Author C. J. Cherryh on how to write: “framed by” stops her cold. Alternatives?

[Miller]

I recall reading a book (I can’t remember which one: it was back when I read a lot of bad fantasy novels) where about halfway into the story, I realized that I’d had the gender of the main character wrong for the entire story. It had been told from their perspective, so there were no pronouns, and they had a made-up fantasy name that could have gone either way.

Actually, that happened twice, but the other time, the “character” was a giant magical panther who was only ever refered to as “it” in the narration. It wasn’t until I was reading another book altogether and saw the same name applied to the wife of King Arthur, that I realized “Gwenhyvar” was an alternate spelling of “Guinivere,” and that cat was a girl. This was after reading about five of the goddamned books, too. Felt pretty dumb for not picking up on that sooner, but then, they were pretty dumb books I was reading, so I guess I that’s what I get.

[Lemur866]

@DSYoungEsq

Yet I recall very specifically in Stranger in a Strange Land that Heinlein told us exactly which of Jubal Harshaw’s secretaries had what hair color, which was totally irrelevant to all aspects of that book’s plot.
Me, I wanted Dorcas…

But that’s not the author describing hair color for the sake of describing hair color. The point is actually to describe JUBAL…that he’s the kind of dirty old man who collects hot and cold running secretaries, that he’s reached the point in his life where he can live however he wants, and he choses to surround himself with these beautiful young women. Notice that we never get a description of Jubal except that he negatively compares his old and ugly carcass to that of the youngsters.

I agree that the author can let you know what the characters are like physically by showing you what they’re like, or showing the reactions their appearance creates in other characters. A porn style description is just silly. Especially the ones where the author tells you that while Lady Heavebosom is startlingly–ravishingly–breathtakingly beautiful, she’s not aware of it and is actually self-conscious about her looks. What a crock.

[WhyNot]

@Hello Again

Originally Posted by WhyNot

If it’s important to you and it works, tell us her heart shaped visage is framed by ringlets of gold.

And here the unspoken reason to limit bodily descriptors and the word “framed.” It leads the reader to expect a subsequent description of some hunk’s throbbing member. One suspects the phrase “dewey petals of her womanhood” is just round the corner.

If you’re writing a particularly lurid romance novel, frame away. Otherwise, you might want to reconsider both the why and the how in describing your heroine.

I tried to make it as bad as I could. Do you think I could write Heaving Bosom books?
(I recently discovered one of my Other Mothers wrote some trashy modern life romance novels in the 80’s. They’re bad. Really bad. I’m not sure I can look her in the eye over Christmas Dinner bad.)