Writing about breast size

Okay, I need help understanding bra sizes. I've googled and researched but I still can't wrap my head around how to write about bras properly. I know having a DD cup doesn't necessarily mean someone will appear to have large breasts. The truth lies somewhere in the band + cup size. I think.

Basically, how do I accurately write about bra size when a character goes from having small breasts to enormous breasts? What should I be mindful of?

 

tl;dr -> don't use bra sizes

Using bra size measurements is usually a mess.

The cup size is the difference between underbust circumference and bust circumference. (there are different measurement methods. One of them adds 4")
The bigger the torso, the less prominent they will look.

Every cup size is one inch OR two centimeters, depending on the system.
It usually goes AAA, AA, A, B, C, D... after that the letters differ depending on the system.
An American A is about a European AA.
An American B is between a European A and B.
An American C is slightly smaller or the same size as a European C.
An American D is about the same size as a European D.
An American DD is the same size or slightly bigger than a European E.

The band size can be stated in metric or imperial as well...

If the woman gets a bra with a half band size bigger, she might use a cup size smaller and vice versa.

So just from the numbers and letter, readers from different countries will get a wrong picture of the character.

Additionally, the bra size doesn't say anything about the shape. If the woman wears a bra, the tits could spill out or don't fill them. It could also be a pushup. If she is undressed, the tits could sag, hang to both sides and so on. The woman could also use her clothes to make them appear smaller or bigger (think of that Japanese 3D grid shirt)

And bra sizes are there to measure the size of bras, not the size of tits.

My recommendation: Don't use cup sizes at all. Rather describe them.
I think it is even better to use a pretty vague description than stating a cup size. Every reader will get his own image of it which might differ, though it will probably just what they want to imagine.

And most readers won't have an idea of how that cup size would look like. After all, you asked about it

 

Pretty much what gene.sis said.
Unless you want to describe scenes where she goes to fit and buy new bras all the time, I would avoid them all together.
Besides if you, for example, do a breast expansion story in medieval times through magic, it wouldn't sound right at all.

 

I might also be funny if you root through a girl's underwear and read the size on the wash care label or if girls talk/boast about their sizes, though as described, you can't take that information seriously.

 

I have to agree with the others, using bra sizes is something you should avoid. (I do it sometimes myself, but I'm working on that.)

 

Fruit is often a good way to describe a certain size of breast.

 

This, we don't call 'em 'melons' for no reason.

 

It can be, but "apples," say, are quite variable, for example, do you mean a Golden Delicious, or a Fuji? The second is twice the size of the first on average. Also, if you say 'melons' what kind do you mean? Watermelons are very different from cantaloupes...

 

Okay, wow, thank you to everyone. This is great advice (big thanks to @gene.sis ) and makes me feel more secure about avoiding bra sizes completely. I was worried it would make my stories less realistic (BECAUSE THEY ARE SO VERY REALISTIC) if I didn't have my female characters discussing sizes. When I asked my wife about this she just laughed and said "good luck."

 

There's no hard-and-fast rule, of course, but comparisons are tricky because boobs themselves aren't uniform. It's not just about sticking a couple of baseballs to a chest and calling it a day. There's droop and sag, teardrop and champagne glass, pointy and rounded. When not held up by a bra or corset, boobs don't have cleavage: the individual breasts spread out to either side of the sternum. Jutting, shelf-like proportions are usually a result of careful clothing more than anatomy. An erotic dissertation could probably be written just on the sizes, shapes, and colors of nipples.

It makes breast expansion chapters and stories difficult. Many readers are better able to visualize bigger breasts than to be able to put it into letters and numbers of cup sizes and inches/centimeters.

In my limited experience, it's best to describe breasts proportionately - how they figure in relation to the rest of the human figure, and especially to direct experience (bigger than a hand, overflowing the fingers, palmable, etc.) - keeping in mind that absolute size is less important than proportional size (i.e. bigger breasts on a smaller women look and feel bigger than the same size breasts on a taller woman - the shortstack principle).

But as long as you find some comfortable idea of how to describe breasts, be consistent in how you describe them.

 

Very well put, Zeebop.
Take an adjective like 'pendulous' for example: you immediately get an idea about many aspects of the breast: sag and size, real or fake. You'd never describe silicone bolt-ons as 'pendulous'. The same but opposite applies to 'perky' etc.
I can only recommend @grimbous great 'Encycopedia Erotica' and 'Character Creator' for finding some good adjectiva and adverbia.

[EDIT: That's @RicoLouis work, my brain works—not.]

 

These are valid points. I wonder if sports balls are more accurate because of consistency? (Baseball, softball, basketball, etc.)

 

Yes, and no: very few sports I know of use balls around the size of the average (Fuji apple sized,) human breasts.

 

I honestly don't like fruit, sports balls, etc. very much. Though, I don't like bra sizes either.

I've seen it done, and it doesn't sound right, to me.

But, that could just be me.

I try to find other ways to fit it in - flat, modest, large, bouncy, aging, youthful, perky, torpedo, and other adjectives to make up an overall feeling for breast size and weight.

If there's major breast expansion going on - describe them in relation to the size of the female. Or other observers.

Have someone marvel that they can't get their hands around them, have them get in her way or watch them grow until they are too massive to walk properly, and our poor girl can't reach past them with her arms.

 

*thinks about the size of a basketball* your statement tracks with reality

 

Your reader will have to fill in *whatever* you write with their imagination. Allow them to do that. Fruit and sports balls are very specific mental images for a reader to try and overcome, and fill breasts in place of.

Not to beat a dead horse of my personal preference, but that way of description seems off to me.

 

Now I'm sad. I didn't mean to make them expand to the point where everyone in the room was suffocated.

 

I agree. I typically deal with breasts the way you suggest but I've been struggling with a chapter that might require bra shopping. That led to a downward spiral of trying to understand bra sizes and wondering if I've ever accurately portrayed breasts. This thread helped stop me from continuing to overanalyze.

 

I feel the best way to describe something is to talk about how it effects the characters or situation.
After that I like fruit analogies for boobies because it brings to mind ideas of nomming on them.
I think measurements can work if the writer is casual enough. People guess measurements a lot, so thinking “those can't be bigger than B cup” or “her DD globes” isn't that weird to me. Alternatively, if someone is actively trying to find a bra that fits, knowing the exact dimensions makes more sense.

 

The only time I really like using sizes is when there's a reality-altering breast enlargement, and the affected woman finds out her new exact size from looking at the tag on one of her new-reality bras.