Being a Better Writer: Sex Appeal, Attractiveness, and Character Description · 12:10am Feb 27th, 2018
Could someone please get a fire extinguisher and have it standing by, please? Because this is one of those topics that, thrown before the wrong crowd, can have torches lit before the title has even finished appearing on screen.
Which, obviously, is not the goal of Being a Better Writer ... but torch-lighting is the goal of others online, so there's still a chance. Hopefully the comments on this one don't devolve—or worse, dive—into a flame war.
Because, if I'm honest, this is a topic that I think needs to be discussed more among writers, if only to keep them from falling into what is, quite frankly, a bit of a trap-like pit that can drag multiple aspects of their story down if tackled poorly. And ... let's be fair here, a lot of works handle this poorly. Which is why I chose to write on this topic in the first place.
But I'm getting ahead of myself, here. So let's back up and start where these things ought to start—the beginning—and get some context out of the way. Such as "What do I mean when I say this post is about sex appeal and character description?"
*sees sex appeal in title*
*lights pitchfork and sharpens torch*
More seriously, this was a good post and has lots of things that are very much worth considering in stories where it is relevant. The political insanity this topic can trip over is unfortunate, but I very much agree that this needed to be discussed and I think you did a great job keeping it professional and useful so kudos on that.
I think it's important to stress the importance of this point, especially to authors who are unsure of how to approach this topic. After all, this is a great way to sidestep the issue while still delivering the aspects that are important to the story, and no one can take issue with what your characters find attractive if you don't directly describe it. That should be a major confidence boost for someone who is uncomfortable with this issue, and is a great foundation to build the rest from as they get more comfortable with it.
Also, your line about "buxom" got me thinking about the classic image of the big, heavily built, usually eastern European woman which is a great example of a body type that is far from the Hollywood norm but fits the fundamental evolutionary point of sexual attraction (finding a healthy mate to produce lots of healthy offspring) perfectly.
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Thanks! Glad to hear I managed to keep things rational and thought-provoking!