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Topic : Re: Everyone is beautiful I've noticed a quirk with the narrator voice of one of the two novels I'm working on. This narrator only describes the beautiful aspects of every character's features. You - selfpublishingguru.com

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I think it's ok to have a biased narrator.

But, it reminds me of Mary Shelley's novel The Last Man that used characters transparently based on real people she knew and admired (Lord Byron, her late husband, her sister). The novel is difficult to get through because for the first half the characters are smothered under purple praise. Similar to your descriptions everyone has a noble brow and an excellent continence and handsome features.

In Shelley's book, the first half involves transformative political debates (forward-thinking for the time) but there are no fangs and it feels like a non-conflict, like the story lacks structure. Her prose is beautiful, but it becomes Victorian wallpaper, featureless and repatitive. Eventually a plot kicks in, but it has to work harder to get around the eulogy.

I'll cautiously suggest the problem (if it's really a problem) may be too much of the same, as opposed to descriptions being biased to beauty. I suggest signaling your villains clearly as villains, and consider if too subtle antagonists are being obscured with a mixed message.


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