How important are Physical descriptions

[RemoteShadeofGreen]

I write in first person a lot, and it’s easy to sneak in descriptions of the secondary characters, but I realized recently I give almost no descriptive attention to any of the MCs whose stories they are.

No one has complained so far- I figure they still come away with a good sense of who the person is and fill in the rest with their personal ideal. But it’s something I want to improve.

 

[Annabelle1990]

I'm writing about actual events, so I only describe people I would note the appearance of. People can fill in the blanks for the rest.

 

[Trionyx]

"He ran his fingers through her dark hair."

Or "He ran is long fingers, fingers which appropriately promised a massive ten inch cock, over her 38 DD breasts."

 

[Imstillfun]

My characters are usually describing themselves. So I go with the basics.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

How important are physical descriptions. For the women protagonists of my stories I rarely use more than height, weight, age, hair color and length. I like to let the reader fill the rest in.

For men I only include any if it’s important to the story. They’re usually pretty generic. I might give age, height, weight, and depending on the scene cock size, but even that’s a pass off as average or bigger than average.

You?

Extremely generic.

Tall, trim, fit, svelt. Ages are also generalized ... forty-ish, early twentys, mid thirties, ....

 

[Bramblethorn]

Different readers, different tastes. My preference is to focus description on traits that are relevant to the story, which usually means focussing on things the character chose - dress sense, dyed hair, etc. - rather than accidents of genetics.

 

[anthrodisiac]

I'm beginning to think I may be at least partially aphantasic, because I almost never have any mentally picture of what characters look like. They have no faces, both in what I write, and what I read.

Same. I'm borderline aphantasic (the only exception is I dream in images, but active imagination is totally blank), so I actually never really have any idea what characters look like beyond vague abstractions. So my human characters are primarily the basics and let the reader fill in the blanks themselves. Prior to erotica, I was a highly detail-skimpy writer, they tend to get in the way, so only focus on what's pertinent to creating a good-enough image in the reader's head, and maybe a bit extra for flavor if I'm feeling like it.

Except...

I tend to describe nonhuman characters in far more detail than human ones, simply because the contrast they provide seems to warrant that and I may have a more specific picture of what they look like. With humans I tend to give a rougher description and avoid getting too granular about size, height, weight, etc., so that the reader can fill in the blanks somewhat.

Honestly I'm wishing I would have done this more early on. There came a point when it occurred to me to start describing characters this way, but by then the damage was already done.

@MK_Whimsy and I are the same person. MK is very cool, quite attractive, and weird, but in a fun, approachable way... and very smart, too. Really, just an all-around swell individual.

My non-human characters get multiple paragraphs devoted to how they look, precisely because most people have encountered a human body before, and they're all roughly the same. An anthro can have many, many different interpretations and representations, so in order to make sure the reader has a clear picture of what I mean, I need words to really paint a picture. Maybe if I wasn't writing anthro smut, I wouldn't go into as much detail, but I know most erotica readers tend to like more fine-grain details than most readers, so they can mentally build the porn in their head. I'm perhaps a bit too much on the side of, "I want you to see the anthro I have in mind" (...even though I actually don't know what they look like), because I spent time abstracting them and coming up with a specific type of anthro for world-building purposes. The morphologies are part of the eroticism, and I want to make mine really stand out as distinct, especially since I'm using species that have a lot less play in the space, so even non-human readers aren't really that familiar with how a tamandua anthro should look.

 

[MK_Whimsy]

@MK_Whimsy and I are the same person. MK is very cool, quite attractive, and weird, but in a fun, approachable way... and very smart, too. Really, just an all-around swell individual.

My non-human characters get multiple paragraphs devoted to how they look, precisely because most people have encountered a human body before, and they're all roughly the same. An anthro can have many, many different interpretations and representations, so in order to make sure the reader has a clear picture of what I mean, I need words to really paint a picture.

Gosh, I'm extremely flattered by this. Thanks! (Though I'm not sure exactly how I'm attractive. I'm just a circle with an M in it...)

Was going to say though, anthropomorphic characters are exotic and different, so that can make you want to be very thorough in describing them. With humans, you've seen one you've seen them all. Okay, maybe not exactly, but I can see where it's more challenging to make them stand out in the same way.

 

[anthrodisiac]

Gosh, I'm extremely flattered by this. Thanks! (Though I'm not sure exactly how I'm attractive. I'm just a circle with an M in it...)

Was going to say though, anthropomorphic characters are exotic and different, so that can make you want to be very thorough in describing them. With humans, you've seen one you've seen them all. Okay, maybe not exactly, but I can see where it's more challenging to make them stand out in the same way.

Your circle is quite attractive. The M really is quite flattering, too.

Maybe it's because I'm always slightly annoyed by "alien: human, but blue!" but I want to see a level of creativity and thoughtfulness put into the non-human characters. There's only so much you can do with a human, but when you introduce non-human parts, it widens the possibilities so much that it begs creativity. I've always enjoyed creature-building, and so appreciate others who do the same. So, yeah, I want to show off my creations, even if they are basically something nature already created. So, maybe more accurately, I want to show off how beautiful nature is... and maybe not-so-secretly wish I was the pretty anthro girl making her human boyfriend in awe of her exotic nature.

