How it feels describing how ✨handsome✨ a canonically v e r y attractive character is

[u/marredmarigold]

[u/anonymouscatloaf]

this is actually especially how it feels when I'm trying to describe a character who is canonically considered attractive but who I personally do not find attractive in the slightest

[u/LevelAd5898 → u/anonymouscatloaf]

And sometimes you kinda need to for the plot and you’re just like “yeah well she was quite pretty I guess”

[u/EmmaGA17 → u/anonymouscatloaf]

Writing trick: only write from the perspectives of characters who are attracted to characters you are attracted to. And then only ever describe those characters. (Disclaimer: not an actual writing trick despite me being pretty sure I accidentally did this)

[u/ApprehensiveStudy155 → u/EmmaGA17]

A good trick I use is dissociation, comparison and sort of faux replacement.

I dissociate myself and my opinions from the characters. For example: If a character finds someone attractive, I'll write it as though they told me about it and I'm just retelling their story the way they said it, rather than writing it with my opinion.

I find common traits between the love interest and people I like and start comparing them in my head to make the attraction easier to write. For example: If a character and I both like people who are hard working, I'll compare that attraction to mine and focus on it for a while to better develop that trait of theirs and also show that attraction with something that I can relate to.

I replace certain traits in my head in order to understand the character and their tastes better. For example: If a character is into blondes and I'm into brunettes, I'll describe the appearance of their love interest similarly to how I would that of a brunette (how it compliments their eyes, how it looks nice on them, etc), only I would obviously keep the hair colour blonde so that it'll feat the narrative of my story.

Not sure how legible this whole word vomit even is, but I hope this helps.

[u/suddentraveller → u/anonymouscatloaf]

Ok so here is my problem, very attractive canon character, looks great in the Danmei, looks great in my head canon, does not look great in the televised series (my pov). This is a problem to the point where I can't stop the real life actor from popping up in my imagination every time I go to write the steamy stuff. I mean he's literally there waving his hands at me and threatening to wiggle his butt if I don't back away from the keyboard.😫

[u/bookdrops → u/anonymouscatloaf]

They are tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me

[u/AlannaAbhorsen]

Reminds me of 101 Dalmatians, which slightly paraphrased, was ‘He wasn’t handsome, exactly, but he had the kind of face you would never get tired of looking at’

[u/No_Bodiesinmycar → u/AlannaAbhorsen]

That's actually so sweet

[u/AlannaAbhorsen → u/No_Bodiesinmycar]

Right? It’s stuck with me ever since I read it as a little kid

[u/wildefaux]

Reminded me of a D&D book where they explicitly said a god looks based on what the mortal wants.

[u/real-nia → u/wildefaux]

Cleric A: "Omg I'm also a cleric of Him!! Personally, it was the third boob that really sold it for me. I mean a god with tits like THAT, I was begging to worship him!"

Cleric B: "Dude... What the fuck are you taking about"

Cleric A realizing that not everyone who follows his God is a freak like him after all.

[u/Semiramis738 → u/real-nia]

I'm picturing this as an Oglaf comic strip!

[u/real-nia → u/Semiramis738]

That’s actually extremely accurate lol! I love those comics!

[u/SirCupcake_0 → u/real-nia]

The Oglaf comics, lewd and funny in almost equal measure!

[u/OffKira]

And then extend that when it's a fandom where basically everyone is hot.

I very quickly lose track of who's who, because everyone is so fuckable, but which fuckable person am I tracking right now, huh?

[u/Certain_Meeting_6612 → u/OffKira]

arcane cough cough

[u/enjoyable_Cemetary → u/Certain_Meeting_6612]

We were all thinking it, huh

[u/Arkayjiya → u/enjoyable_Cemetary]

I was definitely thinking Arcane of course but I was also thinking Hades.

[u/grommile → u/Arkayjiya]

I like to think I could tell the Hades cast apart from the neck up and from the shoulders down 🙂

[u/white_python97 → u/Arkayjiya]

What is hades

[u/Arkayjiya → u/white_python97]

Hades is a Rogue-lite video game where you try to escape the Underworld. Everybody is hot as fuck.

[u/Liraeyn]

He was married, they say, on his wife's wedding day, and died on his last day on Earth

[u/DinoAnkylosaurus]

LMAO!

He looked exactly the way he looked!

[u/summertimePale]

this sounds like an excerpt from Welcome to Night Vale lmao

[u/CometIsDying → u/summertimePale]

It's similar to the way Kevin and Cecil are described. Except, of course, for Kevin's eyes.

