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"Garb" or "dress" (without an article) is a rather drab abstract noun for what a person is wearing. Youre more than welcome to join us and wed love to have you on board. They can tell us what era they live in, and even a persons current state of mind or intent. As with body armor, great efforts were made with the designs of helmets. for any particular parts of an outfit. Can you imagine tweaking this to make your own set of fantasy armor? A simple t-shirt could be cut diagonally in the front, give both shoulder parts a different style from the arms, elongate one side and so on. Use your first-person narrators senses sight, hearing, touch, etc. You walk down the usual street and suddenly some old memory hits you. Like all forms of exposition, your goal is to deliver this information without pulling the reader out of the story. Pingback: A fantasy writers guide to Castles and Keeps: part one Richie Billing. In some cases because they simply didn't have the technology for it, in others because it was too expensive and/or time consuming for the average person. With the major shapes in the thumbnails defined, choose the one that best exemplifies the feeling you're looking for. Clothing description also presents an opportunity to play with different points of view. Subtle clothing changes can signal character development quite effectively in some scenarios. The surrounding culture dictates what they cant wear if they want to be seen as free-thinking individuals. The clothes a person wears tellsus many things: their status in life, for example, or their cultural affiliation or identity. Look at this picture, is it insane for an author to try to describe this on a character? Describing clothes : writing - reddit Are they overalls or coveralls? Make them earn any sightof skin, Aunt P always said. This usually involves dresses from some time pre-renaissance and a tunic or shirt paired with trousers for men and women who are doing warrior stuff. A four-layer, bubble-gum pink taffeta skirt. One does not refer to "a garb". Scarves as we know them today weren't really a thing in the middle ages (they were way different) and hoods pretty much came in the form of chaperons and liripipes (Google for reference if needed), not as part of a piece of clothing. Well, mostly. Which of these clothing types is your character most likely to reach for when starting their day? It's part of culture, so it's definitely something to keep in mind since your fictional universes will have some form of culture as well. The tragedy of Azincourt, for example, occurred because of a poorly-chosen battleground that had flooded. Stylish. In other words: To describe a fantasy world, use either neutral terms, or made up words. Once quenched, the steel was re-heated to make it more resilient. Pingback: A fantasy writers guide to weaponry Richie Billing. Pfoo, the owl! Impoverished with children to care for, she uses her last money to give her husband a dignified funeral. This article was very helpfulcan you post some examples of showing versus telling when describing clothing? What backstory or character motivations could combinations of appearance and reality suggest? For more information, please see our This pride, though justifiable, displeased Katerina Ivanovna for some reason. Not a Dabble user? Chest plates had grand etchings. I can only imagine the pain of the chafing! Using the work of Alexander McQueen, this unit guides students through the analysis of a fashion collection, introducing them to the critical language and methodologies needed to evaluate fashion design and runway presentation. A jacket or coat of mail was usually worn with a hood, or coif, of the same material to protect the head and neck. The eye slits were narrow to prevent all sizes of arrowheads from finding their way through. Its a good time. The jacket has a narrow, rectangular neckline which reveals part of the fancy shirt worn below it and is worn with a light rope belt, which is held together by a simple knot. Your article is really great. I used to be under the mindset that describing attire was boring and it was better to let the reader fill in those details but especially with the novel Im working on now, I have used clothing to portray more about their character. Describe these in passing to add visual colour and authenticity to your character descriptions. Is your central conflict a life-or-death situation? The time period of your story. So here are some more ways to alter a design while sticking with familiarity and a more historic feel: Thanks Chuck! It can genuinely be tough to come up with cool ideas for epic fantasy armor without drifting back to things that weve seen in the likes of Dungeons and Dragons, The Elder Scrolls and movies like Lord of the Rings. Changes in characters clothing can help revealcharacter development. Beyond medieval Europe, you have the Far East, the Romans, Viking Before you know it youll have designed a full set of fantasy roman or viking armor. One character might demonstrate their power by showing up to prom in a designer gown. Clothing in fantasy novel | Absolute Write Water Cooler But it can also be fun to play with the confidence and ease that comes with wealth. But it makes a good story. Jordan is a writer, editor, community manager and product developer. In most cases simply copying the style of whichever era you've based your story on is enough, but it can be fun to create your own styles and in some cases it'd make sense to have your own styles as well. Impress someone with my indifference? So its unsurprising to see soldiers wielding swords and axes and shooting bows. What your character wears can tell us a lot about how they feel or how they want to feel. Like say a vest with mirrored sequins and rhinestones, but they all go in a pattern and you feel the need to describe the pattern line by line? Pingback: Fantasy Weapons - Medieval, Magic And Other Types - Richie Billing, Helping writers on their journey and readers find their next favourite story.. Have fun with it. How does their attire reflect what they want, what they fear, or where theyre going? 160 Best Character description ideas | character description, fantasy Reddit - Dive into anything Figurative language . 