Advice desired - should I name a person as a physical model?

LupusDei said:

Besides, I also think that any breast larger than what is comfortable to run naked is ugly disability, so unless it's a narrative point how one of those enormous fat bags hit herself in the face, don't bother forcing overly exact measurements, I may puke.

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The only breast size comfortable to run with is none LOL

Thank god for sports bra's

Stacey x

dididothat said:

The only breast size comfortable to run with is none LOL

Thank god for sports bra's

Stacey x

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It was a bit angry hyperbole more than anything, of course, mostly pointed to authors that make a lazy description of enormous jugs, then blatantly ignore simple facts of life.

LupusDei said:

It was a bit angry hyperbole more than anything, of course, mostly pointed to authors that make a lazy description of enormous jugs, then blatantly ignore simple facts of life.

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Yes indeed they do, I picked up on the intent of your comment, I think, I can be a little obtuse sometimes.


Stacey x

dididothat said:

The only breast size comfortable to run with is none LOL

Thank god for sports bra's

Stacey x

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It was a bit angry hyperbole more than anything, of course, mostly pointed to authors that make a lazy description of enormous jugs, then blatantly ignore simple facts of life.

And also to convey that reader preferences and views on the beautiful may differ more than someone might expect.

NotWise said:

That wouldn't have worked for me as a reader. I don't know who Marina Sirtis is, and I definitely wouldn't think to look her up. That's always a risk you take.

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Ah; not a fan of Star Trek, then ? (she played Counsellor Troy).

And I made the mistake of looking up that one mentioned (she's a 38J).
It will take me a good while of therapy to get that image outa my head.

Thank you, I'd rather see the female in my head; author provides words I'll fill in the gaps.

KeithD said:

I'm not that insecure, or that invested in individual readers, for that matter.

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It has nothing to do with insecurity. One of the unwritten rules of writing - any kind of writing - is: keep your reader reading. If you are not prepared to do that, don't bother writing.

For what it's worth, based on my limited experience, here's what I did:

I decided that a character would look like pornstar Nina Hartley, but a little heavier. I resisted describing her as "a slightly chubby Nina Hartley". I got a couple of images in various stages of undress and various poses, and referred to them while writing a description, head to toe, front to back. I used the description I created (not the pictures) when I needed to describe something physical about the character. Then, in a perfect world, the reader might conclude something like, "...if she had smaller boobs and lost a couple of pounds she'd look just like Nina Hartley."

Oddly enough, the internet is full of pictures of naked people (so is Lit for that matter).

My $0.02.

SamScribble said:

It has nothing to do with insecurity. One of the unwritten rules of writing - any kind of writing - is: keep your reader reading. If you are not prepared to do that, don't bother writing.

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I think like many things, there's a fine line. I do understand that end of the day the goal is for people to read, and enjoy, your story. If you don't want people to like your work then why are you writing?

But I do understand Pilot's point in the sense that you have to ultimately write for you and if some aspect of your story is found distasteful or not enjoyable by someone, then oh, well. Now we have can't please all the people...

So the line is writing for yourself, but also something others can enjoy. As I said I never write anything with the thought of "ha, bet that will piss them off" but I never stop and say "would this upset or turn anyone off?"

We live in a hyper sensitive society run by the professionally offended who want apologies from everyone and want everything molded to their ideals. That is the opposite of freedom of speech and expression.

I write without worry. Don't like it, don't read it and if you're offended don't expect me to care.

................

lovecraft68 said:

So the line is writing for yourself, but also something others can enjoy. As I said I never write anything with the thought of "ha, bet that will piss them off" but I never stop and say "would this upset or turn anyone off?"

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To me, I think it's more about being aware of the impact of the decisions you make. After I read your article about how to write incest stories, I've always put a clue to the type of incest in the title. Except once, where I felt like putting such a hint would give too much away. "My European Summer Vacation" started with lowish views for its rating, but it's my highest rated story. My one non-incest story is a Loving Wives one where the guy is a rich, entitled asshole. I enjoyed writing the story and it got the low rating I expected it to get.

On the other hand, I think writers don't give readers enough credit. I think that's why so many writers have well-hung guys and massively-endowed girls - they don't think readers will find normal humans appealing enough. One of my stories is about a flat-chested girl who just ended an abusive relationship. I was very worried that people wouldn't find her an appealing heroine, but the story has done as well as most of my other stories. Also, I've discussed a lot of controversial topics in my stories like domestic abuse and positive consent, and far more readers seem to enjoy that than get upset about it.

