: Re: What would a reader like to know about a character first? Two characters of opposite sex meet in a blank room (nothing remarkable about the setting) for the first time and the reader isn't

@Welton431

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This is far more personal a question than you might think, because it depends entirely about your voice as a writer. Let me take your example and give you examples based on it. (it makes sense, if you think about it)

Matrix-styled. He stood tall, no matter that he was once again in a white room. The Loading Program, they called it; he mostly called it a heart attack waiting to happen. More important than that, though, was the one who stood before him. Her tight leather outfit hugged her curves in all the right places, but the dark shades and the crease between her eyebrows told him that checking her out just now wasn't the smart option... or sane.

Fantasy-styled. Her first trial. She was fidgeting from the nerves, and the fact that the only other person in the bland room was a man that could pass for a boulder certainly didn't help. Was she supposed to fight him? Was he her first trial? Or was he the one meant to explain what was going on? She didn't know, but his frown and tightly crossed arms didn't help the queasiness in her tummy any.

Sci-Fy Styled. He looked around, finding no one but the woman command said was to be his new partner. New partner, he mused, scoffing at the thought. Barely a week after Briggs took a plasma grenade in the face, and already they were trying to piggy him with some rookie he never met. With a soft click, his infantry railgun powered down, the normally ever-present hum fading into the background, and he slung it over his shoulder. She was at least wearing corps mech-armor; that was a blessing. Briggs was stupid enough to wear her graduation uniform--the idiot. She clicked her visor up, her cocked eyebrow hinting at unasked questions. He could only sigh, wondering just how screwed he was with whipping this one into shape.

Detective Noire Styled. He stood there, his tanned trench coat dripping from the downpour she could still hear beating against the room's only window. Supposedly the answers to her prayers, her friend told her as much. The best, she'd said. Not much chance of that; he looked like something the cat dragged in. Still, her problem needed solving, and the way his eyes were drinking her in suggested he'd be motivated to do just that. Only time would tell.

Notice that in none of these scenes did I describe much of the characters, but I'm willing to bet you could tell me quite a bit about each Point of View character. Sure, I could have had one of them fiddling with a sword or a sub-machine gun. But, you see something about them just in the references they make, the words used in their thoughts and how they perceive the world.

Think like the character your using for the Point of View, and work with their thought patterns. You'd be amazed just what you can get away with--and frankly people are going to criticize you regardless of what you say or don't say. After all, Rowling and Maas both have critics breathing down their necks, while their fans are crying out praises. Find what works for you. No matter how detailed, how telly, how showy. Everything has its place and time. It's about telling a story well, whatever methods or techniques you use just says how you plan on telling it.

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