Question about describing your characters

[Vix_Giovanni]

The worst is when eager-beaver male narrator/writers tell me about their 10+ inch monster cocks before I know anything else about them. Next.

What else did I need to know?

Belle already alluded to this above. But personally, if the author doesn’t blatantly tell me this, it’s just what I assume.

 

[SimonDoom]

Hmmm. I realize there's an audience for measurements but I'd like to see an example of an actually decent story that handles the subject matter the way I described. I can be proved wrong, but I'm skeptical.

The stories I've read that have passages like this - and there have been many - have been cheesy and generally badly written.

 

[KeithD]

Hmmm. I realize there's an audience for measurements but I'd like to see an example of an actually decent story that handles the subject matter the way I described. I can be proved wrong, but I'm skeptical.

The stories I've read that have passages like this - and there have been many - have been cheesy and generally badly written.

Why? So you can pass judgment on what other writers/readers can/should use as arousal factors in a story--here, on the discussion board in these never-ending "I never read X" threads? You're doing exactly what I'm objecting to here. You can't just leave these writers/readers the hell alone, read/write something else to your own preference, and not come to the discussion board to cast an individual vote on what you'll write/read or won't, as if your one vote means anything at all among a broad range of interests of hundreds of thousands of Literotica users?

I played with this in one of my 750-word stories, "Smokescreen," with a character using the measurement perception, which I didn't depict as a false one among his colleagues, as a cover for his real preference--which also would be through measurement perception--just with different subject matter.

 

[SimonDoom]

Why? So you can pass judgment on what other writers/readers can/should use as arousal factors in a story--here, on the discussion board in these never-ending "I never read X" threads? You're doing exactly what I'm objecting to here. You can't just leave these writers/readers the hell alone, read/write something else to your own preference, and not come to the discussion board to cast an individual vote on what you'll write/read or won't, as if your one vote means anything at all among a broad range of interests of hundreds of thousands of Literotica users?

I played with this in one of my 750-word stories, "Smokescreen," with a character using the measurement perception, which I didn't depict as a false one among his colleagues, as a cover for his real preference--which also would be through measurement perception--just with different subject matter.

I think you are going way overboard and getting on an unnecessary high horse on this issue.

People start threads asking questions because they want these opinions. You give your opinion. I give mine. Everyone else here gives his or her opinion. That's what we do. If one were to carry the logic of your post to its conclusion nobody would give an opinion on anything because to do so would be tantamount to "not leaving people the hell alone" which is rank nonsense. I don't pretend to tell other people that they must do something a certain way, but if someone starts a thread asking for an opinion I'm going to give my opinion and there's not a damn thing inappropriate about that. My opinion is one small piece of data, but it's data and curious authors can do with it whatever they want. That's the point -- my individual vote DOES mean something, and I'm going to make it, and others are free to disregard it. I try to do so without snark or disrespect to the person asking the question.

I've maintained repeatedly in threads on this issue of "descriptions" that it depends on the story -- that some stories may be appropriate for measurements and detailed descriptions, while others are not.

My view that beginning the story with the cliche measurement data dump is widely shared. If I encounter such a story, I'm probably going to roll my eyes. So will many other author/readers here. That's something that a curious author might want to know -- that's why they ask in the first place, as is clear from their comments. Those who start the threads are free to ignore my opinion. So are you. But don't tell me it's inappropriate to venture it. That's ridiculous. You venture your opinion all the time, as you have a right to. We all do.

 

[KeithD]

And I think you are ignoring an important point for this story site. I'm sure the ignoring will just continue, though. But, no, I don't think my point is overboard. I think it's fundamental to what Literotica is to the story world of erotica.

 

[SimonDoom]

Here's what the person who started this thread specifically asked for:

"Curious as to what your tastes are"

That's an invitation to all of us to tell the OP what our personal tastes are on this issue of description. That's what I -- and we as a group -- have done. If one thinks the inquiry is wrong or silly or pointless one doesn't have to read the thread in the first place. But it seems to me that if you come to this thread and tell everyone to stop giving their opinions, then YOU are the one who refuses to leave others the hell alone.

 

[SamScribble]

I take ‘Curious to what your tastes are’ to mean what my tastes are.

