Q&A with Elspeth Cooper discussion

I generally describe a character in broad strokes, highlighting a key feature, then sprinkle in a few more details as we go and let the reader build up their own picture.

As a reader, do you prefer the author to give detailed descriptions of their characters? Do you like to know precisely how aquiline his nose is, or the exact colour of her eyes?

I like hair colour, eye colour, height and build. I will fill in the gaps besides these... usually influenced by the front cover, but if I don't like what I see, then usually I just let my biases drive the description.

I tend to get grumpy if writers describe too much, generally because the character in my head has to fit *my* fantasy, otherwise I feel directed and the immersion isn't the same. I've a whole cast of pretty men and pretty women in my head, from a whole range of books, and that's how I like it to stay! ;)

Basic appearance is always, always best. Less is more, naturally.

That's pretty much the way I do it too, as a reader: I tend to disregard the cover image, and prefer to build my own ideas of the characters from the text.