Character descriptions/ information

[Lon3ly]

I’ve been thinking about making a character information thing in the glossary tab but I’m not sure if I should... so I just wanna know people’s opinions.

Do you have character descriptions posted on your story? For readers, do you like that? Or is it just something you skip over?

 

[CupcakeNinja]

I mean you cant NOT have character descriptions in your story. A glossary is just to remember those details later on. It's a good thing

 

[tiaf]

Cupcake really stated it well.
As a reader I like character descriptions well implemented in the story. I don’t need everything as info dump in the main story, especially when there are infos that are not relevant for the story yet. That’s something that should go into the glossary.

Having a character summary in there is really great and people do that not often enough. It helps to pick up a story after a long pause of reading or when there are just too many characters to remember.

 

[Frostbird]

Personally, I have pages worth of character lists and a glossary, along with notes for my story. I do plan on adding a more compact and non-spoiler glossary for my readers though. I think glossaries are great, they help readers reference information, and help people coming back to the story to recall names and other ideas.

 

[Frostbird]

Cupcake really stated it well.
As a reader I like character descriptions well implemented in the story. I don’t need everything as info dump in the main story, especially when there are infos that are not relevant for the story yet. That’s something that should go into the glossary.

Having a character summary in there is really great and people do that not often enough. It helps to pick up a story after a long pause of reading or when there are just too many characters to remember.

Exactly this.

 

[Freesia.Cutepearl]

I've been mulling over this myself. I have written so much lore, and it would help me more solidly define characters in my mind, but at the same time, I don't want to spoil my plans for the story. And while I could try just filling things in as they appear in the story, that seems like just extra work, as I'll need my normal set of notes, and then I'll have to filter it for the glossary to leave out currently unknown things.

I'm really super torn on it. I really want to do it, ever since I realized what it was, and looked at some other people who filled theirs in. But I also don't want to spoil anything. Oh and I know for sure I will get lost and probably write tons of crap in it. I'm already up to around a dozen pages of notes filled with lore stuffs. There is also the issue that I would want to do it properly and I'd have to try to find or make images for everything(assuming they work? I've not tested anything so idk)

What is your opinion? I really don't want to spoil massive plot points but I feel like I can't realistically keep it up to date until it's all available in the story. Previously I thought I'd try it once I finished the story.

 

[K5Rakitan]

Some people have mentioned wanting a cheat sheet to keep track of my characters and who is in a relationship with whom. I made a diagram once upon a time, but it was ugly, so . . . meh. I should probably try and do it again and do it better, but . . . I blame my fetus.

Anyway, I don't think it can hurt, but make sure people know that's not part of the actual story somehow. Many people might want to skip over it and just get to know the characters as the story progresses.

 

[NotaNuffian]

I have a character info page for me to keep track of the people, because I take long breaks in between sentences. It helps.

 

[EternalSunset0]

I have a separate character page on my hard drive, but I do fill the glossary with brief descriptions of characters without spoiling much. Kinda like those first few pages of a light novel where you have art of characters and a sentence or two to describe them.

 

[JaxCreation]

Do you have character descriptions posted on your story?

None of the other writing websites I've posted on have had 'glossaries' so I used to just throw character art at the start/end of my chapters. Personally, I think it's nice having a dedicated space to put concept/character art although some of my character descriptions are kind of troll.

Eventually I'll try and work my way to having a proper character sheet for each person in certain stories - but I'm a lazy PoS so it'll probably take ages.