How to Introduce/Describe Characters

[Blaquaza]

This has all been really helpful, thanks guys! Your extracts were great, too. :D

I suppose the key message here is that excessive description is a bit of a poor move. I'd certainly agree, but as you guys have said, throwing in a quick detail here or there as long as it's relevant is probably the best way to let the readers know what they look like. I've been working on that because sometimes I do way too much description, and sometimes I don't do enough. It's a balance I just never seem to get right.

Naming's always the more awkward part for me, though. Half of the time I name a character it comes across as forced or weird, and there never seems to be any quick fix unless I rework the whole scene. I suppose that's just the type of thing I keep needing to work on until I get the knack of it, though.