Who really has lips like rose petals? I mean, honestly, who does? And who would want to- sure, they're soft and smooth and altogether delectable, but they taste pretty awful. And they're cold. Flowers are nice, but they're cold.

Eeew.

See, I understand that with anime and video games we're dealing with already stylized representations of people. I get that, I really do. It's all just fiction. And I can excuse it in fanfic, to a point. We're amateurs. But when you get to books- to actual literiture, or movies or things like that- can we stop it with the stupid metaphors? Or can we at least think before we use them?

It pisses me off when people are written in such a way as to be perfect- because people aren't perfect, mind, body, and soul. They're flawed. Any writing FAQ will go on and on and on about how good characters have inherent flaws, because perfect characters are boring. How come no one ever assumes that characters with perfect bodies are boring too?

Newsflash: naked people never look as good as they do with clothing on. They just don't. They shouldn't in literiture, either.

And don't give me any of that "Life approaches art" crap, either. There's a time and place for perfection, but otherwise, a little variety would be nice. *grumbles* Why do we never see a slighly overweight heroine, or a valiant knight with a big nose? Why do they always have "smooth, creamy skin" when we all know that's not possible, not unless you've lived in a bubble or have a full time CGI artist covering up those chicken pox scars, or the mole on the back of your knee. And freckles don't count. Freckles are "cute"- but they very rarely come in "light dustings" and they also really only work if you've got a snub nose, a sunburn, and pigtails.

I mean, it's bad enough that we deal with the media making Meg Ryan look like she isn't in her forties and well past her prime, but do we have to deal with perfect looking people in our books, as well?

*sigh* This was quite pointless, and I apologize. It's also slightly confused, and is really just me grousing about yaoi writers who wish they were writing yuri but are in denial, and Mercedes Lackey. *yech* Still. Stupid metaphors. Stupid overused, unrealistic metaphors.