Ladies, a question....

[jon_jones]

There seem to be a fair number of stories on Lit that contain a scene where a woman in her thirties or so catches a glimpse of herself in a mirror in some state of undress and then says to herself, or thinks "not bad for a 38 year old (or however old she is)".

What I know about women could be written on the back of half a postage stamp (which is more than most men), but I can't imagine any woman I know doing this. Most women I know, no matter how gorgeous they are, worry about their appearance (maybe i know the wrong women), so I was just wondering if women actually DO think stuff like that if and when they see themselves in the mirror, or is it just another Lit cliche?

J-J

 

[The Mutt]

Not bad...

My Divine Mistress is 45 and she is always saying things like that. Maybe she is fishing for compliments, but I don't think so. She is stunning!

 

[cloudy]

I'm not much of a mirror gazer, and every once in awhile I catch a glimpse of myself, and think something like you posted. It happens, but I think because I don't spend that much time in front of a mirror so my image surprises me somewhat.

 

[Guest]

I always look good.

And I'm in here. That's a paradox for you.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

The reason that so many women in Lit stories stop and stare at themselves in a mirror is because it's an easy device to let an author describe what the character looks like.

Most authors are sophisticated enough to know not to stop a story and give you a police-blotter style description of the female lead ("She was about 5'6" with shoulder-length blonde hair and gorgeous blue eyes...") . They know that the descritpion should come out in the story without stopping the action, so they either throw in the old mirror scene or maybe the shower scene, where she examines her body while she washes. You'll usually see some reference to her 38 DD-sized tits too, as well as a mention of how many times she goes to the gym a week.

It's just a sign of hackneyed writing. In real life women look in the mirror just like the rest of us do, mainly to make sure there's no spinach in her teeth and that her blouse isn't buttoned crooked.

---dr.M.

 

[psychocatblah]

Sometimes I look at myself and think "not bad" or sometimes I look and say, "not good." I think that spinach aside, we all do little self-evalutations in the mirror. Although whethery they'd boil down to "not bad for xx"... I don't know. I'd probably be more like, "Well, pretty good, but I still think my hips are too big... and I wonder if I should finish that plastic surgeon's website in trade for botox, that wrinkle between my brows is getting deep. Am I bloated? What day is it? I don't think this is my color. What's with the lights in here? It look good in the store! What time is it? Ugh, too late to change, I've got to go. But at least I don't look as bad as xxxx. "

And then probably a bazillion other stupid neurotic things that are either good or bad but ultimately don't say much about anything important.

 

[jon_jones]

Hadn't thought of it as just a plot device to get some information across before Dr M.

Giving general information about a character in a story is hard to do, and when I read a story I tend to imagine the characters to have features that I think of for them, not that the writer puts down, unless they tend to stand out (the 38DD breasts, the 10 inch penis).

I guess we project onto characters what we want them to be like, not what how the author wants them to be.

Nice Robert Frost quote, by the way Dr M.

J-J

 

[The Mutt]

Good point

Good point, Jon.
I tend to give complete descriptions most of the time, but you have made me realize I am taking away some of the fantasy for the reader.
A lot of the stories I have written were aimed at an audience of one; my Divine Mistress, Miss Oatlash. The characters I put in the mix were meant to turn her on. That's why so many of the characters tend to look like me. (Yes, I have a very healthy ego.) Or they look like people she knows that she has told me she finds attractive.
That is also why I use the same names a lot, which leads to my question. What goes into choosing names for your characters? Are some names sexier than others? Do you cast people you know in your stories?
BTW, my Mistress posted a story of mine under her name before she convinced me to start posting myself. It is The Fortunate Slave by Jonesdd. Enjoy!

 

[jon_jones]

I believe someone (Killer Muffin, perhaps) once wrote a "How To" on naming characters.

Names come with connotations that change from person to person, but they also tend to have a general "feel" to them, which girl is going to pick a Nigel over a Brad? (Apologies to any Nigels out there, or girls who did pick Nigel over Brad, I'm sure you made the right choice).

I've noticed more than one story on lit that has a character whose name seems to change halfway through, so it's not an easy thing to do, or get right, or be happy with when you're writing.

The female character in the one story I have on Lit so far was named after the person I based her on, and it's the same with the story I'm working on now, she's based on a woman called Vikki, so her name is Vikki.

For men I use generic, blank names, John, Paul, Neil, that I don't think carry any extra meanings like some male names do.

J-J

 

[Miss Oatlash]

I think everyone - male or female - looks in the mirror with the eyes of their lover, wondering what he or she finds attractive, critiquing one's body from another person's point of view, admiring the good and hoping to minimize the not-so-good. Miss Oatlash is a lucky Mistress, to have a Mutt who admires her so much.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

For men I use generic, blank names, John, Paul, Neil, that I don't think carry any extra meanings like some male names do.

