mrs. Hudson look like?

Ever read the Solar Pons stories by August Derleth? Actually quite good, but Pons’ landlady, at 7B Praed Street, Mrs. Johnson, is almost always described as “Well-scrubbed.”

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