Hello SErs! Harmony here. During a recent conversation with friends, which brought immense amusement, we talked about the ways in which we describe people. This got me thinking about the common descriptors we use in general and how we can enhance characterisations in our fictional writing.

To give you some idea, the conversation included my confession that when I was staying at a buddhist monastery on lay retreat many years ago, I attempted to describe one of the monks. It went something like this …

In my head, I pictured the monk with longer hair than the others but still incredibly short–the rest had all kept theirs close-shaved. So, in my wisdom, I said, ‘He hasn’t got much …’ And then I realised how that was about to sound, so I shut up.

My companion grinned, somewhat wickedly, and finished for me, ‘He hasn’t got much hair?!’ To which, the…