Oh wait, I am! *does a sexy lil' archaeopteryx dance*

 

[Britva415]

How important are physical descriptions

I think it's good for the author to know what the character looks like.

As far as writing goes, I think it's better to not tell too much. Maybe not even very much at all.

But by knowing, one can let a bit of it slip in in ways that are uncontrived and natural, not clumsy "intros" or action-screeching-to-a-halt infodumps.

 

[StillStunned]

Regardless of how much detail you give, don't hold back anything that the reader needs to know, or that the viewer would notice more or less immediately. (Yes, I'm repeating what I wrote in the "On writing: descriptions" thread. And elsewhere, probably.)

What I mean is that your reader will form an image in their mind, and that image will be hard to change once it's formed. So if you neglect to mention that a character has fleshy lips, or a shaved head, or a particular skin colour, or whatever, it's quite likely that this detail will conflict with the reader's image. If you add it later, you're asking your reader to change a picture that's firmly established in their mind.

If it's an important detail the reader will have to make an effort, and even then they'll probably have two conflicting images in their head. Or else they'll just ignore it, which might present issues later if that detail comes back as a plot point. So in the best case you've wasted your energy on something that doesn't contribute to the reader's positive experience, and in the worst you've added something that diminishes the reader's positive experience.

 

[MrHereWriting]

How important are Physical descriptions​

It's more important than not important at all.

I prefer more to less, and anything to nothing, but do I prefer too much to more, don't know.

Presentation of those details matters most. If you're giving me the details in a way that makes me want to get through them quickly, then you're doing it wrong for this reader.

 

[MaudeBlack]

I think it is important as people like to build pictures in their mind.

I tend to put in a couple of descriptions at the start of the story - age and height. Then drip feed a few more as I go.

Xx

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Giving the reader some sort of picture is important - that's what our stories are mostly about. But not sounding like a catalogue entry is probably even more important, unless that's the effect you want.

I try to copy some of my favourite authors and sum up characters in one line of description, maybe a few phrases, but getting their or someone else's opinion of the description usually helps.

Cat is "a pile of black curls with a small bouncy woman attached."
Or "Sandy-haired Adrian looked his age of nearing forty, but was wearing it well. No receding hairline as yet - the lighter shade suiting him better than his previous light brown - good haircut, side parting and enough length to sweep backwards. Rik Mayall had gone for a similar style, recently, along with similar stunning cheekbones and same curmudgeonly fuck-off demeanour."

I try not to compare to celebs much, given it's useless when the reader doesn't know them, but it can work with an accompanying explanation, I think.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

I usually don't even include race which is why I don't always mention hair or eye color. I like to give just the basics and let the reader fill in the character they want to read about.

Tall, tan, toned could be white with a tan, light complected African/Caribbean, Hispanic, 'cinnamon' girl, Arabic, Mediterranean, even some Asians.

Adding in Raven haired builds on that a bit, maybe add Hazel eyes ....

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

I try not to compare to celebs much, given it's useless when the reader doesn't know them, but it can work with an accompanying explanation, I think.

'Carolyn looked like a mix of Wendie Malick, Teri Hatcher, Angie Harmon, Terry Farrell, Janice Dickinson, Joan Severance and Julie Strain all tossed together.'

Doesn't work too well, does it?

 

[StillStunned]

Rik Mayall had gone for a similar style, recently, along with similar stunning cheekbones and same curmudgeonly fuck-off demeanour."

I try not to compare to celebs much, given it's useless when the reader doesn't know them, but it can work with an accompanying explanation, I think.

It's always permissible to reference Rik Mayall. Just the thought of him never fails to bring a smile to my face. It might be time to rewatch Bottom.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

'Carolyn looked like a mix of Wendie Malick, Teri Hatcher, Angie Harmon, Terry Farrell, Janice Dickinson, Joan Severance and Julie Strain all tossed together.'

Doesn't work too well, does it?

I've only heard of Teri Hatcher, and she was pretty much Generic American Brunette, so no idea what the others might add to the mix.

 

[Writer61]

But not sounding like a catalogue entry is probably even more important, unless that's the effect you want.

this.

 

[Writer61]

I try not to compare to celebs much, given it's useless when the reader doesn't know them, but it can work with an accompanying explanation, I think.

I avoid it completely. Too often, I read something like that and have to go look up the person.

 

[Writer61]

It's always permissible to reference Rik Mayall.

But his recent look is not so hot.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

But his recent look is not so hot.

Give the man a break. That's like saying Marilyn Monroe isn't gorgeous, just because she's dead.

Met someone a while ago with a Rik tattoo on their forearm, along with dates and various quotes. It was beautifully done.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

along with dates and various quotes

Just because I can give orgasms to the furniture just by SITTING on it ...

 

[alohadave]

I've only heard of Teri Hatcher, and she was pretty much Generic American Brunette, so no idea what the others might add to the mix.

More of the same. Tallish, skinny, straight brown hair.

 

[alohadave]

That's like saying Marilyn Monroe isn't gorgeous, just because she's dead.

Not to kink shame...