Meta: Appearance Headcanons and a question of canon.

[lightofdaye]

So I keep meaning to post something and don't so here is a little thing about appearances:

• How tall is Harry to people? Now I've always adhere to the short and skinny of early books, but I've seen/been told a few times that canonically Harry was tall by the end of the books. But in DH he's short than basically all the other blokes aside Mundungus that polyjuice but taller than the women. To me that's like average height, dude's tall but not remarkably tall.


• So there are two Weasley phenotypes right? shorter and stockier (charlie, twins) and tall and lanky, (everyone else.) And brown and blue eyes. (I'm not making up that some have blue eyes right?)

• Next gen kids. It's way too easy to think of them as mini-versions of their parents. Certain to me Al is mini-Harry, Lily Luna is mini-Ginny, Victoire is mini-fleur. Louis is mini-genderflipped fleur.


• James is better because he's Harry but with Weasley hair, Ginny's eyes and ends up towering over Harry.


• Rose likewise at least gets to be Hermione with red hair/blue eyes. (though genetically that would be wrong unless Hermione has recessive blue genes)


• George and Percy's kids are a lot more in the air for me as well.

Thoughts are in part thanks to Blvnk-art's rendition of Harry's kids. Though she does differentiate the younger characters well. With Al being a lot more tidy that Harry. (and has him outgrow James which is an interesting twist)

The other part of this of course is describing appearance in smutty fic. The old saw being blokes write more physical description and women more emotional stuff. The thing is I'd like to throw in a nice description of female characters in the fic, but it does seem awkward, especially in shorter fic because the characters already know each other and what they look like, so each bit of extra description can feel out of place.

Any way rambling over for now.

Comments

[sportivetricks]

Well..... this got long. LOL! It's Sunday afternoon, and I'm avoiding chores. Thanks for enabling that. :D

In my mind, Harry is (forgive the US measurement) around 5'8". Maybe 5'9" in Auror boots. A very nice height for a man (I'm biased here) and reasonable to me based on the details you mention and the circumstances of his childhood. I don't see Harry as remarkably tall, but no one's gonna underestimate him based on height, regardless of his fame.

I distinctly remember the two Weasley body types and always assumed the tall came from Arthur and the short from Molly. Don't remember any blue eyes, but I honestly couldn't even tell you what color Ron or Ginny's eyes are, much less the rest. I'd have to google if I were going to mention it in fic.

Louis is mini-genderflipped fleur.
HUBBA HUBBA. Although I do love a red-haired Louis. Or at least strawberry blond. As you know.

Adopting your James HC as canon. Check.

Agreed on the red hair for Rose simply because it's fun. And no distinct headcanons for George or Percy's kids except that Fred II is absolutely built like Charlie. But bigger. :D

That art is a true gift to fandom! I've spent at least a total half hour just staring and sighing over it this week.

I don't know how much gender plays into preference across the spectrum, but FWIW I identify as a cis female and tend to care less about physical description and more about cerebral tension. Writing physical description is rather a slog for me unless I'm 100% into the physique as part of the cerebral tension (e.g. Charlie is hot because he could literally crush you to pieces; Daphne is hot because it's alllllll about the femme fatale aesthetic). I tend to shy around physical description in minor character fic because of that, and also because I want avoid stepping on the reader's potentially set-in-stone headcanon. All that said, being a bisexual and having few set-in-stone preferences myself, I absolutely devour in the physical descriptions in your fic and salute the novel and integral ways in which you present them. Read a Literotica piece sometime, and you'll know what I mean.

[lightofdaye]

Always happy to enable! Lol.

Harry (and Neville), I think would not be particular intimidating just by appearance or physicality. They're rather unassuming until they're trying and then they just have like presence if that makes any sense?

Ginny's and Molly's eyes are definitely brown. I remember that much. I thought Ron's were blue but I could be making it up. I could check the Lexicon but where's the fun in that? :)

I was joking a little about Louis but he definitely takes after his mother but yes Weasley hair!

I definitely get where you are coming from for Freddie. I've also seen Hugo similarly like he got tall Weasley height but also stocky Weasley width at the same time. But he's a dork so he's this gentle giant type.

Literotica, I've dipped a toe in there from time to time but never really clicked with it.

[sportivetricks]

They're rather unassuming until they're trying and then they just have like presence if that makes any sense?

Yes. That.

