Character Body Size

[EmilyMiller]

Nothing makes me click away faster from a story that the narrator or character giving their vital statistics in the first couple of paragraphs. It just tells me that the story with be shallow, concerned with appearance and the superficial, rather than emotions and motivations.

What if the character’s appearance - or their view of it - is part of their emotional interior?

 

[Writer61]

What if the character’s appearance - or their view of it - is part of their emotional interior?

That will probably require more than just opening with a list of their dimensions.

 

[BeechLeaf]

It doesn't require numbers. It can be impressionistic. It can be brought into the story as part of feelings, not crude descriptions. In a story scheduled to be published tomorrow (not mine), the main character thinks of herself as 'smallish, slightly plump', and this is part of other impressions about herself and her life. (The author expanded it since I previewed it, so these might not be the exact words now.)

 

[EmilyMiller]

That will probably require more than just opening with a list of their dimensions.

Disagree entirely. Why be so absolute in your statement? As always, it depends on the skill of the writer.

 

[BeechLeaf]

Or to put it another way: it might be very significant and relevant that the character is tall, or skinny, or has large breasts. It can never be significant to the story that they are some exact number, 5'11" or some cup size. That doesn't work, it's worse than saying they're tall.

 

[EmilyMiller]

or some cup size

Some of us are kinda aware of such things…

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

'She had to duck going through doorways while he had to stretch to see through the keyhole.'

 

[BeechLeaf]

Some of us are kinda aware of such things…

Not actually the point, because most of us can work out how to use a tape measure to get a height, and some magical empaths can judge whether she's a 437BCD, but just dropping that in para 3 is still painful like a siren going off by scraping down a blackboard, and you don't read stories that begin by giving you that helpful visual information. Whatever it actually tells you, it can be told in a much gentler way, progressing the story.

 

[Writer61]

Disagree entirely. Why be so absolute in your statement? As always, it depends on the skill of the writer.

You must have missed the 'probably' in my post. That is hardly absolute. Why be so absolute in your response?

As several people, including me, have said, specifying dimensions is a turn-off. So listing them before explaining why the character is so focused on them risks losing readers. If the reader has already checked out, it doesn't matter how skilled a writer is.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Not actually the point, because most of us can work out how to use a tape measure to get a height, and some magical empaths can judge whether she's a 437BCD, but just dropping that in para 3 is still painful like a siren going off by scraping down a blackboard, and you don't read stories that begin by giving you that helpful visual information. Whatever it actually tells you, it can be told in a much gentler way, progressing the story.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[EmilyMiller]

You must have missed the 'probably' in my post. That is hardly absolute. Why be so absolute in your response?

As several people, including me, have said, specifying dimensions is a turn-off. So listing them before explaining why the character is so focused on them risks losing readers. If the reader has already checked out, it doesn't matter how skilled a writer is.

I’ll leave you to discuss.

 

[Writer61]

I’ll leave you to discuss.

Ah, unable to defend your position = I was right. Admitting that would have been the classy response.

 

[THBGato]

What if the character’s appearance - or their view of it - is part of their emotional interior?

Give me an example.

I mean, I can imagine a character struggling with their weight, and the depression that causes, mentioning that early on. Fine, fair enough. But also giving their height, cup size, eye and hair colour straight away? That just makes it read like a police BOLO.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Give me an example.

I’ll PM you as I’m done with this thread.

 

[Writer61]

I’ll PM you as I’m done with this thread.

I thought you already were. If you have an example, why keep it private?

 

[bi_cathy]

Nothing makes me click away faster from a story that the narrator or character giving their vital statistics in the first couple of paragraphs. It just tells me that the story with be shallow, concerned with appearance and the superficial, rather than emotions and motivations.

I once used vital statistics, literally. Heart rate. That was a fun one

 

[Actingup]

I once used vital statistics, literally. Heart rate. That was a fun one

I've mentioned this before, but I got a strongly positive reaction when I railed at the bra size issue in my first story. The writing was all over the place - it reads like my first story - but at least I got that bit right.

