Helpful Links for Describing Characters

Before I even begin, note: Any person included in any form of a story is a character for that story.

These links come from the collection I’ve been building over the last few years, and they all have to do with describing a character. From the way they look to the way they speak to how their expressions change, I’ve collected all my favorite websites here to make them easier for you to find!

Rememeber to read all of the descriptions thoroughly to choose the perfect word/phrase. That’s the way to create the best possible character.

Websites for Describing Characters

• Words used to describe someone’s voice: Ever tried to describe someone’s voice, and you just couldn’t think of a word that quite works? This link might just help out. It’ll take you to a page of Macmillon Dictionary (you’ll see a lot of that in this post) that consists of an alphabetically ordered listing of every word that directly has to do with a person’s voice. It’s basically awesome.
• Words used to describe facial expression: Another source from Macmillon Dictionary, this page is set up just like the one with the voices, but with facial expressions instead: It consists of an aphabetically ordered listing of every word that directly has to do with a person’s facial expression. It really helps when trying to pinpoint emotions, I swear.
  • Also, here’s 100 Words for Facial Expressions, which is similar to the list above, but does have some different words. Enjoy!
• Describing a person’s muscles and general shape: Yet another source from Macmilliom Dictionary! This one is exactly what it sounds like: It’s a full listing of every word that directly describes a person’s body shape. Oh my gosh, this might be the most helpful source at all. Seriously! If you don’t want to call a guy handsome or strong, or a girl pretty or skinny, this has a bunch of other options that are much more interesting!
• Physical Feature Thesaurus: Not quite sure what exactly you want your character to look like? This may help. It isn’t a complete list (you’d have to buy the thesaurus for a complete list), but it’s still very langthy and helpful. Arms, backs, ears, toenails—this page has got it all! It even has descriptions for butts! You know, just in case you want the other characters looking…
• Cheat Sheets for Writing Body Language: Are you trying to portray a character’s emotion, but don’t want to just outright say “they were feeling…” so and so emotion? Try using body language. This can also help with your character’s overall attitude. Let’s say your character has a secret to hide. Hey, look! There’s an emotion on the list called “secretiveness!” Now you know exactly how your character might normally act. Or, at least a part of how they might normally act. It helps, I swear.
  • Understanding Body Language and Facial Expressions: If you need help just understanding body language in general, this is a pretty great source. It just goes down a list of different body parts and how they can differ and what such differences might mean. It’s pretty helpful, honestly.
  • Undestanding Body Language: Another source to help you understand body language. I don’t actually use this source all that much, but if you really want to/need to do an in-depth study of body language, this website has a bunch of links to scientific studies and theories of body language.
• Words used to describe clothes: Going back to Macmillion, here’s a list of ways to describe your characters’ clothes. I would suggest being a bit more wary in describing clothes (no one needs to know every detail of what your character is wearing, seriously), but if it’s important to the plot or setting, by all means, go for it. Here’s a great place to properly describe the clothes!
• How to describe a character | Using descriptive words: And here’s a whole page worth of lists for describing different aspects of characters. It mainly includes words to describe facial features, but it goes into all sorts of aspects. It’s definitely very, very helpful.
• Words used to describe someone’s face or features: It’s the return of Macmillian! Seriously, this site is the bomb. It is so helpful. This page on the site is just a list of words used to describe someone’s face or features. It’s just awesome.
• Words used to describe skin color: I would just link Macmillian, but all of these individual pages are the specifically helpful ones, so I’m linking them all individually. Here’s some words for describing skin color.
  • Handy Words for Skin Tones: If you want some more specific ways to describe specific colors, this palette might help you out some. Make sure to be careful in your description, though. Seriously, don’t want to offend anyone.
• Eye Color List: Just so you can get über specific with your eye colors. It’s actually a really fun page to look at… I think I have russet brown eyes. Either that, or chocolate.