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Describing a strong sexual attraction (on first sight) [closed]

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Closed by System‭ on Sep 4, 2018 at 18:12

This question was closed; new answers can no longer be added. Users with the reopen privilege may vote to reopen this question if it has been improved or closed incorrectly.

I wish to describe strong physical attraction on first sight by a human towards an alien. A Human meets an Alien but the Alien is extremely beautiful (sorry Humans!) and would wipe the floor of the most beautiful Human.

What I have written is:

They were obviously viscerally attractive to Humans of that there was no doubt.

However, I am not sure this phrase conveys what I want to describe. What techniques can I use to better convey this attraction?

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This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/38675. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

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You are telling that the human is attracted to the alien. Why not show instead? A picture is worth a thousand words, they say, so why not create that picture?

Consider what attraction feels like - is there a physiological reaction? Are there thoughts the character is suddenly thinking, that have nothing to do with the situation they are in?

You might want to take a look at how other authors describe a character's response to supernaturally attractive creatures. For example, from Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series:

The newcomer was the real thing. She was grace. Beauty. Art. As such, she was not so easily quantified.
[...]
Thinking back later, I couldn't clearly remember her facial features or her body, beyond a notion that they were superb. Her looks were almost extraneous.
[...]
Or maybe the hunger was mine. In the space of five seconds, my attention to detail fractured, and I wanted her. I wanted her in the most primal sense, in every way I could conceive. Whatever gentle and chivalrous tendencies my soul harbored suddenly evaporated. Images swarmed over me-images of unleashing the fires burning in me upon willing flesh. Conscience withered a heartbeat later. (Jim Butcher, Blood Rites, chapter 12)

You can also describe the alien itself. However, @Amadeus is not wrong - different people find different things attractive. You therefore need to consider whether the alien is question is extremely attractive to one particular character, or somehow attractive to many characters with different tastes.

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