Character Bodies and Believability

I've been thinking about character descriptions lately. While I often struggle with describing my characters fully, and I often want to make them unique (not just your cookie-cutter thin, white, protagonist), the characteristics a writer gives a character not only shed light on that character, but on the writer and their audience as well. There is a lot of power in how we present heroes and heroines; writers shape the beliefs of readers, and can break down previously held ideas about what makes a person attractive, and what qualities help them succeed. At times, the tried and true forms of body shape, hair color, eye color, skin color, etc., is needed (especially if you are poking fun at a cliche), but most writers should try to break the molds presented to us from previous generations. As readers, we must also challenge what a writer has given us if it no longer rings true. Specifically, the representation of women has been historically skewed into body shapes and levels of attractiveness that do not apply to the average reader (and at times not even to the rare human).

So, recently I started reading a new series that I've had my eye on for a while. The series has been around for a while, it has lots of fans, and I really like the author (although this is the first time reading a book written by this person). I wouldn't say I had terribly high expectations, but for an urban fantasy book with a female main character, I had a few expectations about how the woman should be represented.

The character describes herself like so: "My upper body is slender, petite if you will, muscular and not bad to look at. Unfortunately, my legs are about five inches too short to ever be America's ideal legs. I will never have skinny thighs, nor anything short of muscular calves." Okay, I can picture that. She's short, fit, even muscular. I accept this description, but the page before the character says this: "I could bench press a hundred pounds, not bad, not bad at all. But when you only weigh a hundred and six, it puts you at a disadvantage." WHAT?!?!?!? 106??? Unless she is 4 feet tall, how can she possibly be muscular AND 106. The human body, if closer to 5 feet, would have to lose muscle mass, and a person's legs would be VERY skinny at 106.

Now I'm no doctor, even though I play one on TV, but that's how I see it. If you tell me your character is 106 lbs and not 4 feet tall or shorter, I assume they are wheel chair bound and their muscles have atrophied. Okay, so that's a little extreme. But I don't know any women who weigh that little, and don't have "skinny" thighs, unless this character suffers from body dysmorphia. Why even mention the weight? Why do we even describe women by these terms? None of the men in the book have described themselves by their weight, so why boil women down to a number (unrealistic or NOT) on a scale?

I will say that the book has been entertaining so far, and the series has sold millions of copies, so obviously this description is just a glitch in an otherwise interesting book. It's just something that made me think about characters, descriptions, and believability. I can accept that vampires exist in your world, that your character is awesome enough to kill them, but that she is only 106 lbs? Nope. You lost me. Maybe to some writers and readers it doesn't matter, but just as I hope to embrace characters of all backgrounds/circumstances, I also hope to bring characters to life that are believable in all aspects.

3 More Q and A

I haven't done this in a while but I figured I should get some more answers out there for the questions I receive from readers. So here goes.


I know you really enjoy movies, which NEW movie are you most excited about?

This is pretty easy to answer and maybe obvious. I'm most excited about the new WOLVERINE!!! (yes it has to be said in all caps) movie.

I know there were things I didn't like about the last Wolverine movie but as a huge X-men fan and a huge Hugh Jackman fan, how can I not get suckered into loving this film sight unseen? The hope that this film will be better than the last Wolverine film is what is ensuring my seat in the theater on opening day. Okay, maybe not opening day if I'm busy, but def. opening weekend. I know what you're thinking, fool me once...but I'm willing to take the shame of being fooled twice by this franchise. 

What happened to all the Gabby and Chewie comics? Will there be more soon?

I can't say if there will be more soon as comics take a considerable amount of effort (I know, mine don't appear to take much effort as they often show up still quite raw) and I haven't had anything funny to say through comics about the cats as of late. But I'm still drawing and still working on Gabby and Chewie images (such as the rough sketch below) so I hope to eventually get more up on here if not sooner than later.

If you could have any superpower what superpower would it be and why?

There are so many awesome potential powers to choose from so it would be hard to decide. If I were to limit the assortment of powers to something that fit both my past and my personality then invisibility would be the power I would have to choose. Initially, my reasoning for this might seem I guess sad for lack of a better word. I grew up as a middle child between two very bright and outgoing sisters who loved the spotlight while I wandered in shadow. I was a shy kid by nature and as I grew older I got more scared and quiet. Even today I still get anxious talking in front of large groups or even single strangers. I often try to melt into the background of most social situations because it's always been easier to observe than to be the center of attention. So since I've historically felt quite invisible and even worked towards making myself invisible in social situations, I think I could use invisibility to my advantage as a superhero. I already know how to blend into the background and how to observe and use those observations to my advantage. As an invisible superhero I could be a strong asset to any superhero team/league/group that would have me and I could use my already explored invisibility to help fight crime or even save the world.