My writing friend, who shall remain nameless at this time, brought up an interesting point about Christian novels. She suggested that the protagonists and/or heroines seemed to be drop dead gorgeous—in other words, “the beautiful people”. To quote her:
“What message does it send to the reader when your characters are model perfect? If you have physically ‘beautiful’ people in your book, there should be a reason OTHER than driving that initial attraction.”
Her words do ring true in many circumstances. Inarguable in fact. So. What’s the reason for this?
Let’s look at film. Even the most beautiful and most handsome of actors often get “scuffed” up to detract from their looks to play certain characters. Some of them simply can’t hide their physical beauty no matter how much makeup goes to work on subduing it. And spread across the big screen, the less attractive people often play villains and seem perfectly cast in those roles. The ugly duckling prospects often blossom into magnificent mallards through the course of story. And let’s be honest here, don’t we all enjoy viewing beauty or what we perceive as beauty? However, likewise, if that beautiful creature becomes a sordid villain, we can just as easily hate the beauty for tricking us into finding it pleasing.
Looking to the bible in reference to women:
“Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” Proverbs 31:30 (NIV)
I find it interesting that when Jesus is described in Isaiah, it makes reference to his appearance:
“He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.” Isaiah 53:2b (NIV)
Fascinating to note how physical attractiveness is downplayed in these two important passages.
And certainly Christians note but often fail to remember that God looks at the heart of an individual. How He chooses to create is related to how He intends to use an individual, the plans He will set in motion if that person turns back to Him for their purpose and role in this life on earth. He is no respecter of persons.
As a little girl, I can testify to feeling ugly. And I’ve certainly never ever felt “beautiful”. But I also confess I make many of my characters attractive and since I write love stories, these characters do appear to be beautiful or handsome to one another. It’s supposed to be representative of the “eye of the beholder” concept, but clearly many of my characters aren’t lacking in the looks department.
Perhaps the genre can be indicative of placing emphasis on physical descriptions of characters. I know many authors who write thrillers downplay these descriptions. And other authors explain they like the readers to fill in any blanks other than perhaps the stature and size of a character.
Romance requires attraction. How that “attraction” is executed isn’t limited to physical descriptions of characters. Some of you readers may recall an older suspense series written by Terri Blackstock (Cape Refuge Series) where one side of the heroine’s face bore the scars of being caught in a fire as a child. The other half of her face and her spunk attract the local Police Chief who must discover the perpetrator of a crime. By using the “ugliness” of scars and the “beauty” that remained, Terri tapped into multiple levels of basic attraction, human pain, and love.
Where there is attraction, it seems there must be some attention paid to what comprises that reaction between characters. At some point, a physical attribute usually shows up. How often or how detailed is the author’s choice and/or preference—and the result produces the reader’s favor, disdain, or indifference.
Part of this process can be negated by the full portraits on book covers. From comments on various blogs, the full-on face revelations aren’t particularly appreciated by many readers who also enjoy letting the words in the stories paint the portraits of the characters. (Publishers apparently disagree about their popularity.)
“The beautiful people” appear on the pages of all kinds of novels—the reactions to that probably varied. Do “beautiful” characters offend you in your reading? Any thoughts about “the beautiful people”?
God, we know you see our hearts, and we know that you own the creative process. You are no respecter of persons, and we thank you for that. Help us to see with your eyes, Lord. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
Into the Fire 
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