curiousv:
What absolutely ruins a story is when the measurements are listed in the first few sentences. This has always been, in my experience, the indicator of an awfully written story. Please provide counterexamples if you know some.
Whether to include numbers at all? It depends. It's the same as with any literary trope: include them if, and only if, they serve a role in supporting the story. If they add something to it in a meaningful way.
In my story "More than an ideal" I deliberately used numbers quite often, because it was important to the story. The story is set over a relatively long period of time, the numbers are important to the characters, and some plot points are depending on them.
In my other stories I usually avoid numbers completely.
I would suggest using numbers if they serve an important role, but never use them as the primary description of a character. Especially don't put their first appearance sooner in the story than visual descriptions.
Also, don't use numbers alone without visual descriptions. I've never ever seen a good (or even mediocre) story which relied solely on numbers and never or very rarely used visual descriptions.
I agree completely. Though I've personally fallen victim to the numbers game early on. I'll occasionally toss them on because I know that there's a sub set of the community which likes them. But I'd never use them as the only reference given heights and body types cause them to be almost meaningless.
