A question for the fiction writters...

As for descriptions...

There's a balance between being descriptive and being vague, and the balance must be maintained if good description is to be achieved.

Kind of like the Force, I guess.

To that end, Beware the vague side! Obscurity leads to unclarity, unclarity leads to confusion, confusion... leads to annoyance!

Is the vague side stronger?

No. Easier, quicker, more seductive.

It's easy to blow off descriptions as slowing down the plot, and there is something to be said for letting the reader use his imagination. But, more often than not, stature, if not looks, will come into play. We also have to consider that our writing, while being actual written prose, is based upon works in a visual medium. No, you don't want to go overboard, and some things are best left to the imagination, but a basic description is always good.

Unless, of course, the character appears in one post of a novel-length fic, in which case a single adjective and a good descriptive common noun are probably more than adequate.

When describing an original alien race, it's good to be especially descriptive. If there's something unusual about your character's appearance, make sure to point that out. (Remember, though, that if something really stands out, it would be good to make it a plot point. Simply mentioning the fact that this thing stood out to everyone who met your character without doing anything with that thing is an earmark of Mary-Sueism -- while Mary Sues can be useful, this example is one of going overboard.) If you want to give a good physical description, maybe give it through the eyes of your main character, as he/she takes in a first impression.

Things like complexion, hair, and shape can be mentioned, though you don't want to go into too much detail. It may be bland to say "She was tall, with wavy brown hair, green eyes, and a nice figure," but it's better than "She was five-foot-eleven, and her hair was the color of Alderaani chesnuts and left hanging over her small, pale ears, cascading down to her shoulders in waves. She looked to be about 36-24-34, a shapely beauty who drew every eye in the room and captured them with the piercing clarity of the emerald eyes that graced her ivory face."

Something in the middle would probably be appropriate. "She had brown hair, worn in waves that hung down to her shoulders. She was tall, and quite shapely, catching the eyes of many men. Her green eyes were accentuated by the color of her dress, a perfect shade against her pale skin. She started to..." Etc.

As for clothing, it really does depend on the situation. If you think it merits mention, then stick it in, but don't be overly descriptive unless the situation calls for it. If she's breaking into an abandoned mine, to mention the fact that she's wearing black is completely appropriate... to mention her thinking about her pumps is stupid.

Context is everything - if she looks sharp in a uniform, mention that. If she's attending a gala, you'll want to describe the dress. If she's just hanging out at home, watching HoloNet, why would you want to go into much detail? And, for crying out loud, if she's breaking into a mine, either she won't be wearing her green knit skirt or it will have been a spur-of-the-moment breaking-and-entering, so the colors are pretty much inconsequential.

 

Well, one thing I had done once was keeping a character quite vague, until at a certain point ( the highest point of the plotline) I made everything (like in a kind of flashlight) clear to explicitely show the character, because that belonged to the story.

I used it like in the Star Wars movies : First Darth Vader is shrouded in mystery, in the next movie we see a bit more of him - who he really was - and in "Return of the Kedi" everything was finally exposed and explained.

That's what I meant.

 

The creation of OCs is easy. Just look around. You have a friend whose character is something interesting? Put him in! You can also look into the classics. There you may find interesting char.traits, which are not SW things, but it would be interesting to place them in a fanfic.
Most of the characters, though, come from inside and represent you, or your different sides. This is Mary Sue phenomena - you might try not to use any character with a physical/inner resemblance of your own self, but you still give him/her your own thoughts and features.

My 2c on the "description" matter.
It depends solely on the purpose and the style of the story. The general rule is true, try to be more precise in descriptions. Because "vague" descriptions are in fact poor descriptions.
But there is more. You can have no descriptions at all, or have very poor descriptions. This is when you can make anything with a simple dialogue. In a dialogue, everything can be made clear.
If it's not important how the character looks, but you need to show all the complexity of his actions - throw descriptions away. They will only stop the reader from understanding your point clearly.
There are stories, where you use reader's imaginative "eyes" - create a vision. There are stories, where you use the reader's "ears" or his "heart/mind", where you describe only the actions or inner matters.

 

Here's an introduction from DOTF of one of my most important OC's:

Fleet Admiral Rik Haas was furious. His steel-gray eyes radiated frustration as he glowered at the young officer on the holoconference screen. He hated going to Coruscant, especially when it involved dealing with politicians, even more so when said politicians were engaged in a heated debate over the Navy?s budget.

He had spent his entire adult life as an officer who took his duty very seriously. His job was to be ready to defend the Republic when called, and was infuriated by the attitude of many Senators, who seemed to interpret the Republic?s lasting period of peace as an excuse to slash defense spending in favor of projects that ensured their re-election.

?I don?t care,? he snapped at the holovid screen. "Commander, it is ridiculous to expect the Navy to effectively defend a third of the outer rim with only a single undersized fleet! Many of our starfighter maintenance crews are reduced to scavenging from salvaged wrecks just to keep their crates out of the hangar long enough to clean out the mynocks in their engine nacelles! Now I don?t care what you have to do, but you tell those credit-pinching nerf herders in the Budget committee to pull their??

Suddenly, a young lieutenant, a courier, bolted into the room, panting from the exertion of running the five flights of stairs that separated the Admiral?s office from the communications room. Haas was not surprised that the fleet could scarcely allocate enough credits to pay for repairing the balky turbolifts. It was just another item on his long list of grievances against the Senate.

?WHAT?? Haas roared, furious that the young officer would interrupt his tirade. Delivery of a good tongue-lashing was a prerogative of rank that Haas held dearly ? it allowed him to keep his sanity.

So I don't really go much into physical description so much as his attitude - because I wanted a Patton or Halsey type officer, brilliant and agressive, but rather coarse. The most important thing about his character is that he is intense and a man of action, doesn't tolerate BS, excuses, or take flak from anyone, and cares far more about doing a competent job than what people think of him or appearing a refined, genteel officer and gentleman.

-Tim