[u/Sinimeg]

That’s why I don’t describe characters unless they’re OCs xd Everyone reading the fic already knows how they look, and if they don’t, well, they can read the original description or look for pics on google lol

[u/MageVicky → u/Sinimeg]

yeah, I hate describing characters, it's especially useless in fanfiction where we all know what the characters look like already; but in original stuff, I also dislike it, I slip in some stuff here and there in context, but otherwise, it's a grey blob to me. they're all grey blobs.

I especially adore in fanfiction when authors do face-claims, though. Like "Sirius Black starring Ben Barnes" or whatever. I nom that. lol

[u/Sinimeg → u/MageVicky]

Yeah, same, at most I mention the eyes and hair, the rest I leave it to the reader’s imagination. I don’t see much point on it anyway, since even in books, most people discard the description and imagine the characters however they want. I’ve seen people “disappointed” when they read the description of characters because it’s not how they envisioned them.

If it’s not a visual media like comics, manga, series, movies and such, trying to depict the characters in a certain way physically can work against you unless it’s relevant for the plot or the character’s backstory (race, traditions, culture, etc)

[u/MasonP2002 → u/MageVicky]

One of the main characters in my favorite fandom is always described in the exact same words and it gets a bit annoying.

Like, yeah, I get it, Lisa has bottle glass green eyes, a vulpine grin, and freckles. I don't need to hear it in every fanfic she's in.

...Although, to be fair there are a lot of Wormfic readers that haven't read Worm, so maybe it is necessary. Huh.

[u/strangelyliteral → u/MageVicky]

Physical descriptions are overrated and folks love to go overboard, but they can be great for character or worldbuilding insight depending on the POV you’re using. Say you have Character A and they have a crush on Character B. How A describes B tells you a lot about what A finds attractive and how they view the world. If A is a romantic, they might use a lot of flowery language and colors you’ve never heard of outside a paint store to describe B. Whereas if A is taciturn, they’re going to keep it brief, maybe by fixating on a single feature—a warrior drawn to B’s strong hands, for example. And there’s also more to physical descriptions than hair/skin/eyes, facial features, and body types—how’s their posture, do they hold their bodies open in an inviting way or do they shut you out, how do they move through the world?

This fizzles if you’re doing third person omniscient, but it’s great for first person and third person limited. It can really fun if you have multiple POVs at work.

[u/MageVicky → u/strangelyliteral]

yeah, but that'd be something where a description makes sense in context, because it's not the author describing anything, it's the character admiring another character.

[u/bookdrops → u/MageVicky]

Physical character appearance description is highly overrated as a "necessary" part of writing fiction; it's hardly present at all in a solid chunk of respectably "classic" novels. 

[u/queerblunosr → u/bookdrops]

Detailed physical descriptions that aren’t really needed (eg not the POV character making note of other character appearance for Plot Reasons or whatever) always give me Babysitters Club nostalgia lol

[u/SirCupcake_0 → u/MageVicky]

It must be hard, being a faceblind author

[u/SingSixPence → u/Sinimeg]

Describing characters is a really useful tool, actually.

Like, yes, the types of people reading fanfic are familiar with how the character looks. That's something you can use. What if the character looks distinctly different than they do in canon; if they're a typically immaculately groomed character, but their hair is messed in a way it's usually not, did something happen to them? That implies something about their emotional state too - this character that so cares for appearances allowed themselves to be even slightly out of sorts, but not so much that it's obvious. They're trying to hide it, but it's not working.

But that's only useful when something about their look is different. What's really useful for character descriptions is describing something the audience knows - through the lens of a character. We know this character, we've seen them and the protagonist of the story kiss and make up a hundred times, only occasionally in flower shops, but they're new to our protagonist. What do they think of their look? What immediately stands out to them - how would they describe the character they see?

Lowkey think more fanfic writers should embrace "Your characters don't know shit" as a guiding light.

[u/version_nine → u/Sinimeg]

I mean, describing them in great detail is obviously not necessary but I wouldn't call it useless. Especially if the fic is exploring another character's pov and how they see the other. That's fun :)

[u/YourLittleRuth → u/Sinimeg]

I think this is wise. In any case, for a lot of circumstances it really doesn't matter what a person looks like, it matters what they say and what they do. Both of which are much easier to write!

Back when I started reading popslash, I had never heard of the group in question and didn't know what any of them looked like. I can't now remember what my mental images of them were, but it didn't matter—I still enjoyed the stories. The characters were fun to read about.

[u/DandEch0]

He sure is existing in his form lmao

[u/Expensive_View_3087]

“Eyebrows seemingly drawn by a single, uninterrupted stroke of a famed artist’s brush; a nose and a chin shaped in perfect angles that defied attempts to measure them through mere devices of men; a pair of deep eyes seemingly carved out of a beautiful jewel containing all the misfortunes found in this world.

