How Tall Are Your Characters?

[Five_Inch_Heels]

Like other stats and measurements, I never really specified in numbers. I'd just use 'tall and trim' for example. But on another thread that took some weird turns, there was this comment:

"I'm 5' 10". I don't want to come off as arrogant."


On yet another thread, I mentioned a model with 48" legs, measured from heel to thigh. The article mentioned they were the same as the height of a 7 year old child.


Tall is a way of life and unless you're bumping your head on door frames, you're fine. If your characters are closer to 6 foot and wear 5 or 6 inch heels gracefully, so much the better.

 

[ericalauren]

One of my literature professors told us that writers need to know every single detail about their characters, even if the reader never learns said details. I’m mostly a poet so I doubt that this advice applies to most poems, except novels-in-verse or epic poetry. That being said, I did write a short story a few months ago where a character is short.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

For some people (of any gender) the man must be taller than the woman. Not sure why but that's just how it is. I'm 5'7 and I used to date a guy the same height as me. When I wore a heel I was taller than him and everyone thought we were adorable together.

I have a romance story here where the female lead is a couple of inches taller than the male lead. I did this on purpose for many reasons. First, to show that they still look great together despite the odd sizing. Second, to show that she adores him despite his stature. Third, to show some of his cockiness that he has no problem walking into the room with a bird on his arm taller than him.

 

[ColtonWrites]

One of my literature professors told us that writers need to know every single detail about their characters, even if the reader never learns said details. I’m mostly a poet so I doubt that this advice applies to most poems, except novels-in-verse or epic poetry. That being said, I did write a short story a few months ago where a character is short.

That's funny to me, because I tend to realize at 5 or 10 thousand words into a story that I have no idea what my characters look like.

This is probably because I am face-blind IRL; I don't generally know what real people "look like", either. And I'm 5'2" so everyone is "tall", relative to me.

Also I discovery-write so its not uncommon for me to "find out" a character's last name, job, hobbies, etc. well into a story.

 

[UnexpectedLuggage]

I never really think about it, unless it's pertinent to the story somehow.

I suppose if you have two people and you want to really hammer home a height difference, but I've never really given exact heights much thought in my stories.

 

[Erozetta]

It rarely plays into my stories unless I want to set up a height/size difference angle. I was with a guy who was an inch or two shorter than me at one point. He would straighten himself out when we walked together in order to appear the same height as me. He both hated and loved when I wore high heeled boots. But he also loved to take me for walks in the woods whenever I wore them so I'd get stuck in the mud and have to take them and any other foot coverings off and walk in the woods barefoot, lol.

Usually, if I establish a height difference, it's for playful banter more than fucking.

 

[Statius]

One of my literature professors told us that writers need to know every single detail about their characters, even if the reader never learns said details. I’m mostly a poet so I doubt that this advice applies to most poems, except novels-in-verse or epic poetry. That being said, I did write a short story a few months ago where a character is short.

I have 1 character in all my stories that I know her entire life story, including the immigration of her grandparents. Is it mentioned? No. Most of those details are just in my head and they definitely inform the character, her actions, words, personality.

And because I write here on LitE I tend to make my women characters just a little shorter than the men. Why? Because many women and most men want a guy taller than the woman. It seems to be a common thing.

And for the record the character mentioned above is barely 5'2.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

I write D/s angles so the height plays a role sometimes. And that's the only reason I would ever consider writing a male MC who is shorter than the female MC.

I admit it's just my own bias and perhaps insecurity, but when a woman is more than a little taller than the man, that always looks jarring to me.

 

[Bazzle]

For some people (of any gender) the man must be taller than the woman. Not sure why but that's just how it is. I'm 5'7 and I used to date a guy the same height as me. When I wore a heel I was taller than him and everyone thought we were adorable together.

I have a romance story here where the female lead is a couple of inches taller than the male lead. I did this on purpose for many reasons. First, to show that they still look great together despite the odd sizing. Second, to show that she adores him despite his stature. Third, to show some of his cockiness that he has no problem walking into the room with a bird on his arm taller than him.

I always have to think about shoes.

How tall is the women compared to man in heels.

I have in previous stories mentioned how much shorter the girl is in pumps compared to heels. It surprises the MMC.

So height is important!

 

[cw5523729]

I personally don't generally specify exact heights unless there is a specific reason to. Whether a FMC is 5' 3" or 5' 5" exactly is irrelevant and distracting. "On the shorter side" works better for me 99% of the time.

As for the 48" leg, I've been married to the same woman for 25 years and couldn't for the life of me tell you how long her legs were. So something like that comes off as unnatural to me, kind of like the random MMC that can instantly assess a woman's exact bra size at 20 yards.

 

[MelissaBaby]

"I'm 5' 10". I don't want to come off as arrogant."

Uh...that was a joke.

 

[SimonDoom]

I can't recall ever having given the exact heights, by feet or meters, of my characters in a story. I describe appearance in general terms, not numbers. I don't see any need. If I use the word "tall" to describe a characer then it leaves the reader free to imagine "tall" as they see fit, and I think that's better.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Fairly average unless stated.

Sarah from Strength is a Caged Cock/Bad Brat Girl etc is five foot and despite being 30 has to make an effort to appear over 18, so her size is a plot point. She thus needs to stand on a chair to restrain 6-foot Jake at a fetish club, and can't kiss his face once he's prevented from bending, so tweaks his nipples instead. Her fiancé is a big chap of South Asian descent who is often assumed to be twice her age rather than only three years older. Jake's wife Cat is about 5'4 with extra hair height and bounciness.

