As discussed last week, I’m not especially interested in what characters look like, not even the hero in a romance. Their personality is more important.
I can’t actually think of any character descriptions I find puzzling.
But there are a few character descriptions I find off-putting:
Describing the character as looking like an actor I don’t like or don’t find appealing. Or referencing an actor I don’t know and can’t picture. Or referencing an actor I do know of but without mentioning the role (Harrison Ford in Raiders of the Lost Ark is not the same kind of attractive as Harrison Ford in Air Force One or Harrison Ford in Star Wars: The Force Awakens).
Characters with facial hair. I’m not personally a fan of moustaches or beards, but do admit they can look good (a cleanshaven Aragorn would be all kinds of wrong, in the same way as a bearded Frodo would have been wrong). But I really don’t like the permanent three-day beard. It just seems like someone is too lazy to shave, but not committed to the proper beard thing.
However, an off-putting character description doesn’t necessarily put me off reading the book. I’m more likely to mentally replace the character’s three-day stubble with a cleanshaven face, or replace the author’s choice of Mr Darcy with Colin Firth and keep reading.
