StillStunned
Writing...
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2023
- Posts
- 6,938
I actually have a couple of WIPs with less-than-gorgeous male protagonists. One is about an older man who meets a much younger (and also not conventionally attractive) woman. The other is about a young, awkward, overweight man who's something of a late bloomer and who flourishes as he becomes comfortable around an older woman.It can be done. In one of those flash-in-the-pan mainstream publications some years ago, an anthology of short erotica, one of the stories featured a man who was clearly physically unattractive. I think he was overweight, I'm not sure, and I can't remember the particular eroticism he was involved in, but I do remember that it worked. It needs a better author than E. L. James, here on Lit @ElectricBlue comes to mind. I'd read the submissions in any category if there were such a challenge here, just because it would stretch people's skills.
It's all about highlighting their personalities. Most people in real life aren't drop-dead gorgeous, and still we manage to find someone who's attracted to us. If your minds are in sync, the physical stuff really becomes secondary.