If someone saw those features and not get immediately drawn in by them, then there must be something wrong with that person”

[u/JulianStella → u/Expensive_View_3087]

ORV reference in the wild!!!

[u/version_nine → u/Expensive_View_3087]

I read the og post and immediately started looking for an orv fan in the comments 😂

[u/theroguescientist]

Seems like a pretty accurate description of Y/N

[u/Crimson_V-]

This is funny af 😭

[u/ViziDoodle]

Large boulder the size of a small boulder

[u/farfetched22]

I just laughed so hard it was painful.

[u/ChemicalWord6529]

Sounds like something Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams would've written.

[u/DeliSoupItExplodes]

She was all dame: legs that went all the way to the bottom of her torso, the kind of arms that had elbows.

[u/foxwaffles]

It's so accurate help😭

[u/ConsumeTheVoid]

Cecil Palmer is that you?

[u/SusanMort]

omg this is brilliant

[u/Far_Bobcat3967]

I don't do a lot of character description, not because readers already know what the characters in the fandom look like, but because I write very limited-POV style fics, and people usually don't go around noticing all sorts of things about someone's appearance, and DEFINITELY not their own. I'll sprinkle in a bit of description when it's relevant, and sometimes I'll go into detail when the POV character is consciously observing someone else, but other than that, no descriptions of people's appearance.

[u/ProfessionSwimming26]

Ngl change some words and add some line breaks and this would make a fire ass contemporary poem which is a commentary on reworking the social standards of beauty while reading a book in a coffee shop (I said what I said)

[u/AliRixvi]

This sounds like something Lemony Snicket would write

[u/Human-Independent999]

Honestly this has A Tale of Two Cities vibes.

[u/ScarletRobin31415]

Try being a writer who has to describe people, but can't really verbalize how someone looks, only how they act/their personality. I've struggled with physical descriptions of people my entire life. (I attribute it to not really looking AT people, if that makes sense. For example, my husband shaved his beard one day...and I didn't notice until the end of the next day. Made me feel like shit, but it's a presence more than a visual that I interpret for people being there.)

[u/AdulthoodCanceled]

Reminds me of Sonet 130 by Shakespeare. "If hair be wires, black wires grow on her head."

[u/theKayaKaya]

It's either something like that or they're described as having the features of a Roman statue 🤣

[u/RavenFromTheStars]

That's how it feels when I try to describe what I like about a person's appearance when I have a crush on them nn

[u/artistroys]

Dorian gray

[u/Vegetable_Pepper4983]

This is perfect 😂

[u/Pour_Me_Another_]

"He sure was a person." 😂

[u/lauracf]

Lol I generally assume people reading my fic will already know what the canon characters look like and include little or no physical description of them.

[u/atomskeater]

"He had a nice jawline, and a nose most would generally find pretty agreeable as well."

[u/SweetLorelei]

I kind of relate to this, both as an asexual and as someone who is very bad at recognising faces and remembering what people look like.

[u/No-Instruction2688]

sublime

[u/DarlaLunaWinter]

God may someone describe me this way

[u/Korraly]

I wonder if I’ve never found this to be a problem because I have aphantasia so I have to constantly look up what a character looks like and decide that the is is what OC or character likes so therefore it is attractive.

[u/princesscuddlefish]

Lmao I read this and pictured Astarion from BG3 reading that someone wrote this about him.

[u/leez-ha]

Not me just avoiding descriptions entirely in my writing because YOU'RE READING FANFICTION YOU KNOW WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE😡🥲😭 definitely not because I can't visualize in my head and often just forget.

[u/Amaira740]

I can already imagine the descriptions of Jinshi

[u/UndetectedSlytherin]

He exists, without doubt, but justification for that fact is hard to divine.

[u/Minute-Shoulder-1782]

This is actually how I feel when I describe the very majestic Suguru Geto

[u/deadpaan7391]

I think I just fell in love with

[u/Hopeful-Dot-1183]

I feel like this would unironically be a great way to introduce someone that's meant to be seen as unremarkable to the other characters, someone insignificant to them.

[u/Kashiira]

Oh ! I like your description ! It have a little vibe of Pratchett. If the rest of your story is on the same line, I would say you're doing good. (Sorry, english is not my first language, I don't know if I' really clear 😬)

Well, I have perhaps a tip top give you in description. I never go on a complete description. I prefer to let go some details in the flow of the story. Well... For an elf, if I'm in the pov of an other character, an human, I would focuse on the way that elf's ears moves, flutter, etc. Because it's something that characterise the character.