Literotica writing lore which may not be as helpful as people think

[PennyThompson]

Not in the slightest.

I couldn't tell you what Pip from Great Expectations looks like, or Hardy's Tess, or Sherlock Holmes, or Tom Joad, or Holly Golightly, or Mara of the Acoma. Probably those writers do describe their appearance, but it doesn't make a blind bit of difference. But I remember them. Not because of their appearance though. (And, yes, I remember that Anne of Greengables is a redhead, Tyrion is a dwarf and Bobby Draper is hawt... but those aren't the reasons why I remember those characters.)

So include descriptions of appearances if it is pertinent and/or if it pleases you. But, in my view, it really doesn't matter if you don't.

Picturing my Rosa Waitangi as a big martian space marine clearly enhanced your experience of the stories with her in them, though

Personally I do crave vibrant mental images of most characters, but as we've discussed a few times about the visual aphantasia/hyperphantasia spectrum, everyone is different.

I think it might be the case that characters can be vividly physically described, or can be vividly characterized, but they need to at least be one or the other in order to stick with readers

 

[THBGato]

Picturing my Rosa Waitangi as a big martian space marine clearly enhanced your experience of the stories with her in them, though

Sure. But I couldn't tell you what Scout, Jeremy or Victoria look like. I know you did describe them, but it's not what's key to who they are, so it slipped my mind almost immediately. Whereas Rosa has worked on her physique - it's very much an expression of who she is (plus a key plot point).


But, yeah, it really did enhance my enjoyment though. Oh yes! Made me go and re-read The Expanse too!

 

[Katie_Mae]

(Bad) jokes aside, I just now realised I have written 26k words of a new story over the last two weeks where I've described nothing about the physical attributes of the MC. A few thousand words in I've put in that she has blue eyes. Thats it.

Would that put you guys off a story,

For me, it wouldn't put me off a story at all. I might not notice she has blue eyes though, unless it's actually important/relevant somehow.

There's a story I love which has no visual descriptions, as the main character is blindfolded. There's touch, smell and taste, but no visuals. It's a stroker, but I mention it because I read it years ago, before I had an account, lost it (forgot the name/author etc) and was delighted to find it again recently, but it stood out in my memory all this time.

or does it (as I'm kind of hoping) make the focus on the internal/emotional makeup of the MC drive the story better,

Not necessarily, not unless it was something like the above story where the no visuals meant the story could focus on the other senses.

and you just imagine her physical looks in your head anyway you like?

No, I wouldn't be imagining her physical looks in my head.

___

I'm not saying physical appearance doesn't matter at all, more the visuals don't (for me). Because, for me, there's no visuals. Where physical appearance impacts, it matters, not because of the appearance, but because of the impact. Eg, if your FMC is insecure about her looks, it's not the looks visually that matter, but how they impact her character. Or, if you design a character with two dicks, I don't care what they look like, I'd care how they felt inside me. Both of them, of course, because who'd waste time designing a character with two dicks for a purpose other than DP? This is lit after all.

 

[Zootonius]

How many of you describe the hair color of the female character, but not the male character?

 

[YmaOHyd]

How many of you describe the hair color of the female character, but not the male character?

Two of my three MMCs have described hair; all three of my FMCs have described hair. The story where the FMC has described hair and the MMC doesn't is also my story with the least physical description, period. The FMC's hair is described to contrast with her furious pallor as she's taunted by her boss -- paraphrased it's something like normally her pale skin and blue-black hair is striking, but now she looked like a corpse. The rest of her physical description is beautiful and worked hard for it, with a helping hand from good surgeons. The MMC is described as having a one-size-fits-none body and really should be wearing jackets in a 37 Long, which is impossible to find off the rack.

Only one of my MMCs and two of my FMCs have described eye colors, but one of those FMCs is just 'dark.'

In the things I'm most actively working on, there are two MCs and four FCs. All six have their eye color and hair color mentioned, assuming you'll allow full silver fox as a hair color description for one MC, and allow not having any hair (not a human) to count for the other one.

 

[THBGato]

How many of you describe the hair color of the female character, but not the male character?

Well, yeah. But surely lesbian writers get a pass here!

 

[Katie_Mae]

How many of you describe the hair color of the female character, but not the male character?

If I'm to describe anyone's looks, it's more likely to be those of the male character than the female character.

 

[LucyAnneThorn]

Hehe, I just went back to glimpse at my latest story and realized that it's probably the one with the least physical descriptions I ever wrote, and it's doing quite well. I usually fail spectacularly when I try to limit myself to visual traits that matter, so I see this as a big accomplishment. It even takes nearly 5k words until my main character (and thus the reader, as it's first person limited) learns the name of the antagonist / love interest despite spending most of the time with her, and I think the love interest's eye and hair color are the only physical descriptions in all 14k words. It's Summer Camp Surrender if you want to take a peek. A lesbian CoA with a sprinkle of loving D/S and a small helping of polyamory. Especially worth reading if you have a kink for sunglasses (in hindsight, I should have named it "Sunglasses")

 

[BellaBestia]

The important take away...
"Well written."
Rules Afterall are merely guidelines...
Write well, and all is forgiven...

Cagivagurl

Rules of writing are like the best before dates on packaged food products. Merely suggestions

 

[APilgrimSquare]

How many of you describe the hair color of the female character, but not the male character?

If it’s male 1st person POV, I won’t always describe the POV character’s hair color.