Into the Fire

Visiting the physical attributes of people, and consequently fictional characters, I’ve concluded there are two primary categories for description which can be conveyed in stories in innumerable ways through the selected words of their authors. These categories fall under beautiful/handsome, or lack thereof, and sex appeal.

By sex appeal I mean the person is attractive in their general appearance and manner rather than primarily by their decisively good looks. Those who have it exude a presence which surpasses their looks. Sex appeal in conduct is often “inferred”, sometimes subtle, although most think of it as being overt in actions. Not always.

As with beautiful characters, those with sex appeal can be good guys or bad guys depending on how the author wants to work the audience. With female sex appeal the standard usually centralizes on their bodies.

Of course characters with sex appeal may also be drop dead gorgeous, but they don’t have to be. Let me give you two actors who qualify for emitting sex appeal in certain roles but don’t fit the massively handsome description: Russell Crowe and Donnie Wahlberg. You can disagree with my choices, and I might find yours unappealing as well. It’s difficult to find agreement on universal beauty and something as personally attractive as sex appeal.

In Christian fiction sex appeal is often played down but if not is usually implied by the description of the character. In rare cases such as Lance in Kristen Heitzmann’s Secrets; Unforgotten; Echoes, Lance’s behavior, as much as his appearance, gives him real sex appeal. In Lisa Samson’s The Passion of Mary-Margaret, Jude personifies sex appeal, and we feel Mary-Margaret’s attraction to the young rogue.

In my seventh novel Breath of Life the primary POV belongs to a divorced male in his mid-30s facing the prospect of falling for a virtuous woman. These characters are depicted as having both beauty and sex appeal. The story deals with the battle of a roguish gentleman who’s been around the block multiple times facing up to sexual restraint for the first time in his life while also confronting the choice of belief in God.

Once again the genre and the author often determine whether or not either of these factors becomes any kind of focal point in the story.

Any thoughts on my disjointed theory?

Father, you know how we are, what makes us who we are. We ask for more of you and less of us. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.