Hi everyone, As I work on a few story ideas, one thing that I'm interested in developing is an age difference story. The man is older, in his 60's, probably widowed, maybe divorced. He's in decent shape, thin. The lady he meets is in her 30's, not having the best luck with men. She finds this older guy and they become good friends, eventually finding a mutual attraction between the two. The lady is heavily muscled to add some interesting dynamics and humor to the story. I'm attaching two photos to see what people think of the possibilities of basing off her........
I’d say flush her out more. Like how did they become attracted to each other? They must have shared something. Right now you have a fairly generic fit girl with daddy issues. She seems like a health nut, so he should have a background in that. Maybe he’s a vet with a limp and met her when he decided to get back in the shape he was in in his military days. Also, I find love at first sight stories very boring, there needs to be some initial conflict, to emphasize the passion later.
I'm not quite sure what you're looking for, but I'd suggest (as one possibility) not doing a full-body description. A while back I read the trilogy by Jeff Vandermeer that includes Annihilation (Southern Reach trilogy). There was a movie version starring Natalie Portman, but in the book the Biologist (only name she was ever given) was very different from Natalie. Usually there was no physical description at all, but occasionally he'd mention just a word like strong or maybe her thick shoulder. An image I still recall was a scene where she was I think lying in a hospital bed (or was she sitting in a chair at the time?) and she twisted to reach for something, turning her back to the protagonist. The only description mentioned the broad wedge of her back. It was also clear from her personality (that comes through in how she talks as well as how she does things) that she's a strong person. You might just mention briefly that she's stout and built thick. Maybe don't even use both words in the same sentence but a few pages apart. Then at strategic points give a telling detail like her crushing grip, calloused hands, or the thick muscles of her throat when she laughs. If you can pick the right detail it only takes one to make a character come alive and to get across a sense of their main characteristic (in this case stoutness and strength). To get across that she's short (if she is, from the picture it seems like it) have her head nestle against his chest when they hug or walk together. Subtlety can work wonders and says a lot more than over-description can.
You know… if you finalize a description of your two characters, I have a little thread where I sketch what I get out of it: https://www.writingforums.org/threads/describe-your-favorite-characters-visually.172171/ You may be surprised how details or lack there of can shape how your reader actually envisions them.
