How to describe the female body.

[DumbDude3103]

I just started writing and I think I have decent ideas for stories, but one of my issues is that I don't really know how to describe the female body. Yes, I can look up images and videos for inspiration, but I mainly mean from the female's point of view. What are better ways to describe the female form that just measurements?
The same for arousal from the girl's point of view. I mainly ask because currently I am writing a lesbian story and being male does not help me that much.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

The average female looks like she was manufactured in North Korea by slave labor. Hillary is the best example.

 

[hadruprider]

Good question. Writing lesbian stuff as a guy is difficult, I have tried it but not got very far.
I suggest reading stuff written by real lesbians and bi girls here, both in the stories and in the forum threads. There are quite a few of them. See how they describe things.

 

[Learin]

Most amateur writers lump in the description which I, personally, find very unsatisfying while reading any story. If you can paint a gradual picture over the course of the story, that'd be very interesting as well.

If you're writing a story in first person narrative, never describe a woman's breast by her bust-size like 36CC or 38AA. It doesn't matter even if the narrator is a bra salesman. Just no. Even women get our cup size wrong and have to depend on multiple trials.

The best way to describe something is to have an image of it in your head and using your own words to describe what's so noticeable about the person/thing that stands out above everything else. Like this excerpt:

With her raven black hair and those vivid green eyes, she was already the most beautiful thing I've ever seen, but the best thing about Alice wasn't the way she looked or walked or talked about things she loved. No. I think the best thing was her smile, a crooked little perfection that comes every once in a while when I crack a joke or did something silly.

Maybe it's that tiny birthmark on her chin or those beautiful red lips, I don't know...I just do stupid things just to see if she treats me with a smile.

My point is: don't fixate on the looks of a character. Just give a general outline and readers can fill in the rest with their imagination. Go beyond the physical description. That's what makes a story better than the others.

And if you need help, try reading any lesbian story you thought was good and see how it was done. You can also learn from their techniques and see if it suits your style. Everyone will have different views on what they think it's right, and this was mine, but ultimately it's your story. You write what you want to see written. It's the satisfaction that matters.


Good luck

 

[KayceeCharles]

Try actually go READ some lesbian erotica for some ideas.

 

[Athalia]

As an exercise in writing:

Imagine three women. They are all 125 pounds, they all wear 36-B bras, they all have 28" waists and 38" hips, they are all brunette, they are all 27 years old.

But they are all different. Unmistakably so. What makes them different? What gives them separate identities?

Find those points of difference, and focus on them. That's where the meat of the writing should be.

 

[Bramblethorn]

You might have more luck with this question over in the Authors' Forum.

 

[Nezhul]

I too prefer to not fixate on the looks too much most of the times. I often state hair and eye color, sometimes skin color (if she is pale or tan), cup size I mention somewhere. As I like shaved pussy I will throw it in down the line when things come to sex.

You may mention some peculiarities that you feel are important, like pointed chin, sharp nose or wide mouth. That her skin is soft and silky and so on.

The thing is, most people will not notice details. You will not notice MOST of a girl's features when you meet her - just the most prominent of them. For example you may notice how full her lips are, if mouth is what cathes your attention, but completely skip the shape of her eyes or the arch of her eyebrows, even though they are beautiful too, if inspected separately. You don't do a step-by-step cataloging of every one of her feature.
Moreover, the concepts of beauty differ greatly. It's best to describe her with some general epithets, leaving the rest to fantasy. That she was the most beautiful girl, radiant like the sun. That her hair was soft and silky, flowing down her back and bouncing slightly on each step.
Leave the rest to imagination of the reader. Allow him to imagine his own beautiful woman, radiant like the sun.

It is much more worthy to concentrate on personality. If she is fierce or bashful? If she smiles a lot. If she's energetic and bouncy or if her movements are measured and peaceful. The atmosphere she brings with herself.

Don't forget her style, her clothes. It's always good to say how neat she looked, or if she dressed like a brat, or slutty, or maybe very strictly. Describing her clothes will tell the reader more about her than her actual looks.
Don't forget the scent, if you sexualize her in the eyes of another character. He/she will definitely notice the soft fragrance she leaves behind.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Do not describe her in detail or with numbers. Let the reader fill in the blanks with what he feels is the perfect woman or the imperfect woman.

When I read a story that starts giving the woman's stats...back click.

The same goes for a guy with a twelve inch cock...back click.

"Her hair was a pale blond, eyes of green stared at me across the room. As she glided my way, a flash of thigh could be seen as the slit at the side of her gown opened and closed. Her hips flared from her waist. Her breast were unrestrained by an undergarment. Her nipples were hard little bumps under her gown."

Now what is the picture in your head?

 

[NOIRTRASH]

FROM THE INVESTIGATORS by Uhnak

She was very young; not as young as I thought at first glance, but when compared with her husband she was practically a kid. A very beautiful kid who knew exactly how to emphasize her best features. She had large dark-blue eyes, carefully decorated with a pale-beige shadow and heavy dark liner, and very thick, very long eyelashes which may or may not have been real. No other makeup except for a touch of lipstick that made her mouth look moist. When she dragged on her cigarette, as though sucking in oxygen, a dimple appeared at the corner of her mouth and another in her right cheek. After she blew out the smoke, her lips remained just slightly parted and a glint of white teeth showed. Her figure was more than good and the blue knit jersey pants suit took its shape from her precise contours rather than from any structuring undergarments. Her hands were long and restless; a collection of silver rings covered her fingers. Matched the jangling silver and turquoise bracelets which slid up and down along both of her wrists as she plucked and fidgeted and finger-combed her hair, which was, as she well knew, her best feature. It was shoulder length, straight and the white-blond of an albino. It surrounded her dark-browed, oval, high-cheeked face like fine sheer curtains. The color was natural; the center part showed a delicate pink scalp. Her voice had a low, hoarse street sound which shattered the illusion created by her face. She rolled her tongue around inside one cheek for a moment, shook her head, folded her arms across her body and said,

 

[Daniel_Matthews]

^^^ Booooooriiiing....