It may have something to do with my advancing years, but I really don’t care whether a chap has four inches or ten inches. As an old girlfriend used to say: It all comes down to how you score on ‘degree of difficulty’. (She was a big fan of Olympic diving.) I’m also not that fussed as to whether a woman has minuscule norks on a 32-inch chest or 40-inch bazookas (as my present beau does). The really exciting, arousing bit is the space between their ears. You want to turn me on? Tell me about the space between their ears.

 

[KeithD]

Here's what the person who started this thread specifically asked for:

"Curious as to what your tastes are"

.

Not until after introducing measurement. And just because someone asks doesn't mean others have to start voting on what they will or won't write/read as a single user of a broad-ranging story site with hundreds of thousand users. The best answer to this question is that it's a broad-ranging, open site, and there is no universal interest writer/reader here. It's also pretty stupid to encourage posters to think if they write what random, individual board responders respond with that they've found any Holy Grail of story content on Literotica. The best response when this question comes up is to ask why they ask and what they think a preference answer does for them. That leads to a constructive discussion that they probably have no idea that what they want doesn't have a Holy Grail answer here, that they should write as they like, and with the number of readers here, they are likely to find a fan base.

What people refuse to do here is exercise an open-environment principle that I think Literotica has tried to set up as a foundation for the site: Mind your own business and let others enjoy their own uses of the site that the site permits.

People . . . just . . . can't . . . mind their own business here and leave others using the site within the site's limits the hell alone.

And each and every time it comes up, experienced writers here will once again fail to mind their own business and will advise what other writers should be writing for them individually rather than pointing to the fundamental "use with your own preferences and arousals" as long as you stay within the few rules that have been set here.

You just don't understand the art of writing fiction when you can't respect the space of other writer/readers and leave others the hell alone on this point.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Hmmm. I realize there's an audience for measurements but I'd like to see an example of an actually decent story that handles the subject matter the way I described. I can be proved wrong, but I'm skeptical.

The stories I've read that have passages like this - and there have been many - have been cheesy and generally badly written.

"Challenge on," said Suzie, knowing ahead of time that she knows a trusty author who has addressed this exact subject with alacrity, precision, and with tongue firmly in cheek.

Shameless self-promotion follows.

"As evidence, milud, may I present this," she said, with a flourish:

She looked at Alex with a wry smile on her face, her dark eyes sparkling with glee.

"I mean, I am assuming that you will be so hot that I'll be dripping wet at the sight of your hard cock with its big purple-red head, and if my cooze is all wet, there's no way it's going anywhere near sand."

"Fucking women, always want it their way. Boss, can you write us a really big towel or a blanket?"

Not really, because you'll have to walk 45 minutes down the beach to get away from the families and the kiddies: a) you'd have to carry it all the way down the beach and you're a lazy shit, and b) how would you know you'd need a big towel? You wouldn't meet Ella until she came over the dunes.

You'll want me to write you a tent and a camel next. Who do you think you are? Lawrence of fucking Arabia?

"Fuck. Can you at least write me a nine inch and really thick cock so the bitch gags on it? If I've gotta put up with sand up my ass, she should have to stretch her lips and do some work for a change. Fucking hippy chicks, swanning about in tie-die blouses and wrap around skirts."

"No, it's nude day, remember. I'll be coming over the dunes in all my dusky, naked glory. Besides, you can do naked, the boss needs me to do nude. You need a set of glorious curves to do nude, with just a tiny pair of ear rings." Ella stopped, posed, and pondered. "Hey, maybe I could have a belly piercing, or even better, labia rings. I've always wanted some of those."

No, there are several problems here. First, I can't write a niner for Alex. I have to start with what he's got because that's all I know. What's wrong with his eight anyway? It's a couple over the Kinsey average (remembering that old Alf was out with his ruler in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and things might have changed since then, what with better diets and folk growing taller nowadays), and has made the eyes of several women light up. Several of my women, too.

The whole story is here:

https://www.literotica.com/beta/s/in-search-of-a-story

A piss take on the contest shenanigans, five years ago.

 

[ElectricBlue]

What people refuse to do here is exercise an open-environment principle that I think Literotica has tried to set up as a foundation for the site: Mind your own business and let others enjoy their own uses of the site that the site permits.

