This is a serious problem, okay.

[brigdh]

Why did people in the 1800s wear so many clothes? I am just trying to write porn, and it keeps turning into paragraphs and paragraphs of people taking off jackets and waistcoats and cravats and none of this is interesting to write or- I imagine- to read, and it's taking forever and why can't everyone just be naked instantly. Argh.

Comments

[somebraveapollo.livejournal.com]

wellllll, cravats can be interesting! :D

Also, maybe they're naked to begin with? The Janvier-Vitrac Household Of Naturist Delights.

(I mean, I'm sure Rose took Ben's last name - in fact, she's called Rose January in the punchy short story - but I love her last name, so, whatever)

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

XD They can! Which has led to me googling lots of paintings of the 1830s in an attempt to figure out if it makes any sense for someone to wear a cravat without all those other layers. (Conclusion: I have no idea.)

But in the other story, which I'm trying to write first, they start out walking around outdoors and thus have to be dressed, siiiigh. At least Ben often goes around in just a shirt and jacket without the in-between layers. Good for you, Ben.

Well, she has to have a wide circle of connections (like, outside of New Orleans) who knew her in regards to her first school or her translations, and who probably are just used to calling her Madame Vitrac and are not keeping up with the details of her personal life. So it totally could be called that!

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

They stripped. Naked in the firelight...

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Hahaha! That is such a simple and elegant solution!

[vom-marlowe.livejournal.com]

A question for the ages!

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

*grins*

[silverflight8.livejournal.com]

And you'd think in hot climates...ah, well, I guess stripping would be a good set-up. So many things to get through!

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I KNOW, RIGHT? I don't want to wear jeans if it gets over 90F/30C; I can't imagine three/four layers in summer in New Orleans. Especially when some of it is wool!

[call-me-ishmael.livejournal.com]

I've heard that layers can be insulating and actually feel cooler, but I have trouble believing it when I feel like I'm melting during the summer in a tshirt and jeans

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I've heard that theory for when one is in direct sunlight (that keeping the light off your skin results in feeling cooler, even if it seems counter-intuitive) but never for just general coolness. I've sort of tried it, but am not convinced that it's true.

[pasahiko.livejournal.com]

You know, some of us like all those detailed descriptions of overly elaborate 19th-century clothing. Right? Right?

*crickets*

...Just me?

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, you make an excellent point, actually. Describing the clothes is way more interesting than describing someone pulling an arm out of a jacket or whatever; there's all sorts of colors and textures and embroidery to get into!

[pasahiko.livejournal.com]

Yesss. I'm not much of a clothing person in real life--my wardrobe basically is one outfit, because I just can't be bothered--but when it comes to historical fiction, clothing is one of the details I love the most. Maybe because it's so much more interesting than typical clothes today?

And if you need to quickly segue into sex after talking about all those random pieces of clothing, you can just say something like, "The clothes looked stunning on him. They looked even better on his bedroom floor."

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I do like clothing, but yeah, there is an extra layer of fun to describing historical clothing. So many little details!

[pukingtoreador.livejournal.com]

Maybe you could describe all the clothes coming on in one, big, flowing run-sentence to convey swiftness and motion.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I like that!

[kessie.livejournal.com]

Ha, I'm revising an Alice in Wonderland steampunk... thing, and I keep making sly jokes about all the clothing everyone wears. At one point a character, who's been fighting wearing trousers the whole novel (properly raised Victorian lady and all), ends up taking a knife to her skirts so she can run away from dying faster.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

That is awesome. I like hearing about your Alice in Wonderland writing, by the way!