Should I make my characters pretty? A reflection on lookism and crafting beautiful characters.

Considerations for Fiction Writers – A Blog Series

Fiction is saturated with abnormally beautiful characters, so much so, it’s getting boring. Are super-hot characters necessary? If not, what is the alternative?

In my early days of novel writing, I made a guess that readers like pretty characters, so I made a commitment to make all of my characters extremely beautiful. But a funny thing happened. My characters were too similar and so perfect they were boring. I also noticed that when I was reading a romance novel and the love interest had an impossible number of abs, I’d be annoyed. Are we so shallow, that we need characters who look nothing like the people around us? Often we make villains ugly and heroes beautiful, but the world doesn’t work like that. A person with a physical difference can be very kind, and a good-looking person can be a jerk. And by making our characters all stereotypically beautiful, we’re reinforcing a lookist culture. How many so-called ‘unattractive’ people have experienced bullying, and how many hot people have gained social approval, jobs, or promotions because of their looks?

Let’s pause to consider the protagonist’s dad, boss, best friend, teacher, or neighbor, or dog. Such side characters don’t need to be good looking, and making them physically unique can work with their characters. It can also make the novel feel real because we don’t live a world of twenty-year-old supermodels. But what about in romance? Surely, we need hot people in romance. In romance, readers want to be persuaded the love interest is attractive. But do we want every romance novel to have a love interest who looks like an underwear model? Is it specific physical features that make someone attractive, or is it less definable? Can someone who’s ordinary-looking, but funny, smart and kind, make someone feel attraction? Isn’t it our flaws that make us special?

I wondered if I should exclude appearance descriptions, so my readers could imagine my characters however they like. But the problem with that is how a person looks is directly linked to how they exist in the world. For example, in my GeneEarth novel series, the protagonist is a Trad-Gene, which means he was not genetically designed. His peers were designed to be tall, so my protagonists short height is a perceivable difference. It affects how his peers see him and it means no one takes him seriously. So looks do matter and they do need to be described.

I discovered I quite enjoy working with the idea that people have different perceptions of beauty and it helps me create character. But I also like it when a character’s personality is somehow reflected in their looks. I like to see the meanness or kindness in their bodies. On the other hand, I like it when we judge a character by their looks and they turn out different than we expect.

I discovered that I like to see how a character interacts with their appearance. I want to understand what the protagonist thinks is beautiful and why. I like to get an impression of how their society sees them and what it means for the character. I craft nations with unique cultures, so I have the freedom to create unique concepts of beauty. One of my characters has an eating disorder because of societal pressure for wealthy boys to be thin, and even though he’s very beautiful, he never feels beautiful. I also have a character who is stunning, but she doesn’t care about looks. It wouldn’t make a difference to her if she was considered unattractive. I like it when a character’s feelings about their appearance surprise the reader.

I find it refreshing when a protagonist appreciates their own beauty, especially when others might not agree. I also find it refreshing when a protagonist sees beauty in another ordinary-looking character. I believe, if our characters are going to be unique and realistic, even the pretty characters should have imperfections or differences.

I have an aversion to stories about a protagonist hating their appearance, their community disapproving of it, and the protagonist working to change it. I find the ugly to pretty narrative to be offensive. It places all of a protagonist’s worth in how they look and reinforces it by portraying them as happy only after their looks improve. It promotes the idea that looks are important and that lookist beliefs are okay.

Maybe we need to pause to consider modern ideas of beauty. Is our concept of beauty problematic? Are our ideas of beauty racist? How many gender non-conforming people have been portrayed in a negative light? How many people with disabilities have been portrayed as sexless?

Should I make my characters pretty? Maybe the answer underneath it all is to change the way the world sees beauty. As fiction writers we can portray characters with differences being adored. We can change how readers see the regular people who live and work in our communities.

I have this wacky idea that one day I’m going to write a rom-com about a silly guy and a goofy girl, and they’re going to fall in love. I personally don’t need fifteen ab muscles for my male love interest to be attractive. I just need a nice smile and a kind heart, but maybe I’m weird.