Me again. lol

Can I say what type of outfit a character is wearing or should I sort of gerneralize it?

Ex:
BlahBlah waks out sporting a blue tank with too short shorts.

or

Ex:
BlahBlah walks out sporting clothing that tests every man's self control.

If it adds anything at all to the story then I'd say go for it.

People infer character from choice of clothes, also occupation, social status, age, availability.

My current script is about two long-distance hikers and I say in general what they wear.

DAVE is walking purposefully towards his train. He's wearing hiking gear and has a small but serious-looking black rucksack, obviously quite full

and

Nikki is wearing jeans but the rest of her clothing is proper outdoor gear even if it is a bit 'designer' ...[snip]... opposite her is the sort of rucksack you might see on Everest if it weren't bright pink

HTH

Ian

Thank you! Your example really helped me. I have a good idea on how I'll say it. Thank you again!

In the 'Action', you can only describe what a viewer might think from what they see - no thoughts, obviously - and clothing is a good short-hand.

Part of my plot relies on Nikki being an inexperienced walker carrying too much stuff, and Dave being a more experienced walker and carrying the right stuff to deal with blisters etc - it's how they meet, even though blisters don't rate high on the list of things that usually bring two people together :-)

Dave is practical, and Nikki is fairly practical. She's also not afraid to be a grown-up girlie-girl (without being childish) and though she likes to look good, she doesn't *really* care too much what other people think.

But you can't put that in the Action because the script reader will think 'no way can a viewer know that' - so clothes are great.

The director may decide on something else, but your script is aimed at the script-reader - they have to see what you want them to see.

I'm no authority, and this is only stuff I've picked up, but for major characters in something short (and in more depth and for more characters in something longer), a bit of 'character in action' can tell a lot about someone quickly.

* Someone completely ignores a beggar on the street.
* Someone gets a coin out as they approach and throws it in the beggar's cup as they pass.
* Someone stops and says a couple of words and holds his hand while pressing a low-denomination bank note into it.
* Someone comes out of the shop/office near the beggar, says one or two words, leaves him a coffee and goes back in

One sentence, and the viewer has a handle on the different Someones.

Ian

Damn. I saw the thread title and thought we were all off skinny-dipping.

But sadly not. Ian's advice is pretty good as always.

I generally try to avoid clothing (in a character description sense) unless it's important for clarification. If I need someone to wear a green jacket because that's important to the plot, I'll say so. Or I'll mention clothing if it's likely to be contrary to expectations, like a policeman who's wearing pink p.j's

Otherwise I prefer to keep it sketchy, and leave it to wardrobe dep't. They get paid to worry about the clothes, I don't.
-------------

SF08: Gethsemane - Thriller
SF08: Shooting - Comedy - 105 pages - done

Good luck to you all.

I've been working on a scifi series since I was 15, and after some 20 plus years, I have 2 novel submissions under my belt, and am retyping a 95-page script that was done on a manual typewriter (I'm shocked that the ribbon lasted long enough to complete it). And pardon my asking, but what does "HTH" mean?

Christopher S. Vickers

Creator, Galactic Command

HTH is short for 'Hope That Helps'.

HTH

:-)

Ian

In the words of comedian Bill Engvall, "Here's MY sign."

Christopher S. Vickers

Creator, Galactic Command