And right at the heart of it were the leaders of societythe medieval lords. Like Dostoyevsky, think how something as small as a characters change of clothing can affecttheir own or others behaviour. Maybe your character is snuggled up in their fleece pajamas while the blizzard rages outside. Ideas are forever being shared and discussed. A scarf for example might be too hot for some areas, but it's obviously easy to leave those out. Thanks, Teresa, and for sharing that great example from the stage. If your character comes home and immediately sheds three layers of down and fleece, Im going to assume theyre not in San Antonio, Texas. Not to pile on, but dont forget to make sure you know which materials wereand werentavailable in the world of your novel. As with mail, steel was the best material due to its hardness, which was obtained by heating the steel to extreme temperatures and then submerging it into cold water, a process known as quenching. Youre not infodumping. Have fun with it. Not quite. Again, I don't mean make your character walk around naked, but add elements of covering up or exposing certain areas of the body. You can immediately show a character is wealthy with descriptions of fine clothing. If a knight fell from a horse, he could quite easily pick himself up, not stuck on the ground like a tortoise knocked on its shell. Do your characters care deeply about looking respectable, or are they more afraid of putting on airs? Or one who was forever wearing poorly-fitted clothing that appeared to be handed down from friends? If sturdy is a top consideration, your character might be expecting trouble or adventure. They're the Robin to your Batman, the Luigi to your Mario, the Samwise Gamgee to your Frodo Baggins. Its not an aspect of character design that bubbles up naturally from the depths of my creative soul. What your character wears can tell us a lot about how they feel or how they want to feel. As a quick question, in film you see a lot of heroes and leaders not wearing helmets. Once blue, it is quenched a second time, permanently fixing its hardness. Heres a great visual guide on female fantasy armor by YouTuber Shadiversity. Will using real-world cultural vocabulary in a fantasy setting A common (wood) elvish theme is to have lots of green tints, flowery elements and intricate embroidery. The padded material could absorb blows from blunt weapons and provided some protection from cuts, but against well-forged weapons they were useless. The fact Gem goes with jeans and a tee could suggest that she trusts her aunts advice. I'm sort of into historical armor so would get a kick out of finding an excuse to talk about vambraces/rerebraces, spaulders, etc. How to Describe Clothing in a Story (with Examples) | Now Novel For example, headphones aren't really a piece of clothing, but they definitely affect our style. The easy way to describe the setting is when the characters interact with it, e.g. I can only imagine the pain of the chafing! 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. And what does she put that cap on for? Hopefully, you now have more wardrobe ideas for your characters than just red shirt, blue pants. But what about the process of actually sharing these details in your novel? Fashionable: Clothes representing a current style in fashion. Clothing in fantasy novel | Absolute Write Water Cooler Heating to the perfect temperature was key. Costume is a large part of a character. Obviously clothing is extremely varied, especially dresses. Its about building a life and a world, and that is something you can do. Only in certain situations is a description even needed. When youre shopping for yourself, you know what you like but you dont know how to describe it. So here are some more ways to alter a design while sticking with familiarity and a more historic feel: Troubles with Clothing in Fantasy + Some Ideas - Brielle Andela 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. But put me in a job interview wearing the same outfit, and youd probably start making new guesses about my intentions. 160 Best Character description ideas | character description, fantasy In other words: To describe a fantasy world, use either neutral terms, or made up words. Affordable . Pingback: A fantasy writers guide to Castles and Keeps: part one Richie Billing. The last minute change suggests an indecisive nature. is because we get stuck on what things look like. But there is so much more to the experience of clothing than that. Fully geared up, you were a walking fortress. Which was, indeed, a little weird straight off! A vintage polka dot dress with a sweetheart neckline. Some helmets had chain attached which hung around and protected the neck, called an aventail, and most were padded inside, for added comfort. Ready to sketch vivid characters for your novel? You dont need it to sign up. Lets talk about how to describe clothing in writing organically. They should be doing that. These are deep questions. Who doesnt like being comfortable when killing? You really can tell a lot about a person by what they wear, or what they dont wear. Sure, it helps your reader to know how you picture a character. Dont worry, thats not a trick question. Sci-fi and fantasy don't necessarily have to be futuristic and historic respectively, but they're commonly associated as such, so for the sake of simplicity that's what I'm going with for the purposes of this guide. The clothing itself can be just standard medieval gear, but with these elements they immediately look (wood) elvish. You can weave clothing description into your process when using our story planner for writers. They give you the chance to offer comic relief, a dash of wisdom, and just some good old fashioned friendship., Sidekick characters. Thank you for sharing this valuable information. To make it futuristic you could change where the buttons are, they're normally quite low and form a v-neck line when buttoned up, how about moving them to the top and creating an upside down V shape at the bottom. The appearance of armor was a big deal for knights. Metallic works well too, but make sure any