Signature Description

I’ve been thinking about signature descriptions a bit lately, so here are my thoughts on them. The first time I thought about them was when I watched this video about how Rowling wrote Harry Potter as a series of mysteries. The important part for signature descriptions starts around the 5:20 timestamp. Then, when I wrote my Brother Bones review, I put down Bones’ signature description (slouch hat, black coat, white skull mask), which is widely used in the stories to announce his arrival (since things are rarely described from his point of view).

Signature descriptions, be they looks, tools, specific expressions, or other things about a character, can be very useful in writing, because they make the character easily recognizable. While that might be of little importance if you only write one story about a character, it’s very useful in a series, because the audience grows used to the descriptions and can thus unconsciously recognize important characters (not just the main lead, but also recurring characters) merely by their description.

If you check the video above, you’ll find a short quiz where three short descriptions of side characters where put down for you to guess them - I got two of them right and would have made the third with, perhaps, two more seconds of thinking before the solutions were shown. None of the descriptions, of course, includes a name. They’re not even including the gender. But since Rowling keeps descriptions of her characters to a few easily memorable things, you still automatically recognize them.

Physical traits and looks are part of the characters you write. And you need to put them down somewhere, so the readers have an idea about who those characters are. When I started to write the Knight Agency series, I pretty early on figured out the clothing preferences and overall looks for Jane and Steven.

Jane is slightly below average height, has an athletic build, pale-blond hair in a pixie cut, and vividly blue eyes. The short hair is due to her taste as well as a security measure - long hair is easier to grab in a fight and being pulled around by your hair really, really hurts. The athletic build is due to her keeping in shape for her job as an agent. The other things, hair and eye colour and height, are genetic.

Steven is tall and has a strong frame, his hair colour is mostly unknown, because he shaves his head daily (but Secret Keeper has a scene suggesting it’s dark brown or black), and his eyes are dark. Despite his age (he’s 68), Steven still keeps in shape and is dangerous to cross. The shaved head isn’t only a logical next step from Jane’s short hair (a woman usually won’t get away with a shaved head, though), but also a way to disguise his age, because it won’t show his hair turning grey (or falling out completely). Again, height, eye colour, and hair colour are genetic.

The clothing preferences actually developed quickly, too. Jane likes relaxed clothing she can easily move in, so I gave her a signature outfit of sneakers, hoodie, and cargo pants - easy to move it, a lot of pockets to put stuff in, easy to hide in a crowd with. Steven, on the other hand, always wears a suit - usually a three-piece suit and always a bespoke one from Bradshaw and Son (they are introduced in Key Pieces). He can wear his surroundings like his skin, so he can blend in whenever he desires.

While their signature looks are very different, their characters are not. Jane and Steven are pretty alike in abilities and basic traits, which is why they make such a good team. I liked their juxtapose clothing preferences, too, because it is something they can banter about every now and then.

Signatures for Inez and Tom, the main characters of the Magpies series (first novel to be released later this year), are a little different. Inez’ signature so far is her rainbow-coloured hair, Tom’s is his stiff right knee. But signature descriptions can also evolve a little over time, as long as they are kept consistent.

Superheroes have a signature look, even if it changes now and then with changes in fashion or technology. They usually have signature colours (like Superman’s blue, red, and yellow), often signature symbols (like Batman’s bat symbol), and some also have signature tools or weapons (like Thor’s hammer). The colour scheme for the outfit often also comes back in the design of any accessories the hero uses. How strong the signature look is depends a lot on the hero as a such. The more ‘low-key’ the hero, the less obvious the look normally.

Beside visual signatures, there also are others. Audible signatures often are catchphrases (like Bart Simpson’s ‘eat my shorts’) or very specific ways of talking. Accents or dialects play in this direction, especially if they come with specific words or expression. The Death of the Discworld speaks like this, which makes him recognizable on page and translates well into an echo effect when sound really comes into play (in movies or audio books). A very unique voice can also serve as a signature, but is harder to present on page than in a medium with sound.

Another signature might be smell, but it’s not used as often, because smell isn’t as high on the list of described input as visual and audible clues. Yet, a specific perfume might play a role, especially in a mystery story, where it might betray the whereabouts of a character (in places with little air circulation, smells might linger for quite a while). If a viewpoint character is a werewolf or another being with a heightened sense of smell, smells will definitely play a larger role in the narrative and thus can become part of a signature description more easily.

Usually, signature descriptions are limited to the senses. Looks, sounds, and smells mostly, because tastes or tactile information are not something you work with in a regular scene. The viewpoint character needs to be very close to someone else to get a taste or a feel. In addition to specific looks, specific phrases or a very unique voice can serve as a signature. The same goes for a specific smell, since smell carries further than taste and can linger under the right circumstances.

For the signature description to be effective, it’s important to keep to the same or similar words for your description. Like this, the description is etched into the reader’s memory and at some point, they will automatically identify the character by the description. Try to keep it simple, too. Not too many words, not too many specifics. Just a few words which will be ingrained in the readers’ minds and allow them to identify the character later on.

You can, by the way, also use signature descriptions for places or objects, but that’s not done as often. Behaviour can also be a signature, but you should be more careful with that and not have your main character always biting their lip or scratching their head or giggling at the wrong time. That usually gets old rather quickly.

So, signature descriptions. A good way to keep the main cast of a story in the readers’ minds. Keep them simple, don’t overdo them, make them logical (in combination with a character’s character). Then they’re a great tool for every writer, but especially for someone who plans on a very long story or several with the same set of people.