Hart Johnson had a post yesterday that tied in to my last post on unbelievable characters. She gets a lot more traffic and comments than I do, naturally, which makes for a more interesting discussion between commenters.
The question that arose in my mind while reading through all the comments was this -- do most readers want flaws in protagonists but still insist that they be physically beautiful? (I mean this mainly for commercial fiction, as I imagine literary fiction can get away with a lot more) Can we get away with ugly main characters, or does that turn readers off? I probably went overboard in my book by having extremely flawed characters, and rarely a pretty face to be seen, but that is what I see in real life, and I enjoy authenticity in what I read.
So, I wonder what the average book reading audience really desires. I may want realism, but perhaps they care more about superficial beauty and wanting only slightly flawed heroes? I'm not sure that we, being writers, can answer these questions. At the very least, I expect if any of our books ever got optioned for film, Hollywood would change our ugly characters to pretty ones!
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James Herbert's 'The Others' had a protagonist who was a severely deformed private investigater. He was far from the stereotypical beautiful character, but the book still made a good read...
ReplyDeleteDRC, I know such books can be great reads, but I wonder whether commercial audiences essentially demand beautiful characters? Would two otherwise similar books, one with a beautiful MC and one with an ugly one, do just as well on the market?
ReplyDeleteI think there's a couple of factors to think about here.
ReplyDeleteOne, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. You appeal to "realism" but is there really such a thing as realism when talking about a matter of subjective opinion? You say that you look around you and rarely see a pretty face, but the vast majority of people have a spouse, significant other, friends, or family who think they are attractive or at least don't look at them and think "gosh, they're ugly." Everyone is attractive to someone.
I think this is an area where most writers fail. If they write about a beautiful character, then that character is beautiful to everyone. If they write about an ugly character, then that character is ugly to everyone. But that's not how the world works. Different people have different ideas of beauty and ugliness.
Another area of common failure, in my opinion, is extremism. Characters are often either Helen of Troy types or hideous witch types. Of course, in real life most people are just average.
I think authors would be better served by just recording pertinent and interesting details and letting the reader decide for themselves if a character is beautiful or ugly. Also, having different characters react to a character's physical appearance in different ways is much more realistic.
subcreator makes an excellent point: beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I have written non beautiful characters before, ie fairly average except for something someone else found striking about them. I find too beautiful too perfect characters boring.
ReplyDeleteI think we have more variety in literature than movies, and more room to maneuver in terms of beauty. I mean, half the time readers are going to take a description and run with it in their own way. An average character will be prettier in their head, if that's the way their taste lies. And a reader wouldn't be faced with staring at a really ugly character for two hours, as they would in a movie, so I think there's a wider audience for that sort of thing in books.
ReplyDeleteBut people still have trouble, sometimes, ignoring the ancient fallacy that outer beauty somehow represents inner beauty, and so in literature physcial perfection becomes a sort of symbol for goodness, heroism, etc.
I like the idea of being able to write a character and not have to worry about how the character looks.
ReplyDeleteI think in some genres you can get away with it more than others. For example, I remember a post from a romance writer who said she had to change how her character looked because she wasn't beautiful enough for the publisher. It was surprising to think that can happen, but it does.
For me, one of the most beautiful characters in literature was the Phantom of the Opera, and he was deformed, so really, it shouldn't matter.
Sub-creator, I was speaking specifically about outer beauty, and of course I agree with you about beauty being in the eye of the beholder. But, that wasn't the debate I was having, which is specifically about books tending to make most main characters physically beautiful. I also agree with you about not needing to go overboard. I have only two characters in my book that I would say are ugly on the outside, and one of them is the primary hero in the end, the one who is the most unselfish and the most beautiful on the inside. Most other characters simply have their own human failings. I put only one beautiful person in the book, but that was because I was using the standard of elves coming from a 'higher' form of life than humans.
ReplyDeletePerhaps there's some wish fulfillment involved. If you read to escape an ordinary life, why not put yourself in the place of a beautiful person? Personally, I'd like to see more average-looking heroes and heroines I can identify with.
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ReplyDeleteWell, it's always easier to sell beauty, but for me, a good story is a good story. There will always be exceptions.
ReplyDeletehttp://ficklecattle.blogspot.com/
yeah, this is something that's been bugging me of late. i sort of think some of it is unintentional. that authors tend to write characters who appeal to themselves in some way and readers tend to interpret characters in an appealing way. sometimes you'll write a character who you don't intend to be beautiful, but the readers will filter your description into their own vision of beauty... i hope i'm being clear here! :)
ReplyDeleteHa! Thanks for the link-back, Ted! I think so much of the looks obsession is a Hollywood-related thing--hugely more common in the US that people want beauty--plus there seems to be genre differences. Romance almost ALWAYS has beautiful people (and since the annoying HEA ending is ALSO a lot of slosh IMHO, that seems fitting). The little bit of adult fantasy I've read seems to also have pretty people, but I DON'T think it's necessary there...
ReplyDeleteLook at some YA stuff: Harry Potter: The only really beautiful people are the Black family (pureblooded, arrogant and almost all of them ROTTEN)--hugely popular. Everybody has SOMEBODY in that series they 'find attractive' but it isn't really looks (except in the case of Bill, the HOT Weasley)--but even THERE--he gets bitten by a werewolf, becomes deformed, and his gorgeous Veela wife still loves him.
Example 2: Katniss Everdeen (the Hunger Games)... it EVENTUALLY turns out that she can be MADE pretty by her stylist, but that's what a stylist for their wacky reality show is for... mostly, she 'looks like everyone in the Seam'--black hair, gray eyes... they all have the same look.
These bestselling phenomena DON'T have gorgeous characters. I think most publishers just assume we like it better, but in reality, we want characters we can see ourselves. in.
Hi Hart. I know you love the Hunger Games, and I thought the concept was terrific, but I felt it was not pulled off so well, especially as it went along. I felt Katniss was a bit flat, and I really disliked the amount of attention spent on costumes. I wished a great writer had been given that concept, because I think it could have been amazing.
ReplyDeleteI was actually speaking specifically of outer beauty as well.
ReplyDeleteMy husband pointed out to me when discussing this subject with him that Aragorn is the classic example of the unattractive hero. He "looks foul" and is very hard-worn in appearance due to his long life of roughing it. Yet he still gets the supernaturally beautiful Elf chick in the end. And even though Tolkien makes it explicitly clear that he's no great looker, I know I fell madly in love with him while reading the book the first time. ;)
I don't mind beautiful characters, as long as we're not told over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again how perfect they are.
ReplyDelete(Don't mind me. I just finished reading Twilight.)