From: b.scott@csuohio.edu

On Sat, 25 Oct 2014 21:01:16 -0700 (PDT), "J.Pascal"
 wrote in

in rec.arts.sf.composition:

[...]

> I prefer to get a physical description when I'm reading a
> book because I tend to have a mind-picture of the
> characters.  And that's all good until sometime around,
> oh, A Civil Campaign I suddenly shout... WHAT DO YOU MEAN
> IVAN HAS BLACK HAIR!

Not being very visual at all, I don’t have this problem.
Visual descriptions can add to the depth and atmosphere, but
they don’t as a rule register strongly, any more than the
appearances of real people do.

> (That wasn't Bujold's fault, of course, I just have this
> association of "Ivan" with "big blond" that is about as
> strong as the sky being blue.)

Offhand I can recall two Ivans whom I’ve known personally.
One is a former colleague, born in Russia, who is slender
and of average height and has dark hair.  The other is a
former student who had black hair and the funniest name I
ever encountered in a class: Ivan Ho.  He had his father’s
Chinese looks, but his mother was Russian.

[...]

Brian
--
It was the neap tide, when the baga venture out of their
holes to root for sandtatties.  The waves whispered
rhythmically over the packed sand: haggisss, haggisss,
haggisss.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
 * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)