Attraction

[Mouse]

That's true, TDZ.

TJ, she's more of the second than the first and I think you're right. Alcohol will probably have to be involved.

 

[hopewrites]

I liked an actor who played adorably vulnerable parts in movies. Not much of a social media addict so I never got the tabloid version, only the polished lines and perfect lighting from the silver screen. One day when gushing fangirlishly about some movie or other he had done my (now ex) told me some things he'd read in tabloids about him. I was crushed!! Still think he's a great actor, but always find it hard to enjoy him as much as I did in ignorance.
as to the kind of people TDZ mentioned (I've met some guys like that too) I can offer some inside insight. Back when I let fear run my life I was one of those girls who leaps from train wreck to train wreck blissfully positive I could change/save/redeem the person I was devotedly and blindly in love with. Went through crushes like some people go through cups of coffee ... it took me a while and more heartache than I can remember to grow out of it. Looking back I see that I was addicted to pain and craving love and trying to kill two birds with one stone.
Some of my crushes have let it slip that I helped them through a tough time and they wouldn't be the happy successful people they are today without my friendship.
And if I had it to do again I probably would have made all the same kind of mistakes. Or horribly new ones.

Now that I'm not so doe-eyed I take a good long look at who I find attractive to be sure I find all of them attractive. So the now me would seem more like Ambrose, in that I have little time or energy for people who don't/can't value me.


Long internet confessional shorter: if he says he values her, dispute occasionally acting as though he doesn't, I can find it plausible that she would still find him desirable and attractive.

 

[Boneman]

I'm in love with Michelle Pfeiffer... if I met her and found she was a complete (whatever the female equivalent of an mcp was) I'd still be in love with her. You overlook someone's faults when you're besotted with them, and assume it's you that's at fault...


ps: but I know she wouldn't be like that...

 

[Mouse]

Thanks, hope. It seems to me then, that it will still be believable that Jenn'd find him attractive so that's good.

I was sort of thinking that if I'd been reading it in something else, I might not have believed the woman could still like the guy. But I suppose it's my job to make it believable.

BM, but you're a guy!

 

[hopewrites]

I'm in love with Michelle Pfeiffer... if I met her and found she was a complete (whatever the female equivalent of an mcp was) I'd still be in love with her. You overlook someone's faults when you're besotted with them, and assume it's you that's at fault...

Agreed!! And the time it takes to enlighten me that that is not the case is (length of time I think I am being loved X my stubbornness)/ how attractive they really are.


You may note the major flaw of this mentally is that the less attractive someone is the longer it takes me to notice they are scummy.

 

[Boneman]

BM, but you're a guy!

Yeah, but I'm well in touch with my female side - sensitive, caring, considerate, married... when I do meet Michelle I will be like a female meeting the man of her dreams - a gibbering wreck, who will totally and utterly destroy any chance I have to impress. Sounds like a woman to me...

 

[Mouse]

Yeah, but I'm well in touch with my female side - sensitive, caring, considerate, married... when I do meet Michelle I will be like a female meeting the man of her dreams - a gibbering wreck, who will totally and utterly destroy any chance I have to impress. Sounds like a woman to me...

Ha!

When I meet Ben, I hope he's not a arse. Can't imagine he would be though...

 

[Glitch]

You could always have Ambrose do right thing at just the right moment.

When Jenn meets him he's all charming and nice. Then later turns into an arse. When she think's she's had enough and wants to leave he does something nice again. He doesn't even need to know he's doing it

 

[Mouse]

I think he's got to be quite charming anyway, because he's an actor so he's going to be used to charming people when he has to.

 

[mithril]

Well as lots of people here said, only you can decide how Jenna would behave, and it would be believable either way. There are women who would have a temporary fling with a guy if he was handsome/rich/funny enough (even if he was a git). They could even justify that since they know it is temporary so what's the harm in a little fun. On the other hand there are enough women who would never think a guy was worth sleeping with if they couldn't respect him. (I think the 'they' and 'he' wasn't a good combination... hope you understood wat I meant)

I personally don't get a case of celebrity crush as such I think... I'd be more inclined to say that the guy is beautiful and even if i did find him 'hot' I'd not feel particularly bad if he turned out to be a jerk in real life. It'd be a case of 'he's beautiful but too full of himself to notice anyone else'. That would put him in the 'look but don't drool' category Of course Jenna could do pretty much anything she wants depending on which aspect of his personility seems the best/worst to her.

 

[Toby Frost]

I always got the impression that, for a man, being obnoxious and arrogant was as likely to make you more attractive as less so. I'd say any response is possible, depending on her character and what you decide is required.

 

[Peter Graham]

Hi Mouse

This is more a question for the ladies, as I know what men (not all) think.

There is a certain amount of responding to social expectations in all of this. Men are expected (by many women as well as other men) to be virtually incapable of not wanting to shag a gorgeous woman, even if her personality was forged on Stalin's anvil*. Many men therefore talk as though this was a given, although in reality I suspect that large numbers would not actually do it if it came to it. I certainly wouldn't and I know my male pals feel the same way. Many chaps are frightened of not fitting in, so what they say and what they do are two very separate things.

Women are the same. Many women seem conditioned to say things like "looks aren't important" or "a sense of humour is the most attractive quality in a man". However, I have noticed that pretty girls tend to go out with handsome men rather than funny ones, which suggests that women are every bit as guilty as men for saying one thing and doing another.

Seems to me that there is nothing intrinsically incredible in Jenn still wanting to shag Ambrose even when she discovers he is a turnip, although she might well try to justify it to other folk (or even herself) as not being all about looks.

Regards,

Peter

* Copyright D. Ten Pints, 2009.

 

[Mouse]

See, though, I'm always noticing handsome men with ugly women. What's that all about?!

Anyways, thanks all. Seems that the general consensus is that yes, it's believable. Which is what I want.

I had a flick back through the WiP earlier and noticed she's already described him as an ugly kind of lovely.

 

[Peter Graham]

See, though, I'm always noticing handsome men with ugly women. What's that all about?!

Given where you live, I'd guess two thousand years of rural inbreeding coupled with a genetic over-reliance on home made scrumpy!

Regards,

Peter

 

[Mouse]

Ha! How rude. (I was thinking something very similar!)

 

[allmywires]

See, though, I'm always noticing handsome men with ugly women. What's that all about?!

I'm the opposite. Here is just filled with ugly men with hot girls.

Anyway, on topic, I should think that a bit of a boozy evening should sort your dilemma out perfectly, Mouse. The things we do in the name of Dionysus...

 

[Mouse]

Yeah, I'm thinking booze is the answer.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

isn't it always? Seriously, a slightly squiffy Ambrose with an even more squiffy Jenny, it'd be a really good fun scene....

 

[allmywires]

Especially if Ambrose calls her Jenny! (That would be cute... )

I use alcohol as a plot device way more than I really should in my novels

 

[Mouse]

As I don't drink, I don't tend to even think about alcohol (took me several attempts to spell it right too!), so it doesn't feature often.

But yeah, would be fun to write!