From: john@jfeldredge.com   
      
   On Mon, 17 Nov 2014 15:28:43 -0800, David E. Siegel (siegel@acm.org)   
   wrote:   
      
   > On Saturday, October 25, 2014 11:16:04 PM UTC-4, William Vetter wrote:   
   >> On Sunday, October 5, 2014 8:53:55 PM UTC-4, J.Pascal wrote:   
   >> > On Sunday, October 5, 2014 5:45:42 PM UTC-6, William Vetter wrote:   
   >> > > On Sunday, October 5, 2014 3:18:46 PM UTC-4, J.Pascal wrote:   
   >> > >   
   >> > (...)   
   >> > >   
   >> > > > Saying "You can't use weather to indicate mood" is like saying   
   >> > > > "no more using short words and sentences to heighten a sense of   
   >> > > > urgency."   
   >> > >   
   >> > >   
   >> > > >   
   >> > > There is another one they say universally...the character can't   
   >> > > look in a mirror and describe herself.   
   >> > >   
   >> > > The other day I was thinking about that, that there used to be a TV   
   >> > > show named "Quantum Leap" involving Scott Bakula, where he looked   
   >> > > in the mirror at the beginning of every episode.   
   >> >   
   >> >   
   >> > Of course that worked really well in "Quantum Leap" where Bakula ran   
   >> > around looking just like Bakula but for the story was actually in   
   >> > other people's bodies so we got to see in a reflection what he looked   
   >> > like to everyone else.  Sort of like if there are vampires there's at   
   >> > least one instance of non-reflection required. :)   
   >> >   
   >> > But anyhow, the mirror description thing....   
   >> >   
   >> > Honest, I think that was a solution to a non-existent problem.   
   >> > Someone or other decided that a "good" writer in a single POV 3rd   
   >> > person narrative or 1st person never let anything on the page that   
   >> > their POV character wouldn't actually think.  So since I already know   
   >> > that I have blond hair and blue eyes and am 5 feet tall I would never   
   >> > think about my blond hair and blue eyes.  I might think about my   
   >> > height if the author asked me to get a bowl from a high shelf but in   
   >> > order to think about my *hair* I need to be looking in a mirror   
   >> > fixing it.   
   >>   
   >> I dunno.  Women say, "I hate my hair" all the time.  It's pretty much   
   >> universal.  And black women have an even bigger thing about the hair   
   >> relaxer.   
   >> >   
   >> > Other solutions could be to have someone else say something like...   
   >> > "Julie, I sure do envy your beautiful blond hair... it flows like   
   >> > sunshine..."  *Gak*  And besides, this has to happen at the beginning   
   >> > of the story, and giving me a love-sick stalker just to describe my   
   >> > looks is even sillier than having me walk past a mirror.   
   >>   
   >> A stalker needs to appear frequently in the manuscript, be almost   
   >> inescapable, or the stalker is not a stalker, just an annoyance.   
   >> >   
   >> > And I imagine that people started to notice that "the mirror trick"   
   >> > seemed forced, too, and frequently applied...   
   >> >   
   >> > ...to a wholly made-up problem.  Just describe your POV character and   
   >> > get it over with.  If a mirror is *appropriate* then use a mirror.   
   >> > If a love-lorn stalker is *appropriate* use a love-lorn stalker.  If   
   >> > it doesn't really matter what your POV character looks like, or what   
   >> > specie they are, or sex... then leave it out.   
   >>   
   >> I think you really need to let reader know if the POV character is an   
   >> alien quickly.  And probably the gender.  If they think the author is   
   >> playing games with them, like intentionally hiding that the POV   
   >> character is a female physician or a male nurse to prove the reader is   
   >> a sexist, they'll feel their intelligence is being insulted.   
   >   
   > If it is too blatant yes. But it can work. I recently reread _Alien   
   > Island_   
   >  (1970) by T. L. Sherred, and it is not until page 55 that the gender of   
   >  the PoV character is clearly stated to be female, a point which soon   
   >  becomes important. The character has two often but not invariably male   
   >  occupations: bartender (as a cover) and intelligence agent   
   >  (subordinate). There may have been a few cues, but they were too subtle   
   >  for me to pick up on, and I suspect for most readers. I think it worked   
   >  well in this particular case, and can work if it is well done. Of   
   >  course default gender assumptions were perhaps even stronger in 1970   
   >  than they are now.   
   >   
   > -DES   
      
   Melissa Scott's novel _The Kindly Ones_ never does reveal the gender of   
   the protagonist, Trey Maturin, and does so skillfully enough that I   
   didn't realize that I didn't know his or her gender until the second time   
   I read the novel.  Maturin is always addressed by name, by title, or in   
   the second person.  This is the only novel in which Melissa Scott has   
   done this.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)