A Writer's Device: Description needed.

A post about style, again, but this is a chance to comment about a process error in my own writing and a work-around I've found to correct it.

As discussed in many of the Character posts about Remember When, I tend to instinctively describe characters more if they are central to the story being told or if their appearance will figure into some scene about to occur. More distant, or "bit" characters, get the short end of the description effort. But when working at novel length instead of novella, there are both lots more room to fit in descriptions and a lot more expectation that everyone that matters at all will get described.

Fair enough. The process error that I mentioned above is that I tend to want to write a given scene for the scene's content to the overall story. If it's an important discussion, I try to get all the dialogue said and the feeling and thoughts of the characters speaking all down first. Notice any character descriptions in that list? Yeah. That means, if the first appearance of a character is in one such dialogue scene, they are very short if not lacking the description that is necessary for the reader to appreciate them.

What's the fix?

When I recognize that I've a new character that appeared first in a scene where I'd not properly described them, I stop other thoughts and list a ton of descriptive things about that character. Then roll back into the main draft and look at where they can be added to the existing work as adjectives.

Example:

Man A said to (the Main Character) "It's nice to meet you. We don't get many main characters around here." Then Man A went over to the window. After (the Main Character) greeted him in return, Man A offered "A caution if you are to go outside today, sir. It looks like rain."

Man A is a new face. He's got nothing to hang on to in the way of a description.

(( think fast, writer guy))

tall
graceful
dressed casually
dark haired
surprised
friendly
polite

Okay then... application where appropriate? Pick a few that fit.

Man A said politely to (the Main Character) "It's nice to meet you. We don't get many main characters around here." He seemed only a little surprised to meet (the Main Character). The tall, casually dressed fellow (Man A) went over to the window. After (the Main Character) greeted him in return, Man A considerately offered "A caution if you are to go outside today, sir. It looks like rain."

Still not as good as if the character description had been formed fully before writing the original passage, but vastly better at giving the reader points of reference that can be referred to in later passages.

Hope this helps you solve any problems you have of the same sort!