POSSIBLE SPOILER WARNING!Oh, how I love message boards!
I think there is more to the first chapter then meets the eye. I really don't believe physical description is just plainly telling people what the character is wearing or what their skin/eyes/hair/eyes with laser canons look like. I personally get a little bored when an author goes into a full page description of a characters outer appearance (*cough* The Wheel of Time *cough*--not that I didn't like all his descriptions...some of them were a bit overboard though. Especially when you only see the character like three times in the series.)
Hope some of the stuff below is useful Danger. If you want to use any of those passages, remember to use your own words to describe them. :p
I decided to take a bit of a break from working to bring you some of the things that I would refer to as being physical character description without bogging down the reader with a snowpeak of information:
(I am copying the text from Tor's PDF file, so they will appear in a similar fashion when I quote them.)
Vin didn’t let hatred or rebellion show in her eyes. She
simply looked down, giving Camon what he expected to see.
There were other ways to be strong. That lesson she had
learned on her own.
(Ch1, pg 21)
Sanderson essentially reveals her resigned stance in this passage. She just looks down, but behind that blank look that she probably had, the 'hatred and rebellion' fought to escape.
Just another bruise. She was strong enough to deal with it.
She’d done so before.
(Ch1, pg 21)
Bruises--shes a tough girl, this Vin. By simply stating 'she'd done so before' reveals that there are quite a lot of other bruises visible in her flesh. He didn't need to tell you that her skin was in various shades of white, blue, and purple to get the point across.
She looked up at Camon, tasting
blood on her lip. She must have let some of her confidence
show, because he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye,
and his expression darkened.
(Ch1, pg 21...again)
The bleeding lip obviously here, but that bit mentioning Vin's confidence shows show much about her character without having to go into a great deal of detail on what she actually looked like exactly. You know that the defiance is crawling out of her at this point, and I think you, as the reader can put the pieces together.
Here's the passage that Vegas referred to:
Theron eyed Vin, obviously noting her bloodied lip. She
glanced away. Theron’s eyes lingered on her, however, running
down the length of her body. She wore a simple white
buttoned shirt and a pair of overalls. Indeed, she was hardly
enticing; scrawny with a youthful face, she supposedly didn’t
even look her sixteen years. Some men preferred such
women, however.
(Ch1, pg 23)
This is obviously the most straight forward physical description of Vin. Once again, the bloodied lip shows up again. Sanderson does a job of making sure the reader knows that this is a very resilient character. Within the first few pages you know that Vin is constantly suffering, but you can see how steadfast she is through some of these passages. They all paint a picture of the character.
She kept to
the shadows, as usual;
(Ch2, pg 33)
The fact that she is hermit-like has influence on how you re-create the character in your mind.
Vin tried her best to remain invisible.
(Ch2, pg 34)
See the above comment...
Vin sighed, stretching slightly. She’d have more bruises. At
least they won’t be visible. Now that the bruises Camon had
given her face were finally gone, Sazed had warned her to be
careful. Makeup could only cover so much, and she would
have to look like a “proper” young noblewoman if she were
going to infiltrate the court.
(Ch 9, pg 174)
This is much further in the book, but it shows how Vin is changing.
Note to self: I just skimmed through some pages quickly and found these ones. There is so much more then this. Danger, those page numbers are where I found those quotes in the version I sent you as well. Should be easy enough to find.
Have fun!
P.S. - Danger, when Vin meets Elend, I am sure there is some description of her from his point of view. I know there are points where Kel just watches her as well, so I am sure you have tons of stuff to grab from.
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There are great descriptions of all the characters. I personally couldn't stop reading about Kel after I read the prologue. The smile hooked me.
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