30 Days of Writing, Day 27 → Do appear­ances play a big role in your stories? How you go about design­ing your char­ac­ters.

Yes and no. In real life, a person’s character is more important than her appearance. However, I know that readers need to know what characters look like. Usually I know by the end of the third chapter, although I may not reveal that information until absolutely necessary. This is sometimes a sticking point with editors, because readers like to know what characters look like but I prefer to only reveal what I must, instead of doing a Laurell K. Hamilton-style “here’s everything you need to know about Minor Character X”.