Copyright 2023 Richie Billing | Fantasy Writer. Of course there are more ways to alter historic designs and the middle ages aren't the only period to draw inspiration from. Now, if you write historical fiction, its important to research the clothing of your chosen era. But you may run into difficulties when it comes to the practicalities. A knight, by definition, was a lord. Impress someone with my indifference? Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. Only the most powerful strikes could pierce such armor. In other words: To describe a fantasy world, use either neutral terms, or made up words. The aim was not to cause any impediment to movement. The aim is to arm you with what you need to enrich your tales with brilliant detail. So this really reaffirmed that approach for me. Describe these in passing to add visual colour and authenticity to your character descriptions. - Geometry. True, it all depends on your purpose. What is the prevailing value in the society of your story? Clothing description is something I have to actively choose to create, too. In this section, Ive included some more guides on creating fantasy armor designs that you may find useful. Whats the respected uniform, and does your character wear it? In Dostoyevskys Crime and Punishment, the poor, Tuberculosis-stricken Katerina Ivanovnas husband is trampled to death by a horse-drawn cart. Heres how to describe clothing in writing to show your readers the world to which your character belongs. Coats of plated armor soon came about, which consisted of a series of plates linked on top of one another. Also, don't feel like you have to include every point I've made. Designing fantasy armor for your characters can be an awful lot of fun. But put me in a job interview wearing the same outfit, and youd probably start making new guesses about my intentions. Arrows will bounce off steel crafted in such a wayunless from close range, as we discussed last week. His writing offers a masterclass in how to describe clothing in stories. Dont worry, thats not a trick question. The final design with all its layers will often hide elements of the clothing that a client may want to see later. Only the most sophisticated, Dr. Urbino among them, wore their ordinary clothes. To illustrate this in a way we did with the futuristic shirt example let's take a standard medieval tunic and turn it into a fantasy-themed version. The same goes for other types of technology that could realistically be incorporated into the design of your character's clothing. Once blue, it is quenched a second time, permanently fixing its hardness. But the definition of sneaky depends on your characters situation. If you write historical fiction, youre probably way ahead of me. 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? These aren't the only elements either, pretty much every part of clothing changes with the times and depend heavily upon what's fashionable at the time. Whenever other races or species are involved, like elves and trolls, it's often best to give them clothing that differs from whatever humans (and other races) wear, even if those differences are subtle. All this to say: there is substantial storytelling power in a coral Life is Good t-shirt. These were worn on their own by those wanting greater speed and flexibility, but also by those unable to afford stronger armor. The pieces around the vital organsthe chest and headwere thicker and heavier than those on the arms and legs to try and reduce weight as much as possible. 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. - Break up clothing into more separate pieces and give them their own styles. They should be doing that. Mail was particularly effective against glancing blows. The unsung hero of so many stories. Other clothing pieces could be various types of hats and scarves, (trench) coats and even something as simple as pockets or buttons used for fastening rather than as decoration to name just a few. In a fantasy setting, you may be trying to conjure up a certain feel right off the bat based on how you describe a character's clothing (and the words you use to describe them). A velvet scrunchie. 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. There's also the element of technology that has to be taken into account. Meanwhile, the character who works two jobs while going to school full-time might scour the Goodwill rack for a designer tag to help them fit in at the same party. Or else that she feels shamed by her Aunt and thus decides to be good. - Change lengths. Clothes can betray our greatest joys and our deepest insecurities. Its all in the craft.Its good that youre here to learn how to describe clothing in writing, because its a powerful tool. What your character wears reveals where they come from, how they rank in society, how they want to be perceived, and even how they feel about themselves. If all else fails use Google images and find some visual aids and inspiration sources, they can work wonders. Character description may change over the course of a story to emphasize a characters arc. Some wore a trapper a covering of full chain mailand down the line, some horses even had their own plated armor. Similarly, find out (or, if youre creating a fantasy world, create) the garments your characters would wear in a particular time and place. 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. This is often enough to make something look more futuristic, especially if used on something that looks glossy, shiny and/or smooth. Get an image of a blank shirt and simply draw the lines on it, it'll form a great base to work with. Adding these other bits of lesser-known fantasy armor to your stories can really add extra depth to your worldbuilding. Glasses, headsets, lenses, jewelry, belts and so on can all help sell the futuristic look. Lets take a look at how clothing description indicates your characters identity, goals, and culture. We naturally link clothing and identity, which is why wardrobe is such an effective tool for building a vivid character. Or it could be that they want to be charmed by their own image when they look in the mirror. Our characters are always (mostly!) They could withstand high-velocity strikes from a javelin or lance, driven home by somebody charging forwards on horseback. