Pictures in Stories- Yes or No?
- Thread starter Dansak
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TheLowKing
Really Really Experienced
I find that if a story contains lots of images (1+ per chapter), I start glossing over the text and just look at the images. Doubly so if they're GIFs. Nothing necessarily wrong with that, but at that point, why bother with the writing at all? I think that's something authors of such stories think too (though perhaps only subconsciously), because stories like that tend to be light on prose.
Like Spindizzy said, a well-placed image here or there is fine, but me, I'm here for the words. I'd rather have no images at all than too many.
Like Spindizzy said, a well-placed image here or there is fine, but me, I'm here for the words. I'd rather have no images at all than too many.
I do more comics than stories, though I do write straight text ones (none on here yet, I just heard about the place this week). What a picture does for the author though is cuts down on the amount of descriptive text we need to use. If I have a picture of Mary, the hot MILF for example, I don't have to describe her, which does cut down on text. Whether that is good or bad is of course reader preference.
(And apparently there is no way to resize an image at least on the forum, so in the future I'll have to resize them before I attach them
TheLowKing
Really Really Experienced
The thing is you don't have to describe her at all. Call her a hot MILF, include a couple of highlights on her major features (physical or otherwise!), and your readers will be fully capable of filling in the blanks themselves.
Certainly don't make exhaustive lists of details about how many freckles she has and what her exact cup size is.
Some of the readers yes, it all comes down to a matter of preference, there are any number of books that have no pictures at all outside of the one on the front cover, and those of course have a lot of readership.
As I mentioned, I tend to do comics, and those have little to no description, they are all action and dialog, which is the other end of the spectrum.
Some people though do a lot better with visual cues, and a few well chosen pictures can add a lot in that regard. I consider it a lot better than having to wade through pages of description of the main characters. Yes, I have an imagination too, and I can put together what they look like as you suggested. "Short haired voluptuous blonde MILF wearing glasses and business attire" is pretty much all the description I would use for her.
gene.sis
CHYOA Guru
The image your short description provides is way more appealing to me than the image.
The resulting image also doesn't look a bit like the given image, and I'm sure that will be the same for most readers.
(Though I prefer more detailed descriptions, but over the course of the encounter and not offloaded up front.)
That's interesting, I thought the only thing that could be argued was the "Short Hair", it's probably more accurately described as "shoulder length". I thought everything else was pretty accurate, though of course if you are not looking at the picture you are going to envision anything. Just out of curiosity, can you describe what you would come up with from that picture?
Edit: I realized I just left a very important part off of Mary's description, since a MILF can be in her 20's as long as she has a kid. Let's amend the description:
"Mary, is a blonde MILF with shoulder length hair and glasses and is wearing business clothes. She is in her early 40's with a 19 year old son."
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TheLowKing
Really Really Experienced
Comics are more like pictures than they are like prose, imo, so I agree. The point of pictures and comics is that you can look at them, so there's very little need for descriptions: the words (mostly dialogue) connect the pictures, the pictures don't connect the words.
I phrased my previous post very poorly. I didn't mean to say that a description should necessarily be short like this. What I meant to say was that a description should never be just a description. By going as terse as "hair, body type, 2 items of clothing", the text can't really do anything else.
Here's an example of something like I'd actually advocate:
Mary's employees often gossiped about her behind her back, but as she strode by few (man or woman) could resist staring longingly at her voluptuous ass, held firm in a tight, dark gray pencil skirt, and at her lush blonde hair fluttering behind her. She made a bee-line to Steve's deskher heels clacking on the hard wooden floor. She came to a halt and crossed her arms. Her hard gray eyes pierced into him, focused by a pair of rimless glasses.
"Have you finally finished that report?"
I won't pretend this is high literature, but I think this does a better job of setting the scene exactly because it isn't just a list of properties. We learn that her underlings do not particularly like her (they gossip about her). We learn she's confident ("strode", "hard eyes", demanding tone). She's probably aware of their dislike, but her behaviour is still clearly imperious, so it doesn't seem like she cares what people think about her. She might carry some mental baggage in that area, too, though that's only hinted at here. As for her physical description, pencil skirt is code for business clothes, but it's more specific, and with a sexy undertone, and the heels help with that too. And she's a blonde with gray eyes. Uh, that doesn't really have a deeper meaning, but I needed to mention something.
What we don't learn is how old she is or if she has any children, and that's intentional. Readers don't need to know that at this point. You shouldn't mention it until it becomes relevant. That can be as soon as next paragraph, or as late as 3 chapters in, depending on the needs of the story. Don't front-load your story.
I prefer the concept of the short description and the reader filling in the blanks, with no images involved. As a reader, this gives me the opportunity to fill in the blanks with a personal viewpoint that draws me more deeply into the story.
PS. I'm in my late sixties. Been awhile since anyone called me a virgin, lol!
PS. I'm in my late sixties. Been awhile since anyone called me a virgin, lol!