100 Words to Describe Clothes - grammarhow.com We all love a character with a cool set of fantasy armor: the baresark Rek from David Gemmells Legend with his enchanted coat of bronze, or Tomas from Raymond Feists Riftwar Cycle with his gleaming white dragon plate which gifted him incredible power. Like Dostoyevsky, think how something as small as a characters change of clothing can affecttheir own or others behaviour. This is mostly something to keep in mind when designing for characters living in the future, but it could work for alternative historic universes as well. Imagine your own armored knights storming through the battlefield like iron giants. Helmets were arguably the most distinctive feature of an armored knight. Amalias dress thus comes across as insensitive to her; malicious even. But Ive also noticed that artful clothing description does make a character, a setting, and even a moment more engaging. Read these tips on how (and why) to describe clothes with examples from well-known novels: 1: Use clothing to show status and position 2: Build (or thwart) character expectations with clothing descriptions 3: Describe clothing to contrast characters' personalities 4: Show clothing to avoid over-relying on telling He is old but stylish. The clothing itself can be just standard medieval gear, but with these elements they immediately look (wood) elvish. Now, if you write historical fiction, its important to research the clothing of your chosen era. Richie Billing writes fantasy fiction, historical fiction and stories of a darker nature. Arrows will bounce off steel crafted in such a wayunless from close range, as we discussed last week. Black and white usually does the trick as well. - Mix cultures. Armor, therefore, wasnt that heavya full suit weighed approximately 50 pounds, which is around 3 to 4 stone. Leather could be stitched into coats, or added to mail to provide added protection. But the definition of sneaky depends on your characters situation. Or theyll be living off soda crackers and peanut butter for the next week because they drained their checking account for a suit to impress at their job interview. Cookie Notice These images all go a lot further than white socks, green dress, and most of them dont require a lot of extra words. So have fun with that. Here are some classic characteristics you can draw out through clothing description. Richard the Lionheart, for instance, was celebrated amongst his peers for his ability to chop his enemys skulls down to the teeth. Clean, powerful strikes were needed to disable a foe wearing mail. The fact the clothes seem to stand by themselves indicates just how heavy they are with jewels and embroidery. Although such armor exists in fantasy worlds, its important to understand how things work in the real world, even at a basic level. Be specific and accurate. The shrewd king essentially licensed out parcels of his land as rewards to his warriors in exchange for their military service. Knights were, indeed, hard to defeat in battle. He received his BA Honours in English Literature and his undergraduate in English Literature and Music from the University of Cape Town. Join Kickstart your Novel and get professional feedback on your first three chapters and story synopsis, plus workbooks and videos. They looked something like this: One of the main defensive strengths of plated armor came from its curved design, which deflected both blades and arrows. Its about building a life and a world, and that is something you can do. Maybe your character is snuggled up in their fleece pajamas while the blizzard rages outside. Elsewhere, Mantels novel is full of descriptions of garments for specific, era-appropriate purposes: Riding cloaks, town coats, and other clothing people of means would have worn at this time. Understanding how to describe clothing in a story well will help you create fuller, richer character portraits. In battle, you are trying to strike a moving target, so mail was sufficient as most blows were glancing ones. 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One very important aspect of describing attire well is understanding why youre describing it in the first place. The important thing to remember is to remain in the character's point of view. In a book, none of that is true. its obviously black with a centered zipper is easy but then the various pieces, the shapes, the colors, like two rows of this then a row of that, you get what I mean? Id be willing to bet each of these items immediately brought to mind a semi-clear character. Heating to the perfect temperature was key. With these two changes alone you already have an item that didn't exist in medieval times, but is familiar enough to work in a fantasy setting. Play with the question of presentation and power! That said, once you describe how a person dresses you shouldn't really keep doing it unless it is relevant to the plot. When heated, steel turns from yellow, to brown, to blue, to red. In visual mediums like TV or comics, cool outfits are on-screen the whole time, and they're the first and most obvious impression you'll get of the character, so they have a big impact on how the character is perceived. Dr. Urbino in Marquezs example above fits the latter category. Also bear in mind that not all clothing descriptions have to be presented as She put on x or He was wearing y. You can draw your readers attention to an item of clothing by having your character draw on their jeans or fiddle with their collar. 04. As I write this, I am wearing jeans that are too big, a gray t-shirt I inherited from a former roommate, and a pilled hoodie from a lighting vendor that works with my friends husbands company. Given that I am writing alone in my apartment, you might rightfully conclude that my goal is to be comfortable. Youre already obsessing over hat styles and what the undergarment situation was at the time of your story. They're the ones who are always there to lend a helping hand, crack a joke, or provide some much-needed emotional relief.And let's be real, sometimes they dont go unsung. It took a while to get ready, with the help of somebody else needed, usually squires, who began with the feet and worked up from there. It took leaving the Midwest to recognize it. The fact that Mail was lightweight and flexible. Strips of leather were boiled in water, though some sources record oil and wax being used, and even animal urine. Lets delve further into these ideas about describing characters dress: Think of your characters clothing like an actors costume in a play. This may seem like a tricky thing to do as there's so much out there already, but it can often be as simple as simply changing a texture, the patterns used or the amount of fabric.