I challenge you to write one sentence that strongly characterizes a person, real or fictitious. Let's see if we tend to characterize by physical appearance or by character. Let's see if a single descriptive sentence taken out of context is effective, or not.
Posted by HSO (Member # 2056) on :
Hmmm... only one?
After Johnny said, "I'm not cheating on you, sweetheart," I kicked the lying bastard in the nuts... twice.
Posted by mikemunsil (Member # 2109) on :
(and no, this is not an entry)
Posted by Paul-girtbooks (Member # 2799) on :
It was the resigned look in her haunted, hazel eyes, and the way the corner of her mouth turned down in that cute frown of hers, that really broke my heart and not the words she spoke next.
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
"He's so cheap that it takes him six months to go through a roll of toilet paper."
Posted by Robyn_Hood (Member # 2083) on :
Then this fiery little red-head walked up to me and declared she was going to fly!
Posted by MG (Member # 2938) on :
Eleonor, our scientific advisor, always had something to say; if you saw her pushing her glasses closer to the bridge of her cute, button-like nose and leaning forward on her chair, you'd better go to the bathroom first and *then* listen.
A bit on the longish side :0
MG
Posted by Spaceman (Member # 9240) on :
The flappy jowels and protruding nose stood in testiment to his conservative outlook and win-at-all-costs attitude.
Who does this describe?
Posted by NMgal (Member # 2769) on :
She popped one hip out to the side, tilted her head, and gave him the high wattage smile that helped her win the 1999 Ms. Texas Pageant.
Posted by KevinMcGowan (Member # 3170) on :
When his eyes began to glaze and his head started to list, it was obvious we had passed the point of comprehension.
Posted by Constipatron (Member # 3183) on :
Her caterwaul penetrated us with dread as her sunken, hungry eyes sparked with insatiable fury; enough for her to exert her hypnotic piles of flab.
Posted by Susannaj4 (Member # 3189) on :
He spent most of his life being perfectly pompous and unattentive to the world around him.
Posted by Ted Galacci (Member # 3254) on :
I notice a lot of people are telling and not showing. Also, most of the characters are not sympathetic. Here's my effort:
The rain poured down on Johnny, but not on the kittens in his coat.
[This message has been edited by Ted Galacci (edited March 05, 2006).]
Posted by Saint Fu (Member # 3284) on :
Agnes hated her name and the Saint it belonged to, and above all she hated her mother who chose it.
Posted by hoptoad (Member # 2145) on :
Paulie Phfink ducked out of the street and into the nearest shop desperate to avoid his schoolmates and sweating as he watched them through the window.
[This message has been edited by hoptoad (edited March 23, 2006).]
Posted by hoptoad (Member # 2145) on :
Or: Paulie Phfink was as round and bland as a boarding-house pudding.
[This message has been edited by hoptoad (edited March 27, 2006).]
Posted by Mr.Confused (Member # 3317) on :
She had ocean blue eyes and lips like crimson, but it was her voice that had awakened his heart.
Posted by Willster328 (Member # 3321) on :
For some reason he'd never been able to frown, even when his facial muscles were relaxed, his lips would somehow still curve upward slightly, and if that wasn't noticeable, it always looked like his eyes were smiling anyways.
hahah can anyone guess how I've characterized this character to be?
Posted by Aalanya (Member # 3263) on :
In her younger years she had been smooth like an apple, both in look and manner, but now that she was old the apple had rotted, and in all ways she was poison to those around her.
Posted by Ray (Member # 2415) on :
Janet finished her salad, and when the waiter reached for her plate, she belched loud enough that half the restaurant turned their heads toward her.
Posted by hoptoad (Member # 2145) on :
I like that one, Ray.
Posted by FastCat (Member # 3281) on :
Augie Phipps sighed heavily and took his third look at his watch since his wife's funeral began.
Posted by Po (Member # 3336) on :
He looked to her as alive and lively as the vivid tapestries that adorned the walls of the palace.
Posted by Po (Member # 3336) on :
And this one doesn't exactly describe one person, rather a group of people. I apologize in advance for the strong language...
