One of the things that gets me is when a POV character goes on and on about their own physical characteristics. Like, "I swept my strawberry-blonde shoulder-length hair out of the way of my collar, and batted my blue eyes at the doorman as he let me out. My breasts pressed against the tight material of my low-cut top."

A: Most people do not spend a lot of time thinking about their own physical characteristics that way. Usually it's more like, "Man, I have to get my color fixed and it's too short-notice to get to the salon this weekend, maybe I can get a good box of blonde at Walgreens on the way home?"

B: My example above included one of the things that really throw me out of a story, which is when a man is writing from a woman's pov but uses a male gaze for it. Most women (not all) don't spend much time thinking about their breasts, and (outside of a sexual encounter) generally aren't aware of them doing anything, unless there's a problem, like your bra is too tight or you're bouncing too much or the material of your shirt is thinner than you thought...

It's a question of what is an appropriate perspective for the narrative voice. I mean, okay, if the character in that first quote were someone in disguise, or working a scam that needed her physical characteristics to be pointed out, fine. But just stuck in there as a way to describe her, it's both awkward and uncomfortable.

Repeating the same point over and over is one of the things that annoys me about Laurell K Hamilton. The Nikes and their particular color of swoop, or the brand of Anita's holster. Gah.

It's a question of what is an appropriate perspective for the narrative voice.

That's a textbook rookie mistake. Editors should know to stamp that out, including protagonists who look in the mirror in the first scene so they can describe what they look like.

I think authors think readers want to know what a character looks like, but not so much, really. What you want is the reader to *feel* your character, be in her head. And yeah, what you said about no one walking around thinking about her sparkling blue eyes and the way her boobs feel in her bra.

And it is not like there are not ways to handle it. Like complaining about the difficulties of finding a comfortable sports bra that fits for a woman with big boobs. Or one character telling another 'don't bat those baby blues at me and expect to change my mind' only in a less cliched way than my example.

I remember once I wore a new dress out to lunch after a rainstorm, I got such great service...everyone was really friendly. Then I got home and found one reason. They could see through my new outfit.

the only time I wander around the house thinking about my boobs is when I have PMS and want to lop them off.

I think authors think readers want to know what a character looks like, but not so much, really.

There have been a few books/stories I've read where the POV character is never physically described, and I only notice it because I'm curious about the approaches the author takes to doing it. I'd probably never notice if I was just reading.

One thing a fair number of male writers do is have a female character look at herself nude in the mirror and evaluate herself ... favorably.

There's a great post by Sherwood Smith about that up at Book View Cafe [link]

Ah yes Toddson, I believe that's what Suela meant by having the female POV figure articulating the male gaze.