Comsie Posted September 10, 2007 Posted September 10, 2007 Out of all the erotic stories written online, attraction plays a very major part in the overall effect that the story has on its readers. And since beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder, you may find some familiar 'ideas' of what is beautiful, but they won't all be 100% alike. Maybe you like your boys tall, maybe you like them strong, maybe you like them effeminate, or a bad boy, shy, or sexually aggressive, long hair, short hair, blonds and brunetts. Some want the adonis, some want the boy next door, some want the sweet best friend, and some want the standoffish loner who presents a challenge. The variations are endless. The question this week (A two-part question) is...what is it in these stories that you personally find attractive? What presents to you a boy that you could instantly fall in love with and want to keep reading? Is it the descriptions given and the way they're delivered? Is it the nature of a character, through dialogue and actions throughout the story? What creates a truly beautiful character for you to imagine while reading? AND...if you were reading a extremely well written story, but didn't share their vision of beauty, would you still be able to 'enjoy' it? Say the love interest just wasn't your cup of tea at ALL. What if you just don't LIKE hairy guys, or anyone overweight, or braces, or skaterboys, or guys who were too pretty, or guys with big muscles and ripped abs? Would that actually take you out of the story being told, even if it was a good one? Let us know what you think!
Site Administrator Graeme Posted September 10, 2007 Site Administrator Posted September 10, 2007 I prefer stories where descriptions of characters aren't detailed. Just the basics (rough height, build, hair & eye colour at most). This allows my imagination to do the rest. I can picture my "adonis" the way I prefer him to be. Overall, it is the nature of the person -- their personality -- that makes them attractive. Since it is their nature that we "see" more in a story than their appearance, it is their nature that I connect to. I can't see that a story that consists of constantly describing a person's appearance to be very appealing, but a story that shows a person's character by constantly describing the way they interact with others -- that I can find very appealing. Because of this, a physical description of a character isn't that important to me, unless it is important to the story. Answering the second part, because of this the appearance of the character in the story is less important than their personality. To be honest, I'd probably ignore the author's description and use my own
JamesSavik Posted September 11, 2007 Posted September 11, 2007 I agree with Graeme. TMI (Too Much Information) is a common problem with online gay fiction. Overdescribing a person is a temptation that really should be avoided. For instance: there are tons of stories with lengthy descriptions of characters. I can't think of any at the moment and that is my point. Graeme's story New Brother had striking characters with minimal description. Their looks were much less important than their characters and actions. While there was no lengthy description of Adam, Stick, Giant, Break or the twins I have a distinct memory and mental image of those characters. I would suggest that new authors read Graeme's New Brother or any one of several stories by Driver 9 to see how striking and memorable characters are developed. Graeme will blush in modesty but his work really is top drawer. He is also a master at the short-story. Check it out if you want to see a number of things done very well.
Comsie Posted September 21, 2007 Author Posted September 21, 2007 Good points made all around. Thanks, you guys! What do I find attractive? Honestly, I think I only use descriptions in a story to have a basic idea of who someone is. I usually piece them together mentally from images of people from my life that I found attractive in the past. So no matter what someone writes, I'm usually putting my own face on them anyway, according to how they act and react to what's going on. There have even been times when I've been writing my own characters where my personal image of what they looked like changed as the character changed. And I'll have to go back to 'reset' the image I started with in my head just to keep the story consistent. So, I already have an idea in my head of what a shy guy looks like, or the cute best friend, or the high school bully, or the seductive adonis. The author's descriptions usually just fill in a few interchangeable details. As you guys mentioned, less is more. A few basics are needed, of course. But leaving the rest to the mind of your reader can truly create a connection between their own vision of beauty and the characters you're writing about. It can be really powerful, I think. There are a few big series on the Shack right now, where I've never described the main character at all. And no one's ever asked. That's beautiful in itself. Now....can I enjoy a story where I DON'T find the main love interest sexy? That's kinda hard to say. I do believe that a well written story is enjoyable no matter what. Because, more often than not, the main character is so in love and overwhelmed by the object of his desires, that I fall right in line with it. But if the story ISN'T as well written, and the infatuation isn't there (i.e....a sex story), then it can be a turn off. Especially if it's mentioned over and over again. I would love a well written series about someone who is in love with a hairy guy, and I would definitely see the attraction. But if it's a jack off story about two guys who meet in a bathroom, and call each other 'faggot', and every third line is, "Oh man, he's so hairy, I love it!"...then....no. I don't really get into it. Because without personality, all that's left is the physical description. And that can be much more limited when you're dealing with people's idea of 'hot', you know? That's my two cents! Moving on!
Krytan Posted October 8, 2007 Posted October 8, 2007 (edited) Actually, I prefer very limited descriptions of characters. I prefer to envision them in my own minds eye. I have seen a few places where artists try to draw characters for a story, and personally I don't like that, because the view of the character that I have never matches what is drawn. I prefer to get my vision of the character by the actions and language of the character. "Whats wrong Billy, can't see over the steering wheel? When's your growth spurt going to take effect? When you're 80?" That tells me so much more than, "Billy is a boy of 13 who weighs 90 pounds and stands 4'10 inches." I think readers each have an age group, a type of character they like and etc, so if a writer can be vague about the specifics of the character then the reader can envision that character as they like, which would make the story more appealing to a larger range of readers? Does that make sense? Personally, I skip over the description parts of a story many times, just for this reason. Edited October 8, 2007 by Krytan
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