Please help me get dressed

[Zhaladjin]

Hello all, I'm new to the site, new to the boards and new to writing a story for publication on the internet. Right now I'm busy with a WoW-story and I've hit kind of a snag when describing somebody clothes. I'd like to hear your opinions on it.

She had a loose top which was only bound tightly around her body just below her collar bones and arms but which barely was long enough to cover her breasts and two long strips, one hanging in front of her pubic area and one covering where her buttocks met, held together by two pieces of string running along the sides of her legs.

Now, what I'm mainly am worried about: can anybody picture what I just described? Is there perhaps a better word to describe the clothing she is wearing which I am unaware of?

Thanks in advance and nice to meet you

[Guest Zyx]

Well, I'd advise against describing clothing and stuff in too much detail. People won't always like the same things as you and describing things in that much detail could seriously kill your story.

[Melrick]

I can picture the outfit pretty well, and I really don't think it's too much explanation. Although I had to assume the two strips hanging down were attached to the top. If the outfit is a little unusual - like that one - then I feel it really does need to be explained, especially if there are a number of people in a group; it helps to differentiate them, and can be an outward extension of their character.

One thing you can do sometimes is to break up the description. Not so much with that outfit, but with your more "standard" outfits. You can describe how the lady's skirt swished as she walked, and then later - perhaps the next paragraph - how the necklace gleamed as it rested against her light blue pullover, for example. Physical descriptions can be broken up that way as well. One problem with having one big paragraph chock-full of describing how the person looks is that it puts a real halt on the story. There can be instances where that's necessary, though, such as the character pointedly taking time to notice everything about another person.

Also... to be honest, I think whether or not the reader likes the clothes the characters are wearing is totally irrelevant. The clothes are an outward extension of the character, not the reader or writer, so a very shy and withdraw person is highly unlikely to be wearing really loud and flashy clothes, for example. If it's not particularly important to the story or the character what the person is wearing then simply don't bother with it, or just have a vague description, such as he was dressed neatly.

There is one other thing about your description. After the word 'breasts', I'd personally like a comma after it, just to break up the description of the top and the bottom, since you're essentially describing two different things, even if the bottom part is attached to the top part.

[Zhaladjin]

Thanks for the replies and tips

I can picture the outfit pretty well, and I really don't think it's too much explanation. Although I had to assume the two strips hanging down were attached to the top.

That's what I was afraid of. They aren't attached at all, it's two separate pieces of clothes. The top is more of a loose tube top, and the bottom is basically two strips of cloth worn as a pair of panties (like a side-tie bikini-bottom) which all stay on their place by either being tight at the right places or some good old gravity-defying magic. The reason I'm not saying "tube top" right away is because it doesn't fit in a high-fantasy setting like WoW.

[Melrick]

Thanks for the replies and tips

That's what I was afraid of. They aren't attached at all, it's two separate pieces of clothes. The top is more of a loose tube top, and the bottom is basically two strips of cloth worn as a pair of panties (like a side-tie bikini-bottom) which all stay on their place by either being tight at the right places or some good old gravity-defying magic. The reason I'm not saying "tube top" right away is because it doesn't fit in a high-fantasy setting like WoW.

Hmm I can see the problem. There's probably two ways you could go in. Either be much more vague about what she's wearing (as in, "her outfit consisted of little more than strips of leather strategically covering her modesty" type of thing) or be much more detailed, so the reader understands exactly what she's wearing. The problem with being that detailed is that it can serve as a bit of a road hump in your story, especially if it's not really all that important what she's wearing. As I alluded to before, you may find an opportunity a bit later in your story to describe her outfit a little more - perhaps as she removes an item, or it comes untied, etc.

That's one problem with writing for a fantasy genre, it can make it hard to describe things without using modern day comparisons. I've ran into that problem myself. Anyway, good luck!

[Zhaladjin]

Thanks again. The story is done and posted, by the way.

As I alluded to before, you may find an opportunity a bit later in your story to describe her outfit a little more - perhaps as she removes an item, or it comes untied, etc.

Well removing an item is coincidentally what I already did in the story: the top came off first and a few paragraphs later the bottom piece followed. But I'll be sure to keep things like this in the back of my head whenever I feel the need to describe odd clothing again

[Gnome]

I really like Melrick's suggestion. It's simple, gives the reader an idea, but also frees each individual's imagination. I'm a minimalist when it comes to character description, clothing or otherwise. Setting and actions paint the picture.