 

[NOIRTRASH]

^^^ Booooooriiiing....

Then don't buy it.

It was a best seller, though, from the writer who created KOJAK.

 

[Nezhul]

^^^ Booooooriiiing....

I agree. Not enough tits and leaking hot pussy in the description.
=___= =P

 

[Daniel_Matthews]

50 shades was a bestseller too.

And that shit ain't classic.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

50 shades was a bestseller too.

And that shit ain't classic.

And 50 shades sucked. The book and the movie.

 

[Nezhul]

Well I rather liked that novel actually, apart from a few weird things most of which were concentrated in the first novel of the trilogy. The BDSM depiction is completely wrong, it's quite clear that the author had only some fantasies and no experience.
It seems to me that she actually felt how bad it was and reconsidered, turning it into a simple "Beauty and the Beast" romance with some sex instead. Not very well written, nothing new, but not all that bad. The second book actually makes a complete 180 turn in the way of where their relationship was going.

Also that book was what actually got me writing erotic in the first place ) So for me personally there's great merit in it.

 

[silverwhisper]

there's been a lot of good advice here, and i particularly liked learin's contribution to the thread.

back in the day when i used to write erotica, what i always found most effective in describing the female form was not to describe in objective but rather subjective terms.

a few folks have pointed out the problems of using bra sizes or bust/waist/hip measurements and i agree that those should be avoided.

i see them as being problematic however because of the fact that ultimately, you don't really want to use these objective traits. i've always felt that the strongest erotica is intrinsically subjective. when it's more than just a stroke story, the sexual encounter(s) should also serve to drive the plot forward and/or reveal some interesting character detail(s).

maybe the cynical, wisecracking 40something lesbian switch has a surprisingly powerful reaction to hairpulling. or maybe despite being a staunch feminist has a great fondness for being dominated by a "powerful" man. these things matter: they tell the reader something more than just the physics of sex, but about the chemistry of the dynamic between the participants.

JMHO.

ed

 

[DumbDude3103]

Good question. Writing lesbian stuff as a guy is difficult, I have tried it but not got very far.
I suggest reading stuff written by real lesbians and bi girls here, both in the stories and in the forum threads. There are quite a few of them. See how they describe things.

And do you know of any specifically so that I don't have to search all night?

 

[Nezhul]

If you can paint a gradual picture over the course of the story, that'd be very interesting as well.

Some things, I feel, should be said closer to the beginning. Because for myself, nothing breaks the immersion as mention of her short curly red hair, when for the past half an hour reading I have been imagining a shoulder-length haired brunette. Like, if you ever will need to concentrate on some noticeable trait like that, get it out of the way soon.

 

[Nezhul]

And do you know of any specifically so that I don't have to search all night?

I actually didn't notice all that much of a difference. They just not fixate so much on body parts, like for example seeing breasts is not a national holiday for another girl, obviously. They can still appreciate the looks.

To write lesbian or even straight girl-perspective stuff, you should understand the woman's perspective, not a lesbian-only perspective, because there is none. What women pay attention to, how is it different from men? And of course all women are unique - you can easily have a tomboyish girl character who will be slightly manly in her attitude.

One thing I notice is that girls concentrate less on your innate looks and more on what you do with them. They will notice if a man is cleantly shaven and has a nice haircut, if he dressed sharply and his posture before noticing his muscular body, full passionate lips and yada-yada.
Women also tend to concentrate more on words, smells, confidence. It sometimes doesn't matter if he doesn't look like an Apollo and Tom Cruise combined, if he is dressed sharply, looks neat and talks confidently. Because things like face and body are a good bonus, but secondary, while for the men they are rather primary.

You should try and find women-perspective first-person stories and read them. If you wanna, you can read Twilight saga too =). It's not erotic, but it's pretty much the only girl book I have read, and it's rather cool. Also if you read it, then in the second book you may notice how a depiction of a guy's perspective written by a woman differs from what you actually feel like =)
I wouldn't recommend it as a reference, but I tend to write girl-perspective stories here. I think I do good, and in my SexTV ch.1 there's even a lesbian scene. A&A Kinks are first person girl perspective.

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[Nezhul]

I very much agree with this. Reading starts with a wry smile when a woman is described visually one way then a bra size given that obviously is meant to sound enthusiastic but instead contradicts the picture painted.

The other benefit of using words, over sizes, is a reader can use them to draw their own portrait interpreting them to include their subtle vision often : think how casting for movies from books so often disappoints fans, it's because people have been left room to picture the characters in their minds.

So then how would you describe breasts then? That they are full and round - kinda like that? What if I don't want her to have a very big breasts but not completely flat chested? Like B-cup size or somewhere between A and B - how would you describe that with words?

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[Nezhul]

never actually thought that it quirked anyone... =] Because it doesn't bother me at all. I agree, that providing accurate measurements like "7 inch cock" or "36CC breasts" is too much, but I rarely seen this. For example in my latest (yet unpublished) story I wrote it like that:

“Besides,” Katy giggled, “I hear some men really like flat chests like yours.”
“Shut up!” Ann hissed. She was really jealous of Katy’s perfect B-cups.

And I thought it was totally fine. Guess not?

 

[NOIRTRASH]

The conventional guide for description is to note significant departure from the average.