[torino10154]

Harry is as tall as James (perhaps when he sees him in the forest before he dies?) who is described as tall, I believe when we see the memory of the Potters through the window--must be from Voldie's perspective, again, I just can't recall anymore the specifics and am too lazy to try and figure it out. However, Draco is taller than Harry. Basically, my impression is he is no longer "short" and it doesn't seem too hard to believe he had his growth spurt at 17 not 14. What tall means, IDK precisely, but I'd put him at 5'10"-5'11", just over average.

I believe you are correct about the Weasleys, though I'm not sure who has blue eyes but it does seem likely.

As for the rest, especially next gen kids, other than stuff that we have as concrete, like Al, I'm pretty flexible. I've seen James with either red hair or black. You mention Al outgrowing James and a friend and I were discussing how often the second/younger siblings do end up taller. In our anecdotal comparisons, it was often. I tend to make James a hair taller than Harry, too.

The other part of this of course is describing appearance in smutty fic. The old saw being blokes write more physical description and women more emotional stuff. The thing is I'd like to throw in a nice description of female characters in the fic, but it does seem awkward, especially in shorter fic because the characters already know each other and what they look like, so each bit of extra description can feel out of place.

This is an interesting point. I do rarely describe people in a lot of detail unless there's a reason it's significant because as you say, we do know them at least to some extent. So I will throw in what color eyes James has because they could be brown or hazel like his namesake. Then of course for the ladies, whether they are curvy or whatever, certainly can be important.

Hope that's all coherent.

[lightofdaye]

I flicked through my copy of Deathly Hallows and you're exactly right about James and when and where he's described. He's also said to have Mr Weasley-esque glasses which I'd forgotten and is another thing I'd meant to ask about nextgen headcannons; glasses yay or nay.

That's interesting about second kids, that was from the art rather than my own headcanon.

I think especially writing short fic, that kind of description is the first to go. You do masterfully impactful fics with a minimum of words for example.

[torino10154]

Ah, I'm glad to hear I haven't completely lost the plot! LOL I didn't remember the bit about his glasses though so that is interesting.

And you're very kind. I think mostly there are more important things going on in my little fics. *vbg*

[pauraque]

I guess I imagine Harry as slightly below average height, so 5'8"-ish as sportivetricks said. I don't have a really strong mental picture of the next-gen kids, but I usually imagine James as having brown hair, just because he does in the film.

I don't suppose I do much physical description in fic, since it's a given that everyone knows what everyone else looks like, including the reader. If I'm introducing an OC or someone the POV character doesn't know/recognize, I might exposit a little more about their appearance up front, otherwise it's just an adjective or simile sprinkled here and there.

[lightofdaye]

That makes a lot of sense. I tend to think of James has having auburn or dark red hair as sort of blend of his parents. I can't say the actors for the next gen kids struck a cord with me, I'm afraid/

[paulamcg]

Late to comment, but anyway... That image of short and skinny Harry has stayed with me, too, and while it's been my headcanon that he grew to be about as tall as his father, I've thought that this was not taller than average height.

It's interesting to be reminded of some canon hints at his height – and people's ideas about the looks of the next-gen characters, whom I still don't know well.

I can't remember ever thinking about the Weasleys' eye colours. In general, I hardly pay attention to people's eye colours in real life either, and I find it natural to mention an eye colour in fic only when the viewpoint character is gazing lovingly in someone's eyes (and even then not the colour of the gazing character's own eyes :)).

I guess the challenge of including suitable description of appearance applies to other than smutty fic, too. Perhaps I'm a combination of bloke and woman traits in this sense, as I want to offer some material for visuals – or even more generally include the viewpoint character's sense perceptions – of (other) characters as well as of settings. It's interesting to look for a natural way to include some of these as early in the first scene as possible, so that the reader doesn't start developing different ideas (particularly not of where the characters are). In fanfic there's the problem that readers often have preconceptions of what the characters look like. That's why I think it's best not to include anything too exact about permanent features (while it's probably better not to burden the reader with too many details, and to also let the reader imagine the exact arrangement of the furniture unless it's essential for the following action). Above all, there must be a reason for the viewpoint character to pay attention to what I'm describing, and that's usually related to emotions. A strong emotion can make the character think about the look of another one's hair or even their own gaunt face or stupid outfit, even though they both know what they look like.

Thank you for this chance for rambling!

[lightofdaye]

no problem thanks for rambling.

You definitely have a point about needing a reason to include things otherwise not needing them, convservation of detail is a big thing in writing.