In comics, this is relatively easy. A comics artist draws and draws and draws different faces based on how they see the character in their mind's eye. Then, as long as they're an artist who's been trained or has an incredible talent, the character will look the same from panel to panel in different angles and different times of the day. In film, the process of casting is an entirely different but equally arduous task.
But in literature, the author has the challenge to create visible characters in the mind's eye of the reader hanging squarely on the shoulders of his prose. The author must build a face, a body--an entire human being with words.
Notice the way we are introduced to the main character's parents in the opening pages of the novel:
The attractive, young couple stood facing each other on the courthouse steps...~ "The Chip" by George Jack; pp. 1-2
James was holding both of his fiancé’s porcelain hands in his, entwining her long, graceful fingers with his fatter, clumsier ones and pulling her close...
His earnest brown eyes were intently searching her smiling green ones...
In her heels, they were almost the same height. Not because James was terribly short—he was a respectable five foot ten—but Jane was almost that tall herself. She cut, everyone said, a striking figure.
With just a few details and a set of spread-out sentences we can see James and Jane Ross. Over the hundred or so pages that follow the details of their mannerisms, speech patterns, and idiosyncrasies will bring us to understand James and Jane as well.
The most important utilization of these physical descriptions comes in describing characters in parallel.
Here is the introduction to the adult Claudia Torres:
...she had grown tall and lean. She had the same heart-shaped face with high cheekbones and soft, almond-shaped eyes, but her features had matured. ... her full lips. Her complexion was flawless. Her thick, chestnut hair cascaded down her long neck, around which there was a delicate, gold locket that contained a picture of her mother. Everything about her was feminine.~ "The Chip" by George Jack; p. 204
And here is the introduction to the villain Virus:
The mysterious woman was dressed in a skintight purple jumpsuit made of rubber. It's pattern revealed the creamy, sinewy flesh of her back and the lithe muscles of her biceps, and hugged her ample chest provocatively. Her thin body was incredibly lean, with legs that seemed at least a mile long. ...her dangerously sharp fingers, and also the belt that accentuated the smallness of her waist. ... The woman's hair, or her wig—The Chip couldn't tell what it was—was a bright, silky violet, cut short and chic, as if it had been styled with a razor. A large chunk of it fell into her beautiful face.~ "The Chip" by George Jack; p. 249-250
It was heart-shaped and heavily made up—the lipstick that painted her full, pouty mouth was almost black. Her brown, almond-shaped eyes were set far apart. One moment they were playfully mischievous and the next, icy cold.
Some strange coincidences here, aren't there? These specific pieces of information allow the reader to answer these questions: Who are the characters of "The Chip"? What do they look like, how do they move?
All of these elements of the narrative must be determined and communicated to the reader in simple written language.
Next week we will talk about the cast of "The Chip" again and answer the question: "How do they think?"
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