Wednesday, August 08, 2018

Wednesday Wanderings

Recently, I posted a roundup of some of the best review comments I got for Scylla and Charybdis.  In the interests of balance, I felt I should post my favorite negative comment.  Here it is:

That said, apart from a few too many descriptions of clothing for my tastes ...

I had to laugh when I saw this.  It helps if you know me in real life:  I'm the embodiment of that meme, "I base my fashion sense on what doesn't itch."  Add in my preference for things that let me move freely and play the harp, plus the necessity of performance wear that looks good for a gig, and you end up with a style of long swooshy skirts and sleeveless shirts, and an awful lot of purple because that's my favorite color.

As far as Scylla and Charybdis goes, I used clothing descriptions in a general sense as an illustration of its respective societies.  Fashion has a lot to say about individuality and values.  In my fantasy realms, I sometimes take it a step further and have cultures emphasize (and design clothing around) features the western world take for granted.  One unpublished project, I had a culture that prized feet ...!  Maybe for the best it didn't go anywhere. 

Since Anaea is trying to blend in, and appearance is often everything in those cases, clothing was part of how she did that.  Certainly I couldn't use makeup for this:  I've got no clue how to use it beyond the basics.  Researching physics and planetary science, sure.  Makeup, absolutely not.

In conclusion, this reviewer just might have a point.  Perhaps I described a few too many articles of clothing.  It still makes me laugh.

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