Descriptions For Character

I've shown you guys before about how you should use descriptions to emphasize an emotion while building setting, but another good way to use descriptions and imagery is to improve on your characters. Here's a little excerpt for you guys. Think about the character and who she is, and then try to link that to the descriptions.

                The woman was a bust made by Michelangelo: her face was frozen, forever in a rocky stillness; every line was prominent and emphasized; every curve was artistic and seemingly made with purpose; her skin was chalky white, a stark contrast to her midnight black hair. And, like a statue, she sat at the wheel completely still, her hands at ten and two and her eyes looking out into the dark summer night. The only sound in the small two seating car was the patter of warm rain on the windshield and, underneath that, muffled almost, a soft murmuring. Unintelligible whisperings that just barely met your ear.

                The lone woman, breaking out of her stone-like stare, glanced over at the passenger seat. There was only a plain cardboard box, unmarked and unlabeled, covered in wooly navy blanket.

                The woman gazed at it for a while, her eyes only flickering to the road every second or two to correct her steering. Almost reflexively, the woman began reaching down with an angelic smoothness.

                Her hand over the clutch, only centimeters away from the box, it froze. For a moment it hung there, suspended in the air. Then, slowly, the hand drew back, instead going to the small ordainment that hung from the rear-view mirror.

                Dressed in a white gown and adorned with a ribbon was a small angel. It had two plush wings, its frayed string that held it up sprouting from in-between its shoulder blades. Coming off of its head was a small, hardly noticeable wire, the halo it used to hold up being broken off long ago. Although the small face of serenity –eyes closed and small smile on its face- was still well intact, its outfit was more than well worn, its sleeves splayed and its dress adorned with drab stains. In its hands was the ribbon that stretched across the angel’s body, the small, faded print saying ‘Believe in Miracles.’

                The woman spun the toy around, so that it faced her, then put her hands back on the wheel. The woman took a deep breath in through her nose, holding it there as she cocked her head back, before she let it slowly tumble out through her mouth. Gently she turned the wheel, pulling into a small parking lot. She cracked the door open, letting in the wash of rain and the rumble of distant thunder.