Our hero has just sprained his ankle on a solo bushwalk in Tasmania

Now what? As I contemplated my foot in a stupor while trying to run through all the potentially useful accounting tricks I knew, I started to hear some noise from further up the ridge behind me. The sound got louder, and around the corner of the path came a youngish, slim woman, about my age, wearing a daypack, shorts and shirt, and (of course) sensible hiking boots with long socks. Her head was partly hidden by a floppy hat and sunglasses, but I could see that she was a brunette with tanned skin and a long ponytail. Not that this particularly mattered to me at the time -- her hair could have been green and she could have been an 80-year-old man for all I cared right then, but I know some readers will want to know. I draw the line at estimating her bra size at this point in the story though, because frankly that's a bit creepy and any guy who claims to be able to do that at first glance is not somebody you want to be around.

 

[Britva415]

Disagree entirely. Why be so absolute in your statement? As always, it depends on the skill of the writer.

Your "what-if" takes longer to perceive than an opening with a stats card and zero characterization. So, if someone nopes-out because there wasn't enough lampshading at the beginning to indicate that this is the character's "emotional" (please.) interior rather than the author's lack of putting emotional content into the story, then, they missed their chance.

A matter of authorial skill? Or just a matter of the reader being shitty? Merely listing stats is not characterization. I'm skeptical that a skilled author who wants to write a story about such a character would fail to show in any way at all that early in the story that there's more going on than just an author being, how was it put, shallow and superficial.

Maybe you aren't.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Maybe you aren't.

I originally replied:

“Maybe go fuck yourself!”

and I’m not going to delete that. It’s what I said.

But my reply was based on misreading @Britva415’s comment, which I have now figured out. My bad.

If @AH_Mod wants to further moderate this post, then that’s up to them. Same goes for the shit-posting that followed.

I made a mistake. I’m sorry.

 

[Britva415]

Maybe go fuck yourself!

I mean, we share that skepticism or we don't. Either is OK with me.

. o O ( thinks )

What nerve did I touch, here? Did I describe something you have written? Is this why you didn't want to give an example in public but had one for a DM?

 

[TheseThings]

It can never be significant to the story that they are some exact number, 5'11" or some cup size. That doesn't work, it's worse than saying they're tall.

Someone who plays in a professional basketball team might have an inferiority complex about being only 5’11’’ and be double motivated to overcome that stature. So it effects both their character and personality . So in context this tall person actually has short person syndrome!

 

[Britva415]

Someone who plays in a professional basketball team might have an inferiority complex about being only 5’11’’ and be double motivated to overcome that stature. So it effects both their character and personality .

Can't the narration just say that, though? They're still being compared to other characters. Is the number really that salient? Is the reader really going to understand the whole thing you just spelled out, merely by reading the number? Are we storytellers or what, here?

 

[Nynah]

Thanks for the advice.

I’ll leave you to discuss.

I’ll PM you as I’m done with this thread.

Maybe go fuck yourself!

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/...s-to-help-you-spot-high-conflict-people-early



On-topic: I think newer authors who are getting their feet wet for the first time with writing erotica fall into the hole of rapid-fire listing out the exact dimensions of their dream woman because that is how they envision her in their minds. And if they're just writing for themselves, then why not set the exact picture that they want to read about? It's my belief that the advice of using adjectives and other stylistic devices instead of precise measurements comes from practice and a realization that if one wants others to read and connect to their work, they need to let the readers' mind do some of the legwork to encourage investment in their prose.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

If I paint a character as a tall brunette, I might be thinking of Carol Alt, Veronica Hamel, Angie Harmon, Terry Farrell, Wendie Malick or any of a few dozen others of that era. Readers might see any one of a dozen celebrities from their age group.

And that's OK if that's how they relate the story to their own life.

 

[Writer61]

If I paint a character as a tall brunette, I might be thinking of Carol Alt, Veronica Hamel, Angie Harmon, Terry Farrell, Wendie Malick or any of a few dozen others of that era.

I don't know any of them, but that doesn't matter. Your description is enough.