Beauty without perfection

[BushyVince]

Hi, I'm new to Literotica and I want to start writing stories, but before I do that I wanted to ask this question: how do you describe the beauty of a woman (or anyone else) without the description sounding too perfect, cliché or unrealistic? I just find it hard to express that I love how someone looks but at the same time they're not flawless. I think my stories could end up being boring and/or not believable if I'm not careful with this.

 

[sr71plt]

This is where showing over telling is useful, combined with not giving description at all until/unless it's needed. You best show beauty of a character, either external or internal, by what they do and by the reactions, and mention of incidentals, of others around the character (and as different "others" will see them differently, the reader can form his/her own image of the protagonist throught the eyes of--and observing the motivations--of other characters), not by doing a 5' 4", D-cup, blonde bombshell laydown in the second sentence of the story.

 

[BushyVince]

This is where showing over telling is useful, combined with not giving description at all until/unless it's needed. You best show beauty of a character, either external or internal, by what they do and by the reactions, and mention of incidentals, of others around the character (and as different "others" will see them differently, the reader can form his/her own image of the protagonist throught the eyes of--and observing the motivations--of other characters), not by doing a 5' 4", D-cup, blonde bombshell laydown in the second sentence of the story.

Thank you. That sounds like a good way to do it.

 

[TE999]

I avoid detailed character descriptions in my stories to allow the reader to 'fill in the blanks' using their own imaginations; thereby giving them a sense of involvement with the characters.

 

[3113]

Nothing easier--it's all in the eyes of the beholder

I just find it hard to express that I love how someone looks but at the same time they're not flawless. I think my stories could end up being boring and/or not believable if I'm not careful with this.

You're on a porn site. People come here for fantasy not believablity Which is to say, you'll get readers if you describe the woman as having a perfect hourglass figure and pert DD breasts and the face of a movie star. They won't for a moment think such a character boring or unbelievable so long as the sex with her is hot.

However...I think you're really saying is that you wouldn't enjoy creating such a character and writing about them. That *you* would find it boring and unbelievable. Which is a whole other thing.

This is actually fairly easy to get around. It's all in the eye of the beholder after all. You can have a woman sighing over her shape, enviously looking at more perfect women. Switch the pov, and now you've got a guy (or other girl--depending on what category you're writing for), looking at this same woman and salivating over that different shape, loving the fact that she's got heavy hips or small breasts. "How beautiful!" thinks our viewer of this girl, and so she is.

Anyone who "loves" your woman can love her flaws. They can love that she is pear shaped (rather than perfect hourglass), or they can love that she has smile lines around her eyes or freckles across her nose. Give her whatever flaws you like, then create a pov character who sees such flaws as beautiful. Thus, you describe, though that character's eyes, how beautiful this imperfect woman is.

I did this myself with a story about BBW. We see her through the eyes of the man who adores large women and everything he sees--things most men and women would view as flaws like a soft belly, heavy thighs, etc.--is described--in great detail by the way--as stunningly beautiful. I've since had both men and women tell me that they view heavy women very differently since reading my story. Not as flawed, but as lovely.

Nothing easier. Yes?

 

[PennLady]

I try to drop bits of the description as I go along, many times reflected by something else. I'll describe a character via someone looking at him or her, for example. Or perhaps a more literal reflection, like a woman looking in a mirror and taking stock. I also try to keep it not vague, but somewhat general. I'll note hair color, length, eye color, things like that, but not too specifically. As others have said, I try to provide an outline and let the readers fill in.

Personally I find the laundry list descriptions (She was five-foot-four, 125 pounds, with a 38DDD chest, etc.) boring, although they do have their places. So I wouldn't dismiss them all together, but I would make sure doing that fits the story.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

Hi, I'm new to Literotica and I want to start writing stories, but before I do that I wanted to ask this question: how do you describe the beauty of a woman (or anyone else) without the description sounding too perfect, cliché or unrealistic? I just find it hard to express that I love how someone looks but at the same time they're not flawless. I think my stories could end up being boring and/or not believable if I'm not careful with this.

It's not hard at all. Just mention a few imperfections when you describe their features, and avoid unrealistic proportions. Practice by describing people you know, and when you get the language you like, transfer that to fictional characters. Very few of my characters have the cliche' porn star bodies that you would find boring. Most resemble people I see every day at the office, the train station, or the supermarket.

Here are a few examples:

She turned off the car, pulled a tube of lipstick from her purse, and looked into the rearview mirror. Over the years she had perfected the technique of using a bold shade to make her thin lips appear plump and pouty.


Teresa pushed the stocking past her creamy thighs and sturdy calves, leaving them in a crumpled pile next to her well-worn shoes.


Michael gazed into his wife's bright blue eyes. Creases radiated from the corners and the frown lines around her nose and mouth were becoming more pronounced, but he never tired of looking at her. Even after thirty years of marriage, she could still make him smile with just a tilt of her head and a lift of her eyebrow.

 

[PennLady]

I have actually found that I will write a story with about no description of a character, although that's not intentional. In my summer story (King's Bay), I realized after it was done I'd never described the narrator -- no one commented on it, for good or bad. Other times I'll mention something at the beginning, and then never again. Apparently I don't care that much, at least about my own characters.

 

[auh2064]

"Perfection" and "flaws"

When a house is a bit asymmetrical or strange, the people some people will adore the "character." When a house lacks square footage, some will call it cozy, and others will call it cramped.

For some guys, the bigger the breasts, butt, whatever, the better. For others, small breasts and lithe bodies are incredibly desirable.

For me, some of the best stories are those that begin by attracting me to the female character (I'm male) by describing her personality, he laugh, how much fun she is, how much she loves sex, etc., after which her physical attributes become physically desirable. And, whatever isn't described, I'll fill in on my own.

I know character development isn't always the strong suit of porn writers, but stories with characters you'd actually like to know, and not just use to supply a source of friction, probably have the broadest appeal...and are the stories a reader is most likely to come back to.

My favorite author of short story erotica probably is "Jane Urquhart" (NOT the Canadian novelist by that name), who wrote the Janey stories for a short period, several years ago. Well written, funny, and very erotic. You never know all that much about her looks, except that she's in her mid thirties, thinks she's slightly overweight, and has nice, but not overly-large breasts. You don't even find even that much in a single story. But, you want her! I think her stories are on asstr.

 

[HeyAll]

You could simply say that she turns heads whenever she walks into a room.

If you want to add in the imperfections for realism, you could say describe that despite (insert imperfection here) she was still able to turn heads and unknowingly grab attention whenever she walked into a room.

 

[DeeZire]

"It wasn't the long black dress that made her beautiful, it was the way she wore it, as if her plump curves belonged to a Hollywood actress, not an overweight housewife with flat hair and sad, gray eyes."

They say beauty is an attitude. It could be self-confidence, it could be modesty, it could be a laugh at an unexpected moment. Combining the attitude with the physical description is comparable to painting a picture versus describing one.