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Writing an aesthetically perfect woman

Oooooh. I'm sorry. I'll stop. I'll keep on topic.
On topic, I think that characters should be described. The real point is that the person who is attracted to them finds them 'perfect' as it is impossible for every person to find one person attractive.
 

ShadeZ

Maester
Basing my reply purely on the title. That is impossible, my friend. Each person's idea of the most aesthetically pleasing person varies not only in appearance but in mood, facial features, behaviors. The best chance you have of writing the most aesthic person is if it a shapeshifter that appears differently to each person similar to the grim reaper of the webcomic (Nightmare Factory).
 
Whose point of view are you writing from? Which character are you trying to make the reader identify with?

If it's Ellie, skip the physical descriptions. She wouldn't be thinking about how she herself looks. She doesn't see her own face. She doesn't see the way her own hair drapes over her shoulders. She wouldn't be thinking about how toned her legs are. She would notice how people react to her, but she wouldn't think, "Ah, they see my gorgeous hair, my toned legs...." Instead it would be something like, "What a creep!" or, "I have the power!" or, "Can't I go anywhere without getting catcalled?"

All that, of course, depends on how she feels about how people are reacting to her. Does she revel in having the power to make men fall all over her? Does she hate it? Is she sick of being slobbered over?

If you're trying to make the reader identify with another character, then you can paint Ellie through their gaze, in which case how you describe her would depend on how they would describe her. Do they objectify her? The kind of description you've written in your draft sounds like objectifying (male) gaze to me. Do they see her as a person, not just eye candy? In that case, her looks would only be a small part of the description, it would be more about the details that bring out her personality.

What doesn't work about the draft as it is, is that you're trying to blend an objectifying male gaze with Ellie's own thoughts. And who is this objectifying male gaze coming from? Tom? Not entirely believable in the context of the relationship they seem to have. There's an implication here that, while he surely finds her beautiful, there's more he likes about her than just her looks, and there's got to be some reason why she wants to be with him. Self respecting women, which is most of us women, don't want to be with guys who treat us like sex objects. Ellie would only choose Tom if he sees her for who she is and likes her for that. That doesn't mean he doesn't also like her for her looks--nothing wrong with that--just that it can't be looks to the exclusion of humanity.
 
What about a character who was utterly gorgeous in the eyes of all observers but outrageously ugly when she looked in the mirror. You could have some fun with that as she's being pursued by all comers - male and female - but she cannot understand their attraction as she is to herself the ugliest creature in creation.

Strikes me you could explore a few moral issues also in such a situation although you'd have to be careful with the beauty is only skin deep cliche.
 
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