Twice a month I attend a webinar on writing. Which is awesome. Tonight's was great. I found it very informative.
However, I also found it incredibly disappointing. I won't lie. I asked a question of the presenter which was answered at the end. As you can see from a post in April it is a topic which has been on my mind for a while.
I wanted to know what a Christian author could rely on besides overstating a character's physical attraction to make a "despicable" character likeable to their love interest. The answer in a nutshell was "it's risky to try making your character anything less than physically attractive because readers don't want unattractive characters."
We'll leave aside the fact this webinar was geared towards the Christian fiction writer which means the Christian fiction reader should be unique from the non-Christian reader.
The beauty of books is you can't "see" the characters. I can name attractive actors. I've gone to see movies just because an actor is in who I appreciate. Some actors I see their movies because of their talent. Some actors I see their movies because of their looks. Some actors I see their movies because of a balance of looks and talents. Let's be honest though not every good-looking person is a talented actor; not every talented actor is a good-looking person. I've found a good balance of both is rare. You don't really have to be a good actor to fight machine aliens shirtless though. You just need to clock decent time at the gym.
Beyond the fact you can't see a book character though, why does one have to be physically attractive for us to relate to them? I can't root for the slightly pudgy girl to get the guy? I can't hope the balding guy won't be turned down by the girl he's crushed on forever? If a writer has to rely on a strong jawline, perfectly ruffled hair, deep blue eyes, and a six pack to make the character our hero, I'd suggest they find a new line of work.
Why support Hollywood's presentation of a love story? We all can't wait for our Noah (Ryan Gosling) to sweep us off our feet. We all aren't Allie Calhoun (Rachel McAdams) choosing between Noah and Lon Hammond (James Marsden). Most of us will find our Fin (Kevin Connolly), a guy who next to Noah appears plain. It doesn't make him any less the right man for us.
I read Nicholas Sparks. More than a few of his books are on my shelf. However, when I read his books I can cast the inevitable movie. In the end his books are just longer versions of the movie script. His books are like eating rice cakes. They are an easy hour and a half away from daily life, but they don't satisfy the hunger.
The reality is we are all beautiful. The truth is we are all ugly. There are beautiful people with ugly souls. There are unattractive people with beautiful souls.
I guess it isn't really writing for the soul. It is writing PG-rated love stories for the Christian reader.
There are so many thoughts running through my head, I'm losing coherency. I'm sure we'll revisit this topic. In the meantime...
"Excellence matters." Brandon Webb
FWIW the last guy I found ridiculously attractive, let's just say his character caught my attention first. My eyes eventually caught up but it was the person he is which I first noticed.
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