If you find this resource list useful and want to say ‘thanks’ by buying me a coffee, you can do that on Kofi
Listed below are items referred to in my book Describing Characters: How to Bring Story People to Life (2025).
If you are looking for illustrations of garments, hairstyles, hats or anything else I mention in the book, Pinterest is another good place to look.
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Character Profile Form
Here is a link to the Character Profile Form, which is Appendix 3 in my book Character Creation (2018). The page has other character-related resources.
Deleted Chapter on Red Hair
I wrote a whole chapter on red hair, around 12,000 words, but had to remove it because the book was getting too long. I didn’t want to edit it down, so decided to cut it completely and include it here instead. The document is in PDF format and formatted at A4 size, so probably won’t be easy to read on a phone…
Please note that this is first draft text and hasn’t been grammar checked or edited.
Appendix 1: Fashion Vocabulary
This list was originally going to be an appendix in the book, but I decided that it wasn’t really needed.
Bibliography with Live Links
The version of the bibliography online here has live links to the sources listed.
Body Shapes
You can see the nine silhouettes of men and women from the Stunkard Figure Rating Scale on ResearchGate
The article ‘How To Dress For Your Body Type’ at RealMenRealStyle.com has a diagram showing different male body shapes and also photographs of recommended styles to suit each.
Female body shapes are shown in ‘What Female Body Shape Are You? How to Identify Yours’ by Kalee Hewlett and Maryana Lucia Vestic at WikiHow.com
Hair, Eyes & Skin Colours
This link came up when I was searching online for resources about colours – Colour Analysis Cheat Sheets [PDF] from the International Association of Style Coaches & Style Coaching Institute
‘Hair Color Chart: Shades of Blonde, Brunette, Red & Black’ by Avery Hunt on Latest-Hairstyles.com brings together lists of names for shades from several hair colour manufacturers
Hairstyles
A good place to start is Wikipedia’s illustrated ‘List of Hairstyles’ which has links to articles about individual styles
See also ‘Hairstyles in the 1950s’ and ‘Hairstyles in the 1980s’
Women’s Hairstyles
‘100 Haircuts Names for Women in English with Pictures’ on MrMrsEnglish.com has a long list with illustrations, though I’m not sure all of them are accurate depictions – that doesn’t look like a Mohawk to me…
‘1920s Hairstyles History- Long Hair to Bobbed Hair’ on VintageDancer.com has a good collection of vintage photographs and illustrations
Men’s Hairstyles
’70 Top Haircuts for Men & Hairstyles You Need to Try in 2024′ by Gatsby is illustrated with photographs and is the most comprehensive list I’ve seen.
‘Hairstyles for Men: Top Hairstyles and Haircuts from the 1930s to the 2000s’ by Vaga magazine is a nice illustrated overview of men’s hairstyles through the decades
Describing Voice
‘130 Helpful Words To Describe Voice in Acting’ by Justin Cash on DramaTeacher.com
‘Tone, Timbre, Pitch: How to Describe Your Character’s Voices’ by Nisha Tuli on DabbleWriter.com
‘200+ Words to Describe a Voice in Vivid Ways’ by Mary Gormandy White on YourDictionary.com
Spinoza’s List of Emotions
Here’s a link to Spinoza’s list of The Emotions [PDF], which I added definitions to for Appendix 2 of my book Character Creation (2018)
Facial Hair
If you Google ‘types of beards’ and click on the ‘images’ link, you’ll find lots of illustrations of beard styles. Below are a few links I found. As I say in the book, not everyone portrays styles in exactly the same way
‘Top 24 Attractive Beard Styles For Men’ on Nexoye.com
‘Find the Right Beard Style for You’ by Vali
‘Your Comprehensive Guide to Beard Styles (and Current Trends)’ on HonorInitiative.com includes illustrations of face shapes and photographs of actors with different beard styles
‘Top 20 Attractive Beard Styles For Men’ at RealMenRealStyle.com – they also have ‘Top 10 Black Men’s Beard Styles 2025’
Wikipedia’s ‘List of Facial Hairstyles’ has photographs, links to articles about individual styles, and a diagram showing 36 styles that you might want to download and save for reference – click to enlarge the image on the page.
Garments & Parts of Garments
The Wikipedia article ‘Neckline’ has a diagram showing many of the styles used in garments.
There is also a ‘List of Outerwear’ with links to articles about individual garments.
Wikipedia also has a ‘List of Garments Having Different Names in American and British English’
Fashion
The Wikipedia category ’20th Century Fashion’ contains links to dozens of articles, and at the top are links to similar pages for other centuries.
Hats
A useful starting place is Wikipedia’s ‘List of Hat Styles’ and also ‘List of Headgear’
‘The Ultimate Guide to Hat Styles, Terms and Materials’ at HatsUnlimited.com is a nice article with illustrations
’36 Types of Hats – Did You Ever Know Them?’ by Chen Hui at AungCrown.com is another useful illustrated list
Footwear
Wikipedia has a ‘List of Boots’ and a ‘List of Shoe Styles’,
Neckwear
The Wikipedia article ‘Neckwear’ shows several items and has links to articles about each. The article ‘Cravat (early)’ includes a picture of the 14 types of knot that can be tied.
PAUL TOMLINSON 