In their wifebeaters and chinos with their hair slicked back or shaved, with their slutty girlfriends hanging on them, they seemed to forget that they were only teenage boys playing at being grown men.
Posted by oldhippie (Member # 3342) on :
Farrell drew himself up to his full six-foot-one and answered her, saying, "Hell no, I didn't invest in your business; I invest in people and not things."
Posted by Wusong101 (Member # 3320) on :
As the tea leaves fell into the hot water they writhed like tormented souls and he sighed at how they seemed to define him.
Posted by hoptoad (Member # 2145) on :
I like your entry OldHippie. I get a very clear image of this bloke.
Posted by Snowden (Member # 3340) on :
Caleb reached up with a callused hand and pulled the cap down, protecting his eyes from the rising sun.
Posted by wyrd1 (Member # 3366) on :
Butte's eyes didn't flinch under the grey ballcap, he didn't cry or even curse the fool who had fumbled the beam that had torn the six inch gash across his thickly muscled torso.
[This message has been edited by wyrd1 (edited April 20, 2006).]
Posted by Laralynzy (Member # 3372) on :
The engaging green of his eyes went cold and flat as he allowed his war face to emerge, the killer stare that indicated he had detached from his emotions and had sighted his target.
Posted by Hygge (Member # 3313) on :
The boy's father remained standing, his back as straight as a redwood tree, and fought back tears as he heard the story of his son's tragic death at the hands of his friends.
Posted by GodSpoken (Member # 3385) on :
Sighing, she settles onto the floor and watches as the kindling flares and bursts into a tiny inferno that will rapidly burn itself to cinder - without the least impact on the chill - if she fails to feed it further.
Posted by Bionic Fuzz on :
Agatha closed the door with a smile, tossed the the unopened box of 'Thin Mints' in the trash and headed back down to the basement.
[This message has been edited by Bionic Fuzz (edited May 03, 2006).]
[This message has been edited by Bionic Fuzz (edited May 03, 2006).]
Posted by giggles (Member # 3279) on :
Martha waggled her head and said, "writing isn't a horrible career; it is the degradation of individualism, suppressing visionaries from achieving prominence in a society of traditionalists, which is glory I wish to obtain."
Posted by RantNRave (Member # 3426) on :
As Phil lowered the rifle, he wiped away the tear that was falling down his cheek and wondered if it was the result of either witnessing the horror of seeing such a magnificant animal lose its life so quickly and effortlessly, or from the relief that it wasn't his bullet that took it, or from the realization that none of his buddies saw his failure and he wouldn't have to explain why.
Posted by CarolynNicita (Member # 3416) on :
During the unit on the female reproductive system in biology class, 6'5" Mr. Koenig, also the track coach, would hold the life-sized diagram in front of his own torso with a confidently-heterosexual swagger which made the class laugh so hard they drowned out the co-instructor's lesson.
Posted by wetwilly (Member # 1818) on :
She was a really strong character.
Posted by MightyCow (Member # 3384) on :
Lacy poked one finger through the hole in her left sock, pulled it off of her foot, and kneeling on Ray's chest, mopped it across the thick stream of blood that dribbled from the hole in his neck on its way toward the bathroom door.
Posted by mikemunsil (Member # 2109) on :
I love reading these.
Posted by teddyrux (Member # 1595) on :
“I enjoy seeing the face of my victims as I kill them, but this time I’ll make an exception.”
This is spoken by the main character in my current WIP.
Posted by Ellepepper (Member # 3520) on :
I miss red, its such a vibrant color, but it reminds me of my other me; the killer.
Spoken by one of my characters in a WIP.
Posted by Kilgore__Trout (Member # 3502) on :
"This is not my life", she thought as she kneeled hunched over letting her head press into the carpet and tears stream out the swelling eye and down her forehead.
[This message has been edited by Kilgore__Trout (edited July 01, 2006).]
Posted by TMan1969 (Member # 3552) on :
Phil looked menacingly at his partner, his strong hands gripped tightly on the steering wheel. His partner watched as Phil's jaw clenched and he wondered why he was so unforgiving.
