From: b.scott@csuohio.edu   
      
   On Sat, 25 Oct 2014 21:01:16 -0700 (PDT), "J.Pascal"   
    wrote in   
      
   in rec.arts.sf.composition:   
      
   [...]   
      
   > I prefer to get a physical description when I'm reading a   
   > book because I tend to have a mind-picture of the   
   > characters.  And that's all good until sometime around,   
   > oh, A Civil Campaign I suddenly shout... WHAT DO YOU MEAN   
   > IVAN HAS BLACK HAIR!   
      
   Not being very visual at all, I don’t have this problem.   
   Visual descriptions can add to the depth and atmosphere, but   
   they don’t as a rule register strongly, any more than the   
   appearances of real people do.   
      
   > (That wasn't Bujold's fault, of course, I just have this   
   > association of "Ivan" with "big blond" that is about as   
   > strong as the sky being blue.)   
      
   Offhand I can recall two Ivans whom I’ve known personally.   
   One is a former colleague, born in Russia, who is slender   
   and of average height and has dark hair.  The other is a   
   former student who had black hair and the funniest name I   
   ever encountered in a class: Ivan Ho.  He had his father’s   
   Chinese looks, but his mother was Russian.   
      
   [...]   
      
   Brian   
   --   
   It was the neap tide, when the baga venture out of their   
   holes to root for sandtatties.  The waves whispered   
   rhythmically over the packed sand: haggisss, haggisss,   
   haggisss.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)