thinky thoughts

[jana_denardo]

I wish I could say this silence has been me churning out vast volumes of fiction but it has not been the case. I'm slowly chipping out a few things but it's been a silence imposed by the job and depression to be honest.

But I did come across this blog about physical perfection in erotica. The questioner was a bit belligerent IMO about the question 'why are all people in erotica physically perfect?'

Honestly, I'm not sure that is at all the case. I'm just thinking on the anthologies I've been in. Yes, there are definitely a fair share of perfect pretty people. But I've seen them with heavier physiques, skinny ones and even old ones.

Maybe I'm not the person to be talking about this because when it comes down to it, I probably couldn't even describe any of the lovers in any of these anthologies (except maybe my own). This is like the last thing that matters to me in a book. I want the characters to be interesting, the story to be engaging. I just don't care that much what they look like.

Comments

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

I don't generally think too much about a character's appearance in anything I read, even when it's described in detail. I obsess over what my characters look like, but a lot of the detail I come up with never ends up in the finished product. It's their insides that's important.

[jana-denardo.livejournal.com]

honestly i'm rather the same

[silvrethorn.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough, I just recently had a long discussion with a friend of mine on physical attractiveness in one's characters. I was worried that, given the time and place and culture, giving Maru and Toshiro attractive (by our modern, Western standards) physiques was unrealistic and, well, cynically commercial. I'm not talking bulging biceps and gym-fed six-packs, but still a far cry from the usual bow-legged, pigeon-breasted feudal Japanese physique. The question remains unresolved. Will readers want to imagine unattractive (or just ordinary) people getting it on in the bedroom? Or should we, as writers, accept that our stories and our characters are in large part wish fulfillment for our readers and just go with popular taste? Is this selling out, or is it just being realistic about what sells books?

[jana-denardo.livejournal.com]

that is of course always going to be an issue. Killian and Makai are both skinny little runts and they're the main male interests. Another of mine has a badly burned character who is meant to be the love interest.

Then again none of those are my erotica works. I think i do tend to put in attractive characters there but part of this is wish fulfilment on my part.

Also I've had people read this and tell me what actor/singer they're picturing for my characters and I'm thinking oh ew. So the reader will often draw their own pleasing visuals

[silvrethorn.livejournal.com]

I think the difference here is between erotica, which is straight-up fantasy/wish fulfillment, and fiction writing, in which believable characters have believable love lives (romance fiction excepted). Erotica is what it is, and the impossible physical perfection of its characters probably shouldn't even be questioned.

However, what has me concerned, and probably affects you to some extent, is that I am writing stories that I hope will appeal to actual gay, male readers, and gay males are very fixated on physical attractiveness. Yes, they prefer certain physical types--more feminine, more masculine--but by and large, fetishists aside, they are looking for trim figures and a cut physique. To not give them heroes who have at least some approximation of that seems risky. Besides, there will be female readers (probably the majority, frankly) who will want to imagine two hot men going at it under the mosquito netting, not a hairy bear and a little pansy. So I guess, in the end, physical attractiveness carries the day.

You, writing the skinny-kid character, probably have the natural teenage attraction to less intimidating men going for you, at least in the YA-oriented stories. The writer with the burned character is going to have to give him a very appealing personality. It's not impossible to succeed at what she's doing, but she'll have to work a lot harder.

I don't even want to know what celebrities get plugged into the stories you or I write. People have some strange, strange ideas of what's attractive.

[jana-denardo.livejournal.com]

i can't argue any of this. I think you have it pretty close to right here.

I would certainy be less likely to include a unattractive character in my erotica as opposed to the non-erotica.

adrian brody. someone pictures sulien as adrian brody

[silvrethorn.livejournal.com]

*applies Wet-Wipe to brain*

Nope, the image is indelible. Darn.

[jana-denardo.livejournal.com]

yep and she will not be swayed by my saying thinking Ioane Gryffud or Ben Barnes