Welcome to the Wednesday Writing Challenge!
Every Wednesday, I pose a new writing challenge here on the blog. These challenges come from books on writing, classes I've taken on creative writing, or sometimes just from my own imagination. If you're an author, hopefully they will help you get your writing juices flowing and help you improve your craft.
Some of these challenges may be very good ones or may include an element I consider highly important for writers to learn...so occasionally I may cycle through some of my favorites more than once.
?? Want to Participate ??
The Wednesday Challenges are open to all readers. In order to participate, simply comment on the challenge post with your response to the exercise. Not only is it good practice, but you could win something nifty and fun!
August Prize: A Lotus Petals journal
Including a personalized message from Brantwijn Serrah |
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And now...
***Here's Today's Challenge!***
Physically
describe an attractive person (male or female), as viewed by another
character. This means describe what they look like. Do not mention eye color or hair color.
Do not use:
muscled, brawny, gorgeous, beautiful, pretty, voluptuous, curvy,
perfect, "drool-worthy", "panty-dropping", or "yummy". (Shame on you if
you even consider those last three).
Avoid gross use of hyperbole or cliche.
Post your results in the comments.
GO.
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***Hints and Tips:***
If you can't describe a person using a generalized term ("beautiful", "gorgeous", "muscled"), you have to get more detailed and specific. You can still describe someone muscular but you must find more creative ways to do it.
If you can't describe eye color or hair color, you have to pick out other characteristics to highlight. Describe ears, nose, lips, throat, fingers, etc. Find ways to make these details evoke beauty in your character.
If you avoid physical description and instead default to vagueries such as how the observer feels about this person or what thoughts/images this person inspires, you weaken your description. Consider the description of Bella's mother in Twilight, highlighted below:
Courtesy of Reasoning with Vampires |
I'll be first! This is from my erotic adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson's, "The Little Mermaid" for Ravenous Romance. Here we meet the evil Hermione for the first time, and enemy of the Oceans King and all his family, including the young, Princess. Here goes....
ReplyDelete"She rode the dancing turquoise currents, collecting seashells, sea-flowers and colored coral. As she closed the distance, the transformation began: her tail ~ glistening scales falling away like glitter and long…supple…graceful ~ was now two lengths of elegant limbs upon which she stood. Through the ribbons of her hair, painted by the ocean depths with an onyx shimmer, she wove her sea treasures. Her skin, decorated, bronze and silken, glistened with a hunger to be touched. And her natural eagerness increased with human ache, passion, desire.
She crawled upon the crag, bent to touch the human male’s tear-stained cheek and sang soulfully, tenderly about love and longing. The young man looked upon her, impressed by her dark commanding beauty and seduced by her tantric voice."
I had already used "beauty" but not beautiful! So it isn't quite like cheating!!! So, howzat??? xo
I'll try! I'm a newbie writer, so please be gentle. This is from a science fiction story and the first time a bodyguard meets the female diplomat she's supposed to be guarding:
ReplyDelete“Are you supposed to be my bodyguard?”
Delegate Savea Blackmun lounged against the doorframe ogling me, her ripe and overflowing breasts straining at the plunging neckline of her diplomatic evening dress. Piles of long, dark tresses cascaded from a topknot, woven into an intricate pattern around her delicate, fragile neck in the fashion of her people. Her dark gold robe dipped at the shoulders, revealing the tiny tattoos that signified her status and caste on her home planet.
okay I will attempt it with a clip from my current WIP:
ReplyDelete“What the hell are you trying to do? Run me down?” The woman, with hands perched on her hips, shook her head back and forth as she hollered from the side of the drive. She reminded him of a cockatoo; a perky, squawky little cockatoo. He ran his hand over the stubble on his chin, flipped his tongue across his teeth and opened the truck door.
“Howdy Ma’am.” He tipped his hat at her and flashed her his best apologetic smile. “I sure wasn’t expecting to see a lady jogging up my drive, sorry if I scared you.”
“Well,” The woman adjusted her suit jacket and turned about to check her shoe, as if she might have pressed the heel into some dung. Without looking up she said, “I suppose I’ll accept your apology.
Zan seized the opportunity to check out her backside. Nice, round, looked solid for such an obvious city girl. Her calves looked pretty shapely too, from what he could see of them. The grey skirt had a slit and if she twisted a bit more, he might just get a glance at her thighs.
“Khmm, hmmm” she cleared her throat.
My alter-ego has a YA Ghost story with these characters in it. He is the red-headed quarterback and she is the only black skinned girl in the school.
ReplyDeleteMy eye was instinctively drawn to the high cheekbones and full lips of the girl that entered the room. The light sank into her dark skin, making it even warmer and browner than the last time I’d seen her. She didn’t dress to kill, instead wearing a loose cotton tee that suited the sultry weather. It also featured a sloping neckline that revealed the top of her ample breasts. I knew I should draw my gaze back to her face, but I couldn’t help tracing the rest of her body, her full hips sheathed in dark denim and her small feet in open toes sandals, each nail a brilliant red.
“TJ,” she said, snapping her fingers. “I’m up here.”
I had no trouble meeting her gaze and keeping my eyes locked on hers. “I know. I just wanted to see what you were packing down there.”
I really had to learn to quit while I was ahead.