Path: not-for-mail
From: Ernest Bywater <deadly@REMOVnetspace.net.au>
Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.d
Subject: Re: {ASSD} Conveying relative heights of characters
Date: Thu, 02 Aug 2007 01:18:48 +1000
Organization: is haphazard
Lines: 45
Message-ID: <f8q8fm$277t$1@otis.netspace.net.au>
References: <87wswgwo50.fsf@speakeasy.net>
Reply-To: deadly@REMOVnetspace.net.au
NNTP-Posting-Host: 220-253-125-86.dialup.netspace.net.au
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7Bit
X-Trace: otis.netspace.net.au 1185981751 72957 220.253.125.86 (1 Aug 2007 15:22:31 GMT)
X-Complaints-To: usenet@otis.netspace.net.au
NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 1 Aug 2007 15:22:31 +0000 (UTC)
User-Agent: KNode/0.10.4
===================
Elf M. Sternberg wrote:
> "As you know, Bob, Jill was a stunning blonde, 5'4" with blue eyes,
> 36DD boobs, and legs that go all the way up." We make fun of this
> kind of writing all the time, when a new writer introduces his or her
> set pieces (yeah, I'm looking at *you*, Rache) and then proceeds to
> pose them Barbie-style (why is it every child who's ever gotten a
> Barbie doll immediately strips her clothes off? Poor woman) one
> against the other.
>
> One of the giveaways in the current storyline (22 episodes! 95,000
> words!) is the height of the characters: Dove is a petite 150cms,
> Polly 155, and Zia a stunning (she calls herself "freaky") 185cms
> tall. (Trepan me, but that's 30 cms between Polly and Zia: no
> *wonder* they can't fuck standing up!) What's a good way to give the
> reader the impression of height differentiation without relying on
> just giving statistics? It becomes important (mostly to Polly and
> Zia) throughout the series.
>
> Elf
>
G'day,
One of the ways I get around this, is to have a cast of characters at the
start - with their basic physical descriptions in that. I tend NOT to give
descriptions of casual characters who don't get really involved, either.
This process saves me having to remember where in the story I've described
someone important, just flick to the start, and there it is. It also avoids
the 'let's break the story for a lengthy description' bit.
I find you often need to give the readers a reasonable description of the
characters, as it adds to the story when you're describing the difficulty
the person who's over 2 metres (that's 6 feet 8 inches) tall and very wide,
is having fitting into a Morris minor minor or the like.
Similarly, it helps to explain why the very tall fellow is able to lift the
short girl up, slip her onto his dick, and walk off with her legs clear of
the ground, while he holds her against his chest - you also get a good idea
of how muscular he is at the same time.
--
Deadly Ernest
(all typos are the fault of Gremlins
on the server, and not the author.)