Or Adrian - a smallish guy, 5'9 so the same height or less when Laura wears heels, Dan is 6'1" because we first hear about him from an online gay hookup ad.

Ali is shorter than Laura but has spiky hair, Becca is stocky but shorter than Ali, so guessing about 5'2.

Richie is about 6 foot plus DM boots, Emily is average for an Essex girl so about 5'6.

Rachel is 5'8 just because she was partly me. Her Emma is a 6'3 striking blonde ex-Olympian - again, her height and noticeability is a plot point. Bradley got through about four stories with his height being unstated, just implied taller than Emily, slightly taller than Rachel, definitely shorter than Emily. When he meets Lisa who happens to be trans, they're about the same height, making her about 5'10 plus a heel, him about 5'11 because Richie's likely slightly taller.

But until characters are fleshed out to the point of knowing their siblings and their favourite biscuit, it's generally doesn't need mentioning.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

As for the 48" leg, I've been married to the same woman for 25 years and couldn't for the life of me tell you how long her legs were. So something like that comes off as unnatural to me, kind of like the random MMC that can instantly assess a woman's exact bra size at 20 yards.

Yes, but the fact that the character was a model, if the story had any element of the modeling world at all in it, measurements are everything in that industry and it would be natural to mention them. But normally I agree, exact measurements are rarely needed and risk making the story statistical/mechanical.

 

[iwatchus]

I only talk about it for the characters that are unusually tall or short. So for women, I don't mention height for anyone between 5-2 and 5-9 or so. The only ones I have mentioned measurements on is a short woman, who notes that she does make 5 foot, barely. And the former college basketball player, who tends to intimidate everyone.

My very first main character is I think the only male I can remember that I give an exact height on, and that was a comment on a woman's height -- "In heels, she rivaled my six foot one."

IRL I don't actually notice people's height except in the extreme. I had a good friend in college who was 5'4" so quite short for a male. I didn't;t notice he was short until middle of second semester. He always jokingly called himself a hobbit and I finally figured out why. I do notice really tall, men over about 6'6" women much over 6'

 

[Jackie.Hikaru]

I don’t ever make it a point to describe the height unless it adds to the storytelling.

Here’s an example of the only time I described someone’s height in my latest wip.

It was then that I noticed, for the first time, that I was taller than her. She gazed up at me and in her expression, there was none of the authority, command, and the prim, elegant marminess that I had come to expect from her. Instead, there was a kind of nervous excitement.

 

[AchtungNight]

For the original characters, I know Lisa is 5’7” and Doug is 5’11”. Boris, Clarke, and Del are all around 6’5”. Tess and Elena are petite, probably around 5’1” at most. The celebrities match their real life heights of course. Silvan is 4’8”. If you want to know anyone else’s height please ask.

 

[GemmaGemmaGemma]

Around average most of the time, though I've started writing a few of my female characters taller than average in some of the stories I have started recently. The long legs are calling for me at the moment.

My happy holidays story was a romance including one character with dwarfism, so he was quite a bit shorter than average (though about average for his condition). The lady was about a foot taller than him, so she wasn't particularly tall in general. Maybe I should have made her bigger

 

[MelissaBaby]

One of my literature professors told us that writers need to know every single detail about their characters, even if the reader never learns said details. I’m mostly a poet so I doubt that this advice applies to most poems, except novels-in-verse or epic poetry. That being said, I did write a short story a few months ago where a character is short.

I've always believed that to write full, realistic characters, you need to know much more about them that you tell the reader. Of course, you don't consciously "know" everything, but an author ought to be able to answer any question about them without any great effort.

 

[HippyJeanSalon]

Usually height doesn't come into play in my stories; I talk about it in generalities. However, in my most recent work, "Witch's Night Out", it was a factor. The FMC I described as "just over six feet", whereas the MMC was five feet even, and there was a purpose for spelling it out.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

I've only used exact measurements a few times, always within a context of someone who would have access to the information. In one of my WIP the MMC notes the FMC is really tall, only an inch or two shorter than his 6ft 2in.
Normally though, tall, short, petite, etc will suffice.

 

[OddLove]

It's all about how creatively you can sprinkle the details in without it feeling like info-dumping. Cause when a story goes 'He was six foot two, two-hundred and fifty pounds of granite, rocked a nine inch cock with seven and a half circumference, and wore double-wide size fourteen shoes,' it can feel more like reading a witness report rather than a story.

 

[cw5523729]

It's all about how creatively you can sprinkle the details in without it feeling like info-dumping. Cause when a story goes 'He was six foot two, two-hundred and fifty pounds of granite, rocked a nine inch cock with seven and a half circumference, and wore double-wide size fourteen shoes,' it can feel more like reading a witness report rather than a story.

Or "Six foot four, and full of muscle"




Sorry, that's still stuck in my head from another thread.

 

[MelissaBaby]

It's all about how creatively you can sprinkle the details in without it feeling like info-dumping. Cause when a story goes 'He was six foot two, two-hundred and fifty pounds of granite, rocked a nine inch cock with seven and a half circumference, and wore double-wide size fourteen shoes,' it can feel more like reading a witness report rather than a story.

It's a lot easier and more elegant to just write, "She placed her hands on his strong, broad shoulders and looked up at him."

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Or "Six foot four, and full of muscle"




Sorry, that's still stuck in my head from another thread.