Posted by TMan1969 (Member # 3552) on :
Ethan's face went white when he saw George, the neighbors dog. He wrung his hands nervously and plotted a safe route to get his father.
Posted by TMan1969 (Member # 3552) on :
A wide grin spread across his face as he anxiously tore at the wrapping paper of his gift. Anger knotted his face when he saw its true contents, a wool knitted sweater with dancing deer. His Grandamother smiled at him and his mother nudged him, Jorge looked up with a forced smile, "Wow, thanks Grandma this is a beautiful sweater"
Posted by Tom_Shandruk (Member # 3573) on :
Though they all knew that he did not understand, but there he was, sitting there with that distant, comprehensive stare that he was known for.
[This message has been edited by Tom_Shandruk (edited July 22, 2006).]
Posted by Hygge (Member # 3313) on :
John’s own world defined by three items, worthless to the rest of the world but priceless to him.
Posted by Hygge (Member # 3313) on :
Patiently Elaine waited in line, doing the things one does when their time is being robbed by the incompentence of others.
Posted by DeathtotheSwiss (Member # 3715) on :
Joshua fell down a lot these days.
Posted by Giskard (Member # 3808) on :
Trying to ignore the ringing phone, he hugged his knees and started flipping through the channels with the remote
Posted by Infernal (Member # 7770) on :
"So you ready for that drink," he asked, pulling his sword free of the last of the bodies.
Posted by arriki (Member # 3079) on :
The boy scowled. “Name’s not Fred. I’m Tiger. Tiger Holmes, like in Warland.” The latest VR game for the eight and younger set. “I’m tough!”
Posted by InarticulateBabbler (Member # 4849) on :
"I can do a hell of a lot more than cook, bandage," at which point she yanked the cloth bandage's knot tight, "and bang some filthy prospector."
Posted by Gabriel's_Trumpet (Member # 7809) on :
Aww, only one? Oh well, let's see what I can do.
She looked at me incredulously as I went on in a low voice, "Even though he's hurt the ones I care about most so much, I cannot kill a helpless man."
Posted by Noele (Member # 8081) on :
"This won’t solve itself, Mom!"
My most current WIP. A little cliche, maybe.
Posted by Natej11 (Member # 8547) on :
Maybe it was how his eyes suggested that all the easy smiles and warm banter were nothing more than skilled playacting, and that his personality was simply a costume.
Posted by ScardeyDog (Member # 8707) on :
Ok, here goes:
"Her face had grown wrinkled and her hair dull, but Mable’s eyes still sparked with the fire and determination of a ten-time world poker champion."
Posted by aspirit (Member # 7974) on :
Staring at the trail of her bloody heelprints on the carpet, she thought, I won't cry; I can clean this before he sees what I've done. Posted by brockbooher (Member # 8570) on :
"I'm innocent!" shouted Jamil, but the sound traveled no further than the soundproofed walls of the the dimly lit interrogation room.
Posted by waterchaser (Member # 8729) on :
Will scrunched up against the jetty, his knees protecting his face, and, after removing removing a quarter and placing it flat against his hirsute inner arm, he tied off and went about his dark ritual, finishing with a cigarette he lit beneath his shirt to protect the tiny flame from the screaming Atlantic wind.
I must admit this was done at work and I was a bit distracted. Let me see if I can redeem myself with something a bit more compact.
Having quaffed his drink and smoothed his black tie and matching cummerbund, he strolled up behind the leggy blond leaning out over the balcony to firmly squeeze a handful of one of her copious flanks through her thin, black cocktail dress, and only after she spun and slapped him adroitly did he bother to introduce himself, saying "I'm sorry, ma'am, I thought you was my sister, but seeing as how as you have all your teeth and toes, I believe it is my delicious duty to ask you to dance in the hopes that I can discover who committed the egregious error of leaving you alone at my party without having first introduced us."
Here's another attempt to cram a character into the corridors of one sentence.