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. Continued successes could see knights rise higher up the ranks. Fully geared up, you were a walking fortress. Share. With historical fiction one interesting aspect is to bring back the reader to that time period. What does your character wear to feel safer in their world or in their own skin? Send private message Achievements: Need help with clothing description in Fantasy #1 I'm writing a Fantasy Novel in the middle ages, filled with swords and magic However, I realize I have trouble trying to convey how the characters look, like what the nobles' attire, the bandit's armor. A scarlet pantsuit. It may be apocryphal, but Harold Godwinson is said to have done just that at the battle of Hastings in 1066. 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. You can try all Dabbles premium features for free for fourteen days. - 'Stealth'. Clothing description also presents an opportunity to play with different points of view. Wearing a suit of armor was like being in your own private world. But let's take a step back and look at what kind of clothing is usually associated with futuristic settings. Such simple things, but the clothes really helped show Jesus plight. Theyre the kind of thing that often happen organically, but you can actually make use of character secrets to make your stories better. The shrewd king essentially licensed out parcels of his land as rewards to his warriors in exchange for their military service. Smart: Neat and tidy clothes but not necessarily formal. ). Another quick way of making standard clothing fantasy themed is by converting clothes form the relative future to one that could be created in whichever time period your universe falls under. Maybe a bracelet represents a character's relationship to her mother. If sturdy is a top consideration, your character might be expecting trouble or adventure. Great idea. William the Conquerors society was shaped with war in mind. But there is so much more to the experience of clothing than that. These images all go a lot further than white socks, green dress, and most of them dont require a lot of extra words. 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. show how hard is to escape in a narrow street. I really loved this article, but I have one question, it was very helpful. Ive always wondered that too! (Find out more). Which is to say, if you write from the point of view of a character who thinks of clothing only in terms of the simplest descriptors, that's just fine. The clothes a person wears tellsus many things: their status in life, for example, or their cultural affiliation or identity. Required fields are marked *. I tried to add as much variety as possible, but without turning the whole description into a mess. Only when youre keeping secrets in fiction, you can make them even darker and deeper than any you might ever have in real life. 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.. Not quite. I have a hard time describing my thoughts on content, but I really felt I should here. Use the Character section of the Idea Finder to develop quick story ideas and flesh out your storys cast. To create a more futuristic looking style an easy way of doing it is to incorporate technology into the clothing itself. - Gadgets, hair styles and accessories. One way is to avoid what we call filter words. Separate and enlarge it, turn down the Opacity of the layer . Make sure you know whats hot and whats not in your specific setting, as well as what specific words the locals would use. Hi Paige, thank you (and thanks for your question). Now turn the edges a different color or make them light up and you immediately have a more futuristic looking suit. And above all, people share their writing, get feedback, build friendships and develop greater confidence not just in their writing, but in themselves too. The good news is that attire is not only important, its also kind of fun when you start digging into it. The padded material could absorb blows from blunt weapons and provided some protection from cuts, but against well-forged weapons they were useless. One of her poems is (legally) stamped into a sidewalk in Santa Clarita, California. Stiff with embroidery, strewn with pearls, encrusted with gemstones, they seem to stand by themselves. You can continue to alter it to add cultural elements, like the previously mentioned elvish elements or you could stick with this and keep it simple. 70s-inspired. 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. Sometimes they're more interesting and lovable than the main characters themselves and end up stealing the show., Secrets. Added on top of that the condition that they had to supply him with soldiers too. The surrounding culture dictates what they cant wear if they want to be seen as free-thinking individuals. If youre trying to learn how to describe clothing in writing, youre probably like me: Youve only pretended to know what organza is. Technology goes beyond simply what kind of clothes could be made though, it also relates to how technology is incorporated into style in general. 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. 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. A self-conscious kid tries to disappear inside their oversized sweatshirt. Press J to jump to the feed. But they could also dress in modest, inexpensive-looking clothes. In other words take what exists and apply it differently. Its hard to really appreciate just how sickeningly awful medieval warfare would have been. "White tunics" have been worn from 2016 to a good forty thousand years ago. You could introduce magical enchantments or ability-granting traits. Do your characters care deeply about looking respectable, or are they more afraid of putting on airs? More on that in a bit. Community . When describing clothing in writing, consider: You can also use this aspect of clothing description to paint a vivid picture of the world you imagined. Make it look very clean and smooth and it immediately feels more modern. Think of the process like dressing a doll: start at the beginning and up build the layers. In pre-thermometer times this was difficult as you can imagine, so instead, armorers observed the colour of the heated steel. Further reading How To Write Fight Scenes. Finally there's all the little things that can make an outfit look more futuristic. Really, the topic of this article is not how to describe clothing in writing as much as it is how to tell a story with clothes. You can weave clothing description into your process when using our story planner for writers. Helpful links to blog posts, articles, videos and guides are shared every day.
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