In lieu of actual content

[stillsostrange]

matociquala suggests 13 things to do when you run out of plot.

My personal subset of 'man with a gun' is 'blow something up'. Then you will have to figure out why the explosion happened, and that may lead to plot. This is especially helpful if it happens in the middle of awkward dialogue.

And what the heck--since I'm bored at work, I'll type up a little rant that's been stewing for the past couple of days.


This is a long-standing peeve of mine, which has been triggered recently by talk of the new Dresden Files show. I've encountered it in many books, but Butcher's Storm Front was the last one I read, so it gets picked on.

There's a scene where Harry is describing a woman he knows, and--vastly paraphrased, as I don't have the book handy--says "She had no idea how beautiful she was, and that made her even more attractive."

Uhm. No.

I've seen this many times in fiction--the idea that if a woman knows she's attractive, she must be stuck up. Nice girls never understand their hotness. This affliction often seems to strike a certain subset of Sues.

Have you ever known a person with low self esteem? A person who can't take a complement? A person who refuses to believe they're pretty or attractive or worthwhile? Did you really find this behavior appealing?

I've also know some wretched stuck-up bitches, who went out of their way to be cruel to people because they knew they were hot. Yeah, that's despicable behavior, but there's a huge gulf between "eat your heart out, subcreature" and "Pretty, me? No, my X is too big, and my Y is too small, and anyway guys always prefer Z-type girls."

What about people who are self-aware and comfortable with themselves? Whether they're glamorous or tomboyish, people who know their strengths and weaknesses and know how to play them up or down are usually a lot sexier than people who either think they have no flaws or think they're nothing but flaws.


And rant adjourned for lunch, but I was mostly running out of steam anyway.

Comments

[sksperry.livejournal.com]

I have met attractive people who really didn't think they were attractive. They'd come to believe they were because everyone told them so.

And sometimes people might only be attractive to you. Others might disagree.

Besides, what makes these types even more attractive may not neccessarily be that they don't know that they're attractive, but that they don't care that they're attractive.

Conversly, I've met really unattractive people who are convinced that they are the be all and end all, and let me tell you, no amount of confidence in the world could make that come true. They just seem delusional.