metal bits or metallic looking bits are smooth and clean looking too, otherwise it might look too historic. And if you want more, this documentary is excellent. Are the characters of your dystopian novel forced to make do with burlap and mud? Great points. But status can be communicated in more subtle ways, too. Now, for the feedbackit depends what POV you're writing in. In pre-thermometer times this was difficult as you can imagine, so instead, armorers observed the colour of the heated steel. Press J to jump to the feed. This is further influenced/confirmed by the show Forged in Fire where the judges were a half step from putting their heads in their hands when a smith put his hot blade in water instead of oil to cool it down. Something like this: As you can see, a knights armor is made up of a lot of different pieces. To illustrate this let's take a standard men's suit as an example. Its all in the craft.Its good that youre here to learn how to describe clothing in writing, because its a powerful tool. In other words take what exists and apply it differently. Can you imagine tweaking this to make your own set of fantasy armor? To discover more awesome ideas, head over to Pinterest and just search for female fantasy armor. Now on the other end of the spectrum we have fantasy clothing and more history based clothing. I dont mean camisoles and cardigans. In battle, you are trying to strike a moving target, so mail was sufficient as most blows were glancing ones. Like all forms of exposition, your goal is to deliver this information without pulling the reader out of the story. Thanks I will be following your blog from now one I just came across it today. Borrowed armor wouldnt fit as well as a suit made for the wearer and wouldnt be as well balanced, so someone in borrowed armor would be more likely to have problems moving in his armor. I'll make a separate point for sci-fi/futuristic clothing and fantasy/historic clothing. Those warriors came from the people who lived on the lands under the watch of the knights. Im writing a little in the Epic Fantasy genre and there were quite a few useful notes I wasnt aware of here. Most picture the knight when we talk about plated armorrigid tin men that can withstand all manner of blows. There are some elements which are common among most works of fiction when it comes to clothing, with these elements in mind it becomes a lot easier to turn the clothing we wear today or wore throughout history into a futuristic or more fantasy oriented equivalent. If there is one thing I hope you take from all of this, its that none of this is about describing what a character looks like. An owl in new ribbons, ha-ha-ha! 2012 - Its a bit OCD of me. Blend in? If you want futuristic fantasy simply follow the sci-fi/futuristic tips more or mix and match both sides. - Convert future clothing to a historic version. This can be a very effective way if your universe is based on an existing culture. The rope belt is solely decorative and a status symbol. Both can lose clout simply by the way their peers respond to their wardrobe choices. Thats a good example of using clothing to reinforce the narrative of a characters arc. Look how she sits with her mouth open! This one is simple, right? They can be important too.If you want to breathe life into your stories, it's time to give tertiary characters a little love. Someone jumps down from a boundary wall wearing dark clothes and clutching a bag, that's enough of a clue they're a burglar, and if the protagonist now has to chase them then a description of the form those clothes take down to the buckles on the shoes is going to break the flow. I sincerely hope youve found some inspiration for your fantasy medieval armor. Lots of gear would have been looted. It took leaving the Midwest to recognize it. For fantasy stories to be more believable, we need to understand how it interacts with our characters, especially if theyre enchanted. (Cough-cough-cough.) By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. Examples of the latter are The Fifth Element and The Hunger Games. Impoverished with children to care for, she uses her last money to give her husband a dignified funeral. Maybe your character heads out on the town wearing a daring leopard print jumpsuit, only to have their best friend immediately ask where they got the kitty costume.. Fashion trends come and go and they often return later, albeit in a slightly different form. First and foremost, remember that clothing description is still storytelling. These are usually a little trickier to do well as they can look familiar quickly, but it's a usually a good element to have at your disposal. So why not join the gang? The fantasy genre borrows an awful lot from medieval history. I second the idea of describing the reactions of the characters to the city. What backstory or character motivations could combinations of appearance and reality suggest? Also, don't feel like you have to include every point I've made. You suddenly know which details to include, which to leave out, and whether to call it a blood-red cloak or a goji berry wrap. Our wardrobes are influenced by our age, geography, culture, hobbies, and a million other aspects of our worlds. Technology goes beyond simply what kind of clothes could be made though, it also relates to how technology is incorporated into style in general. Mail was lightweight and flexible. Fancy dresses. There's also the element of technology that has to be taken into account. Dostoyevsky describes how Katerinas landlady, Amalia Ivanovna, dresses for the funeral: the table was properly laid at the time and fixed, and Amalia Ivanovna, feeling she had done her work well, had put on a black silk dress and a cap with new mourning ribbons and met the returning party with some pride. 