And the site has also set up a bunch of forums so that like-minded people who want to shoot the breeze and talk the shit can do so. One of those is called the "Authors' Hangout."

It's not called the "Readers Hangout," so to argue that we are all telling readers what they should do is rubbish. The last time I looked, nearly every contributor here, regular or passing by, is either asking fellow writers what they reckon, or answering those enquiring minds. THAT is what the forums are for. What bit about that don't you get?

 

[Rollinbones]

My most well recieved characters have been one's i've briefly sketched out physically in description; just the bare essentials, the little things that are important to their story and then let the reader colour them in. I think it's because readers like to identify with or build upon the idea of the character in their own mind. I'm sure no two readers see any of my characters the same way.

 

[gordo12]

What people refuse to do here is exercise an open-environment principle that I think Literotica has tried to set up as a foundation for the site: Mind your own business and let others enjoy their own uses of the site that the site permits.

People . . . just . . . can't . . . mind their own business here and leave others using the site within the site's limits the hell alone.

Speaking from memory and it has been twenty years so maybe I'm rusty, but the site's original foundations were "NO CENSORSHIP". That has obviously morphed over time. Censorship now exists.

But more to the point I simply don't get where you're coming from.

Somebody asked for thoughts about personal preferences. Others responded. Somehow that violates a rule that says authors shouldn't talk about technique or how they best like to present something when writing Somehow you morph that into we're telling readers what they should read and writers what they should write?

I got nothing like that out of the thread other than you and one other that stood up and said that.

So let's clear the air:

Writers: nobody is telling you how to write.
Readers: nobody is telling you what to read.

It's just a bunch of dingbats in here pontificating on something we obviously know nothing about.

Somebody pass the Scotch please.

 

[SimonDoom]

People . . . just . . . can't . . . mind their own business here .

That's right. They can't and they don't. Because "mind your own business" is an idiotic principle for an author's forum. People don't want to mind their own business. They want to solicit opinions, and they want to give them. When you share your opinion, you invite others to share theirs. We all benefit, potentially, from sharing information and opinions. We gain nothing from remaining silent.

Now, maybe you don't care about that. Maybe you don't care to hear others' opinions about writing.
That's fine. But, then, the appropriate response is for YOU to mind your business, butt out of the threads where people want to share opinions, and stop hectoring people that what they're doing is wrong.

You don't even follow your own principle. You don't hesitate to chime in to share your opinion. When discussions are opened about disclaimers, for example, you do not hesitate to share your view that offering a disclaimer is tantamount to coddling and babying readers.

Your view seems to be based on an entirely unsupported and fictional assumption that people giving opinions are trying to dictate to others, or to hold out their opinions as universal rules. I don't do that (although I shade that way on some questions of grammar), and others don't either. This is a made-up concern.

For what it's worth, I'm glad you give your opinions on writing issues, even if I disagree with them. Disagreeable opinions sometimes prompt interesting discussions, as has occurred on this thread, if one reads it carefully.

 

[Kojak01]

That's right. They can't and they don't. Because "mind your own business" is an idiotic principle for an author's forum. People don't want to mind their own business. They want to solicit opinions, and they want to give them. When you share your opinion, you invite others to share theirs. We all benefit, potentially, from sharing information and opinions. We gain nothing from remaining silent.

Now, maybe you don't care about that. Maybe you don't care to hear others' opinions about writing.
That's fine. But, then, the appropriate response is for YOU to mind your business, butt out of the threads where people want to share opinions, and stop hectoring people that what they're doing is wrong.

You don't even follow your own principle. You don't hesitate to chime in to share your opinion. When discussions are opened about disclaimers, for example, you do not hesitate to share your view that offering a disclaimer is tantamount to coddling and babying readers.

Your view seems to be based on an entirely unsupported and fictional assumption that people giving opinions are trying to dictate to others, or to hold out their opinions as universal rules. I don't do that (although I shade that way on some questions of grammar), and others don't either. This is a made-up concern.

For what it's worth, I'm glad you give your opinions on writing issues, even if I disagree with them. Disagreeable opinions sometimes prompt interesting discussions, as has occurred on this thread, if one reads it carefully.

Thank you!

 

[ChevalierdEon]

Genre specific

I think some people have already mentioned some instances where certain genres lean toward sharing certain things. Personally, I am a share as I go person, and let the reader build out their perception of the characters.