Edit: From what I've seen, the Flesch-Kincaid grade level of a story impacts how well it is received. However, I don't look at the F-K grade level of stories I'm writing as that's not something I'm interested in tweaking.

Never even thought of doing that and if I did it would be someone I knew that the reader didn't, so why bother.

When I read stories, I want to imagine what she/he looks like. I can fill in the blanks the way I want. Any thing other that maybe hair color, eye color, height and weight will make me click out of the story. And any measurements like 48DDD is an immediate click back.

In most cases I just mention hair color, eye color and leave it at that. Let the reader fill in the blanks with a woman they may lust after who had red hair and green eyes.

SamScribble said:

It has nothing to do with insecurity. One of the unwritten rules of writing - any kind of writing - is: keep your reader reading. If you are not prepared to do that, don't bother writing.

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Well, I think you are being insecure about your writing even now. *shrug*


My inclusion of the reader is built in from long years of writing, but I write with the security that there are readers who will find me at least on that particular writing theme and if they don't, they don't. Stories aren't limited quantity (or even quality) diamonds. I don't spend a lot of time worrying about whether this or that theme I'm pursuing is going to satisfy x number of readers. They are on their own in their reading choices/preferences as individuals. When a writer does otherwise, I consider they are being insecure about their writing. *shrug*

TANSTAAFL58 said:

For what it's worth, based on my limited experience, here's what I did:

I decided that a character would look like pornstar Nina Hartley, but a little heavier. I resisted describing her as "a slightly chubby Nina Hartley". I got a couple of images in various stages of undress and various poses, and referred to them while writing a description, head to toe, front to back. I used the description I created (not the pictures) when I needed to describe something physical about the character. Then, in a perfect world, the reader might conclude something like, "...if she had smaller boobs and lost a couple of pounds she'd look just like Nina Hartley."

Oddly enough, the internet is full of pictures of naked people (so is Lit for that matter).

My $0.02.

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I think this is a good approach.

There’s nothing wrong with having your characters look like a celebrity if that’s the image of them you have in your head, but I’m not a fan of just saying “she looked like so-and-so”.

So if you’re thinking that, maybe doing an exercise where you look at images of said celebrity and tried to describe them as if nobody knew who they were is a good way to both get around that feeling of laziness and also improve your writing?

lovecraft68 said:

I don't know who that is, but it doesn't bother me. But the "Think..." I don't care much for the talking directly to the reader like that.

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Well, everybody doesn't know everybody. But I think Marina Sirtis was high-profile enough in her day to have let most readers make the connection.

As for breaking the fourth wall, it's a common enough literary device, particularly with first-person narration, as this story was. It seemed appropriate there.

TANSTAAFL58 said:

I decided that a character would look like pornstar Nina Hartley, but a little heavier. I resisted describing her as "a slightly chubby Nina Hartley". I got a couple of images in various stages of undress and various poses, and referred to them while writing a description, head to toe, front to back. I used the description I created (not the pictures) when I needed to describe something physical about the character. Then, in a perfect world, the reader might conclude something like, "...if she had smaller boobs and lost a couple of pounds she'd look just like Nina Hartley."

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I like this approach. If the reader doesn't know who Nina Hartley is, no big deal. My guess would be that many of your readers pictured your female character as looking like their favorite hot blonde instead of Nina Hartley, and that made the story more enjoyable for them.

TANSTAAFL58 said:

For what it's worth, based on my limited experience, here's what I did:

I decided that a character would look like pornstar Nina Hartley, but a little heavier. I resisted describing her as "a slightly chubby Nina Hartley". I got a couple of images in various stages of undress and various poses, and referred to them while writing a description, head to toe, front to back. I used the description I created (not the pictures) when I needed to describe something physical about the character. Then, in a perfect world, the reader might conclude something like, "...if she had smaller boobs and lost a couple of pounds she'd look just like Nina Hartley."

Oddly enough, the internet is full of pictures of naked people (so is Lit for that matter).

My $0.02.

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Having looked her up, I don't think you need worry about changing her specifications.
As with all of us, she has matured and generally got bigger, as nature tends to force on all of us.

Although I weighed against doing this, most of the time, I just thought of an example of a story I'm in the process of writing where I HAVE done this. At one point I compare the female protagonist to Velma from Scooby Doo. I wanted that image conjured up to give it just the right fetishy flavor. I don't think describing her looks alone would do it.

dididothat said:

(never got that one, a face like a heart? what? all blood vessels and throbbing, wtf?)

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It’s a poetic way of saying “triangular” or even “wedge-shaped.” Wider at the forehead, narrowing down toward the chin.