After surveying with cold blue eyes each of the black-masked snipers carefully training the infrared laser scopes of their military grade M249s at his chest, he opened the well worn overcoat to reveal a white tee-shirt, a grungy rag stained red and peppered over with bullet holes, and said with a smile as broad as half of Texas, "I'm going to tell you like I told my last two ex-wives: if you can find a heart, cry havoc and have at, but if not, I'm coming after your..."
[This message has been edited by waterchaser (edited July 28, 2009).]
Posted by RillSoji (Member # 1920) on :
This looks fun Here's a couple...
"I'm doing this because no one else will save them," He whispered as he lifted his eyes to to the smokey heavens and cursed them, "Not even you."
***
"I'm not going to roll the proverbial rock into the pond just because you're afraid of a few ripples if I toss the damn thing!"
***
Seeing no alternative route and with their pursuers closing in, Zantra dropped her human illusion, grabbed the prince who stood protectively in front of her and then threw herself backwards through tower window; trusting her sense of flight wasn't too dulled after all these months in disguise with the wingless ones.
***
There was something about his favorite political rival that made him shorter tempered than a bull in mating season.
***
After a few hours and Nathan not having struck a single blow, Matthew finally let his sword drop from his exhausted hand and said "I'd bet everything I own that there's no one on this world nor in the five hells that could get past your shield Nathan, but one day you will face an enemy you must strike at."
Posted by Ben Trovato (Member # 7804) on :
"Undefeated willpower is NOT a virtue, Daddy," Elfriede said silently.
Posted by Architectus (Member # 8809) on :
Henry, whose hands bore the marks of a farmer, never wanted to be president of the United States, but it just sort of happened that way.
Posted by MrsBrown (Member # 5195) on :
Ruth knew she should focus on her technical document, but daydream characters floated through her mind, begging for new adventures.
Posted by ecnewton (Member # 8526) on :
In darkness she silently moved between the shadows of the alley with her long cloak sweeping the ground and a sheer vail covering her eyes, twisted weapons of fate.
Posted by Joseph Forrest (Member # 8460) on :
The old world had spit him from its bowels and he evolved into the best killer the world had ever known.
Posted by abozzo64 (Member # 8865) on :
No one had ever seen her hair freed from the band that kept her hair in the schoolmarm bun.
Posted by BenM (Member # 8329) on :
As he stirred his hot milk Harry's mind wandered, tuning out Mother's droning lecture and turning to the familiar world of adventure on the high seas, of krakens and whirlpools and noble heroes making great sacrifices.
Posted by abozzo64 (Member # 8865) on :
how does one edit a post? i didn't proof before submitting.
Posted by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (Member # 59) on :
Right above the words in your post are a couple of icons. The one on the right is supposed to look like a pencil and paper.
If you click on that icon, you will get a page that lets you edit your post and then submit it again.
Posted by Spencer Thurgood (Member # 8913) on :
The bitter wind carried more then the winter chill, it carried an icy feeling that Richard knew only too well.
Posted by Hygge (Member # 3313) on :
Only the bitter cold kept the infant from screaming into the darkness of the empty room.
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
He was a dark and stormy knight...
Posted by Crane (Member # 9586) on :
*snort* Dark and stormy knight. That's the funniest thing I've read this week!
All right, lets see:
His cigarette smoke made every vitriolic syllable visible, "Poison is a woman's weapon."
One more, this is fun:
He squinted into the waitress's acid glare as he loosened his tie, "That's okay, babe. I like my coffee like I like my women: bitter and murky."
[This message has been edited by Crane (edited August 02, 2011).]
Posted by Kokor Hekkus (Member # 9593) on :
He stood straight-backed in the arena, his nondescript looks belying the sense of competence he radiated.
Posted by MattLeo (Member # 9331) on :
He enjoyed looking good.
Posted by nirele (Member # 9634) on :
Dalan had only loved one of his whores, and that bitch had left him with a daughter.
Posted by MattLeo (Member # 9331) on :
Here's one from the query summary of my current WIP:
quote:Captain Kate MacClaine is decisive, resourceful and self-reliant, but despite being good-hearted she's also impatient, blunt and overbearing.
(and no, this is not an entry)
Here's a couple...