I write primarily stories featuring crossdressers so I focus on the clothes. This is part of the genre and a component of the fetish. Some body description is helpful sometimes too, for a couple reasons, but I only give that begrudgingly.

I'm sure there may be other areas and genres that have their own idiosyncrasies

Cheers,

Chev. d'Eon

 

[Bramblethorn]

I write primarily stories featuring crossdressers so I focus on the clothes.

10 points for the username, then.

 

[eroticstoryspinner]

My general rule is to tell the reader what they need to know when they need to know it. And, sometimes, they just don't need to know. So I don't tell them.

This. Its not like we are getting paid by the word here.

 

[KeithD]

Lack of response doesn't, in any way, indicate agreement. Sometimes it indicates disgust.

 

[gordo12]

Lack of response doesn't, in any way, indicate agreement. Sometimes it indicates disgust.

Good thing you responded then so we know you're not disgusted

 

[yukonnights]

Good thing you responded then so we know you're not disgusted

Now I feel obligated to respond … have no idea what I'm responding to, but I don't want to be disgusted either

 

[SimonDoom]

Lack of response doesn't, in any way, indicate agreement. Sometimes it indicates disgust.

"I used to be disgusted. Now I try to be amused."

-- A dorky looking guy with glasses who's smarter than I am.

 

[ChevalierdEon]

10 points for the username, then.

Thanks! I still don't think we'll win the house cup, tho ;-)

Chev. d'Eon

 

[BiscuitHammer]

I very often describe my characters, although I tend to do it through the lens of other character's perceptions of that person. I find it makes for better narrative and most often lacks the disengaging aspect of giving simple measurements, or cup-size, blah blah...

"The blonde goddess' blue eyes shone with mirth and her laughter danced through the room. She idly toyed with the top button of the cashmere sweater that strained to contain her large bust as she smirked back at me."

I won't claim that this description is great prose, but I find that it at least remains immersive and doesn't draw readers out of the story. And I'm happy about that. I've had readers tell me they appreciate my method for describing people.

Yes, I have reverted to more mundane descriptions, such as their height and weight, but those are usually few and far between, with a specific purpose.

If the author folds the characters description into a narrative, reading is easier. We rarely think in clinical terms. I don't readily recall thinking 'Those are impressive 38E breasts!' when I see a woman on the subway, I'm more likely to think 'Damn, looks at those big tits!'

It gives readers most of what they need to know, and there's always room for gentle additions later.

'Let me describe myself' rarely works, unless its going to be a one-page stroker, where brevity counts. Eh.

 

[SeabornFare]

As a person who has read a few stories of various lengths, I can say that I have enjoyed every option listed in this thread when it comes to describing characters, and I have disliked every option in this thread when it comes to describing characters. Saying that a "good author can make it work" may be too blasé, but when I've enjoyed a story, I've enjoyed it, and when I haven't, I can find thirteen reasons why.


If I'm reading a fast-paced story, then a hundred-word paragraph may not be the best method to describe someone, while, if I'm reading a period piece or a medieval fantasy that's building the setting of the world, then a longer description may be what I'm hoping to read. It's up to the author to make their descriptions work, and, if, as an author, you have one personal preference, then play that one note, but if you can diversify your methods, then do so. It may turn out to be more entertaining for your audience.

There is no best method. There is only the way you choose to do it, and how well you incorporate it into your story.

 

[KeithD]

As a person who has read a few stories of various lengths, I can say that I have enjoyed every option listed in this thread when it comes to describing characters, and I have disliked every option in this thread when it comes to describing characters. Saying that a "good author can make it work" may be too blasé, but when I've enjoyed a story, I've enjoyed it, and when I haven't, I can find thirteen reasons why.


If I'm reading a fast-paced story, then a hundred-word paragraph may not be the best method to describe someone, while, if I'm reading a period piece or a medieval fantasy that's building the setting of the world, then a longer description may be what I'm hoping to read. It's up to the author to make their descriptions work, and, if, as an author, you have one personal preference, then play that one note, but if you can diversify your methods, then do so. It may turn out to be more entertaining for your audience.

There is no best method. There is only the way you choose to do it, and how well you incorporate it into your story.

This.