J-J

I finally got so jealous of the men in my story that I started using my own name. Still do a lot. (Course it's my Lit name.)

---dr.M.

 

[herecomestherain]

What I say to myself in the mirror depends on my mood, the time of day and sometimes what I've just been doing. I'm vain and shallow and quite like mirrors. If I'm applying my fave lipstick I'm almost always going to be thinking "yes, perfect I love that colour, I look a whole lot better"...deep isn't it?

As far as the age thing goes, yeah sometimes I think I don't look too bad, other times I mourn the loss of youth, the effect of gravity, the ever deepening crease in my forehead above one eyebrow and various other imperfections.

To go back to Jon's question, I think the mirror device is just one of the tools that can let the reader in how the character perceives themselves. It can tell us about their relationship with themselves, love, hate, secure, confident, full of doubt, fashion aware or not, aware of their physical appeal or not etc.

I used this device in my one story here at Lit and yes it's probably a bit hackneyed but in this instance I used it not to convey a whole lot of information about the character's physique but more about how she perceived a particular scene as viewed in the mirror. She is an artist and in real life the technique is used to shift the way an artist sees something, a fresh perspective if you like. Once a painting is finished or nearly finished I usually hold it to a mirror, seeing with fresh eyes, finding the things that please and those that need more work.

I think the mirror as a story telling device has more possibility than the obvious.

 

[Guest]

I believe someone (Killer Muffin, perhaps) once wrote a "How To" on naming characters.

Names come with connotations that change from person to person, but they also tend to have a general "feel" to them, which girl is going to pick a Nigel over a Brad? (Apologies to any Nigels out there, or girls who did pick Nigel over Brad, I'm sure you made the right choice).

I've noticed more than one story on lit that has a character whose name seems to change halfway through, so it's not an easy thing to do, or get right, or be happy with when you're writing.

The female character in the one story I have on Lit so far was named after the person I based her on, and it's the same with the story I'm working on now, she's based on a woman called Vikki, so her name is Vikki.

For men I use generic, blank names, John, Paul, Neil, that I don't think carry any extra meanings like some male names do.

J-J

Sometimes my characters don't even have names.

I suppose the female in my latest would be called "gorgeous", as that is how she is referred to by the male.

I want readers to be able to put themselves in the middle of the action, to be able to easily imagine they are having the terrific sex the characters seem to be having. And I think that's easier to do without someone else's name staring you in the face.

Or not.

Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.




P.S. Oh, and I've used the mirror before; I think many people have. The last time was when I had a character checking to see if the outline of the plug in her ass showed through her short, tight skirt.

 

[Miss Oatlash]

Hi sweetsubsarahh,

I agree. Sometimes it's easier not to use a name so that the reader can put himself/herself or another into the story in their imagination. Most of the stories I write now are based on myself and my lover, The Mutt. But before we started writing for each other, most of my stories were of anonymous people who didn't have names.

Natasha

 

[Nymphonan]

There seem to be a fair number of stories on Lit that contain a scene where a woman in her thirties or so catches a glimpse of herself in a mirror in some state of undress and then says to herself, or thinks "not bad for a 38 year old (or however old she is)".

What I know about women could be written on the back of half a postage stamp (which is more than most men), but I can't imagine any woman I know doing this. Most women I know, no matter how gorgeous they are, worry about their appearance (maybe i know the wrong women), so I was just wondering if women actually DO think stuff like that if and when they see themselves in the mirror, or is it just another Lit cliche?

J-J

J-J,

In reading your question here, it seemed to me that you were asking more about the reality of the "woman looking in the mirror" vs the use of the technique in writting stories. So, I am going to answer you on that basis.

As a 43 year old woman. I spent most of my life looking in a mirror and feeling "less than". Less attractive than the media lead me to believe I should. Less than whatever. Recently, I have gone through some very serious transitions in life. Many of these have brought into my life people that have told me for the first time in my life that I am beautiful, sexy, sensual and not in bad shape for a woman of 43. I still didn't see it! But, last saturday after putting on the finishing touchs to go out, I looked in the mirror and saw what others had recently been telling me. I was sexy, sensual and not bad for a 43 year old. Ok, maybe I wasn't ready to tell myself I was beautiful, but I could accept the rest for the first time in my life. So, does it happen? Yes! But, there is more to the story. It is about how she sees herself and how she perceives others see her. Most of the time when I look in the mirror it is for that spinach in my teeth or that next grey hair. But, I think that once in a while most everyone looks in the mirror and say, "Hey, I look pretty good. Especially for someone ?? old."

Just my opinion.

