How important physical descriptions?

[Stella_Omega]

The same wanted person but different people describing her? That would work for a serial, but it'd be a bit tough for a chain story. Chain stories work best when each author can develop their own characters -- more of shared universe than different viewpoints of the same person.

Meh -- either would work as long as the chain authors could agree on the common character(s).

No, the same person, whose looks would shift with her mood or something. I wasn't thinking of a chain story, I'll admit...

 

[WRJames]

When the the character's appearance is revealed by having him or her do a self-evaluation in front of a mirror, I stop reading.

Really? I use mirrors occasionally. For example

“I don’t know,” she sighed. “Too much, I guess.” The last thing she needed now was being bugged about being a slob. She already hated herself sufficiently. She didn’t need more evidence about how useless, how imperfect, how disgusting she was. A sullen silence fell over the room, broken only by the mindless chatter of the news. She got up and retrieved her laundry. Unfortunately, she had to pass the mirror on the way to the bathroom. She hated how she looked. She hated what she was wearing, some stupid outfit her sister had picked out, tiny denim skirt, tiny little thong panties, tiny little top. Expect, on her it wasn’t so tiny. Her sister seemed to explode out of it, breasts straining to show more cleavage, the bottom riding up to show an enticing patch of belly, but the same garment was hanging limp on her. She had breasts, they were in there somewhere, they just weren’t popping out the way they were supposed to. The sun had reddened her face where she had not smeared it with eye black. Her nose, in particular, already too large for her liking, was pink and tender. It made her look like a clown. That was it; just change her name from Sarah to Bozo. She would learn how to juggle and do all the birthday parties from now on. She smeared some lotion on the offending organ. That soothed the pain a little, but nothing was going to make her look like a human being in time for dinner. She just wanted to hide in her bed until her body figured out what it was supposed to be doing. The fact that it might take a couple of years was only a minor inconvenience.

Actually, as I checked, A Worm in Eden is full of mirrors. The characters are at the age where they spend a lot of time staring at themselves (and sometimes masturbating to the beauty of their own reflections).

 

[Boxlicker101]

I think some description is normal, but I try to avoid overdoing it. "Long, blonde hair" or "tall" or "rather pudgy" is good enough. The only time I might mention numbers s when one person is reading the personal ad placed by another, which would include things such as height or breast size or cock size. I have only used a mirror scene once, at the beginning of this story:

http://www.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=332485

I thought it waould be a good way to begin what was intended to become a series.

 

[Le Jacquelope]

Well, it does work that way... And when someone wakes up as the opposite sex, they are going to go into some serious looking!

But again, that ought to be about the actions, and the emotions, far more than the cup size of the new body.

I know, I was just joking around. Context is everything.

I like to think that all things should be done with respect to balance. "She has 34DD tits" just FEELS out of balance. Who talks like that, really? It should be described in relation to things around it. "Breasts that really stood out" would be more appropriate... marginally.

 

[The_Fractal_King]

I usually try to stay vague, people have imaginations so there's not much need to tell them what people look like. In fact there is one character who's only mentioned physical trait is that he doesn't blink.

 

[Edward Teach]

"Betty Jean? Who's that?"

"She's that little blond, wears a size 34D Bali."

"How do you know she wears Bali?"

"I saw the tag when I unhooked it, of course."

"Omigod, you are such an asshole!"

"Why? What did I say?"

May I borrow that? I'll give you credit in an end note.

 

[Stella_Omega]

May I borrow that? I'll give you credit in an end note.

It's yours, mate

 

[sr71plt]

Betty Jean is a redone transvestite? "Blond" is male.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Betty Jean is a redone transvestite? "Blond" is male.

In France, always. In America, the 'blond/blonde' usage isn't a hard and fast rule, and as I have just demonstrated, is slipping badly.

Eddie, if you use it-- fix my typo, would you?

 

[Edward Teach]

In France, always. In America, the 'blond/blonde' usage isn't a hard and fast rule, and as I have just demonstrated, is slipping badly.

Eddie, if you use it-- fix my typo, would you?

It's my understanding that blond can be used for either gender but blonde only for females. However, I could be wrong; it happened once a while back.

Edward the Agnostic

 

[Stella_Omega]

It's my understanding that blond can be used for either gender but blonde only for females. However, I could be wrong; it happened once a while back.

Edward the Agnostic

Must have been a long time ago!

 

[sr71plt]

It's my understanding that blond can be used for either gender but blonde only for females. However, I could be wrong; it happened once a while back.

Edward the Agnostic

That' the guidance you'll find in the American Heritage Dictionary, yes. The dictionary generally used by publishing, though, is Webster's Collegiate, which makes the gender distinction.