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. One does not refer to "a garb". Do they need a ghillie suit to blend into the natural environment? These detail could suggest that your character is miserly or down-to-earth despite their wealth. A band t-shirt. A few easy changes are to make one side longer than the other, so basically creating a diagonal cut instead of the standard horizontal one. But thats the case wherever you go. Before I delve into the more detailed aspects of creating clothing there's one final thing to keep in mind and that is that fashion repeats itself. Other elements you could include are mood-based changes (exists today), clothing that uses lights or glowing elements (exists today), clothing that can be repaired or changed on the go (exists today), smart technology woven into the fabric of clothing (exists today), changing colors (think chameleons) whenever you feel like it (exists today, kind of). Because it actually is possible. One of the first things I learned when I moved to L.A. is that writers do not dress professionally for big meetings in Hollywood. Mail was one of the first types of metal armor developed, arguably by the Celts, though other sources say its origins came from Eastern Europe. Non-visual senses are big, too. 1. PsstDoes Your Character Have a Secret? Subtle clothing changes can signal character development quite effectively in some scenarios. The front part of helmets, or the visors, were there to raise or open so the wearer could breathe during taxing hand-to-hand combat or scan around the battlefield. You could even move the buttons to the side and have it close diagonally instead. Adding these other bits of lesser-known fantasy armor to your stories can really add extra depth to your worldbuilding. You could introduce magical enchantments or ability-granting traits. Well also take a look at female fantasy armor and those used by knights, potential designs, and ways to help you find inspiration for creating your own. The aim is to arm you with what you need to enrich your tales with brilliant detail. What would high stakes clothing look like in your story? The reader does not need the full outfit in one go. 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. Or it could be that they want to be charmed by their own image when they look in the mirror. It's something we have today as well, but they're oddly uncommon and work great for more futuristic looks. You may have seen steelworkers doing this after forging the likes of blades and horseshoes. Maybe theyre hoping to impress the cool kids or please their parents. The senses were deadened: sight limited, sound muffled, breathing stifled (depending on the type of helmet). Youre more than welcome to join us and wed love to have you on board. Pingback: A fantasy writers guide to weaponry Richie Billing. Nudity was often either a complete taboo or just common place in many cultures throughout history, so by changing these taboos (and others) you immediately create a fictional piece. 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. But they are a common element used in fantasy clothing in all sorts of works of fiction. Each suit was tailored to the individual. But your reader is going to picture something whether you guide them or not. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts Some wore a trapper a covering of full chain mailand down the line, some horses even had their own plated armor. Amalias dress thus comes across as insensitive to her; malicious even. It can be as simple as making a dress shorter, a jacket longer or sleeves wider and longer. Who is your character at the beginning of the story, and how can you dress them to establish their normal? Casual. What is the prevailing value in the society of your story? Think noble King Arthur and his knights of the roundtable. In one single piece of clothing description (a pink-eyed bundle of shawls), Dickens conveys how timid and ailing Mrs. Gradgrind is in contrast to her bullish, overbearing husband. Much of the clothing we wear today were either rare or completely nonexistent a hundred years ago. The train hums and throbs in place as people rush to pile in.. To create a more futuristic looking style an easy way of doing it is to incorporate technology into the clothing itself. Do not describe a character's clothing except as that point of view character would do so. Adorable. I really loved this article, but I have one question, it was very helpful. This is a heavy generalization of course and entirely based on Western culture of today, but these rules may not apply at all in a fictional universe, no matter if it's futuristic or based on a historic setting. Heres a video showing the effectiveness (or ineffectiveness) of leather armor against arrows. What matters more to them: fashion or function? ), The geographical location of your story. (Has denim been invented yet? Stockings, long gloves, scarves or separate layers of clothing make a huge difference. The important thing to remember is to remain in the character's point of view. What also worries me is that in Chapter 3 I used a lot of descriptions of the house, like the main characters room and then I had him go to various other rooms, looked at pictures of his family he has yet to meet so chapter 3 had the least story development or social scenes but the ones it had were good ones and I ended it with a scene that creates more development and story hype. ). For a bigger image, just click on the link above. Lets take a look at some ways you can develop those unique ideas: In this section, well take a look at some cool pieces of knight armor in fantasy that people have designed over the years, to give you even more inspiration for your own designs. s a fantastic image that Thomas Feichtmeir, AKA Cyangmou has put together. Describing clothes? : r/writing - reddit The reason we fuss over physical descriptions is not because its so important that the readers imagination gets it right. Once quenched, the steel was re-heated to make it more resilient. A jacket or coat of mail was usually worn with a hood, or coif, of the same material to protect the head and neck. But they could also dress in modest, inexpensive-looking clothes. These images all go a lot further than white socks, green dress, and most of them dont require a lot of extra words. 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.

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