 

[Miss Oatlash]

Nymphonan,

Well stated. Much better than I tried to say earlier. And I know how you must have felt this weekend. Sometimes, despite what my mind tells me I look like, I look in the mirror and see myself and say 'damn! she's hot!' I think I look better at 45 than I did at 25. Another thing that has help me tremendously in my self-image has been the erotic pictures that I take with my Mutt. Looking at those pictures (better than most of the porn on the Internet) I see myself in a different light. It makes me feel sexy and desirable - yes, for the first time in my life.

Natasha

 

[Lisa Denton]

There seem to be a fair number of stories on Lit that contain a scene where a woman in her thirties or so catches a glimpse of herself in a mirror in some state of undress and then says to herself, or thinks "not bad for a 38 year old (or however old she is)".

What I know about women could be written on the back of half a postage stamp (which is more than most men), but I can't imagine any woman I know doing this. Most women I know, no matter how gorgeous they are, worry about their appearance (maybe i know the wrong women), so I was just wondering if women actually DO think stuff like that if and when they see themselves in the mirror, or is it just another Lit cliche?

J-J

Of course its a cliche and its a great way to describe a character and all. Its also true, most women that age I know, and they tell me the truth because I'm another woman, like the way they look. When they have a lover telling them they look beautiful and feel good about themselves, they FEEL beautiful. And no, its not just wishful thinking on a voyuer's mind, women sometimes do get excited looking at themselves, but thats because when they feel beautiful they are beautiful.

 

[Nymphonan]

Nymphonan,

Well stated. Much better than I tried to say earlier. And I know how you must have felt this weekend. Sometimes, despite what my mind tells me I look like, I look in the mirror and see myself and say 'damn! she's hot!' I think I look better at 45 than I did at 25. Another thing that has help me tremendously in my self-image has been the erotic pictures that I take with my Mutt. Looking at those pictures (better than most of the porn on the Internet) I see myself in a different light. It makes me feel sexy and desirable - yes, for the first time in my life.

Natasha

Hello Natasha,

I am so glad that you understood my late night ramblings. I am not sure I can say that I look better now than at 25. Then...5'8" and 125 lbs. Now, 5'7 1/2" and....well, more that 125 lbs lol. But the thing that is different is that I am more comfortable in my body now. I see myself as a sexual and sensual being. I have found someone that tells me that I am beautiful and means it. He has helped me see my own beauty. I too have taken some photos recently and am seeing the beauty in my "imperfect" body. So, yes it is a wonderful feeling to catch a glimpse in the mirror and think "damn, she is sexy" or walk down the street and turn a head or two and believe that they are turning in appreciation and not in disapproval. Ain't it great?

 

[Miss Oatlash]

Ain't it great to have someone in your life who gives you that feeling of being desired? I haven't always had that, and I wouldn't trade my Mutt for anyone or anything in the world, 'cuz he makes me feel like a queen. A naughty, kinky queen!

 

[LadyJeanne]

Of course women do that

All women look in the mirror constantly. We moisturize our faces to prevent wrinkles, we apply make-up to enhance our features, we spend endless amounts of time styling our hair. When we step out of the shower and dry ourselves off, we look in the mirror and examine our naked bodies. We select clothes from our closet and see how we look in them in the mirror. We turn around to see if our ass looks big or if something is too tight and our underwear lines show through. We assess whether our bras are doing their job properly, whatever that job may be at the time (support, enhance, minimize).

We look in store windows to catch our reflections. We look in men's eyes to see if we can figure out what they see. We look in women's eyes to see if we can figure out what they see. We look in our lovers' eyes to find admiration and approval.

We wear certain clothes for the office, and certain clothes for our men. We stand in front of the mirror and assess how those clothes might look to our men. We take off our blouses and then our skirts and look to see how we appear in our underwear. We stand naked in front of the mirror and assess every little thing from the length of our necks to weather our toes look cute in that red nail polish. We check our breasts for the inevitable signs of gravity and feel terrible if we find them. We check our stomach for fat. We check our thighs for cellulite. We check our asses for sag. We look at our legs and maybe like our calves or ankles. We check our arms for muscle tone.

A few of us are confident and love what we see. Many more of us are not, but we know the pleasure that our bodies give to us and to our lovers and are content.

 

[The Mutt]

I don't know why, but a young woman with a tight, girlish body looks silly in exotic lingerie. A more 'mature' woman with a womanly ass looks sooooo sexy dressed in kinky underwear. I guess it is the Mrs. Robinson Syndrome. Remember how sexy Dean Wormer's wife looked in Animal House?

http://www.literotica.com:81/stories/showstory.php?id=149217

 

[Joe Wordsworth]

It /does/ seem silly, doesn't it?