What's your view on images in stories?

wicker said:
John came across two women jogging in the park. One had thick, tight curls down to her shoulders. She had slender but toned build, a pretty face, and nice perky tits. The other had a similar build, but was a bit shorter, also pretty with light brown hair in bangs and a pony tail.
The woman with the curly hair wore orange jogging shorts and black tank top over a sports bra, and her friend had on knee-length jogging pants and a pink tank top over a gray sports bra.
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If you're putting in a photo, you don't need this much description.

In fact, I would argue that you don't need this much description even if there isn't a photo. For example, are the colors and exact styles of their outfits really going to make a difference to the story?

Although if you do have good reason to put it all in there, rather than just doing a full paragraph that's nothing but a narrator recounting a list of physical descriptions, you can break it up a bit and add a bit of action:

John came across two women jogging in the park as he stood on the grass beside the path, pretending to be fiddling something on his phone as they approached. Glancing at them to avoid attracting attention, the one on the left caught his eye first, slightly exotic with thick, tight curls down to her shoulders. The one on the right was a bit shorter and had her light brown hair in bangs and a ponytail. Both had pretty faces, slender but toned builds, and nice perky tits, but there was always room for improvement.

Now John looked back at his phone, and the magical app on its screen. One tap, and the curly-haired woman's orange jogging shorts morphed into a pleated cheerleader-style miniskirt, her black tank top seeming to turn to smoke as it disappeared, leaving her clad only in her black sports bra above the waist. Another tap and it was the ponytailed woman whose knee-length jogging pants transformed into a skirt, her pink tank top fuzzing out of existence to reveal her gray sports bra. John tapped again with two fingers, and the color and fabric of both women's outfits altered to make them into what were obviously matching cheerleader uniforms. As they jogged away, he watched as the skirts bounced just enough with each step to slightly reveal the panties that were covering their pleasantly rounded asses -- and they hadn't noticed a thing. They ran out of sight as the path curved around the side of the tennis courts, but John was already looking around the park for his next test subject.
 
I’m glad to see this discussion as I have been considering using some images within my story, possibly used as an occasional header image to precede a cluster of chapters that are all focused on a particular character or location. I don’t plan on following through with it at the moment.

I searched online images for hours, discovering that it can be really fricking hard to find pictures that come remotely close to what’s in my head. Combine the character’s unique physical traits, then a style of clothing, then a setting... good luck!

It’s far easier to start with the image and write to match it, but too often the tail starts wagging the dog and I don’t like that either.

I’ll stick to photographic images as reference material only, and continue to think about doing some nice pen and ink art as an occasional thematic header.
 
Greyrock said:
I’m glad to see this discussion as I have been considering using some images within my story, possibly used as an occasional header image to precede a cluster of chapters that are all focused on a particular character or location. I don’t plan on following through with it at the moment.

I searched online images for hours, discovering that it can be really fricking hard to find pictures that come remotely close to what’s in my head. Combine the character’s unique physical traits, then a style of clothing, then a setting... good luck!

It’s far easier to start with the image and write to match it, but too often the tail starts wagging the dog and I don’t like that either.

I’ll stick to photographic images as reference material only, and continue to think about doing some nice pen and ink art as an occasional thematic header.
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yep, I've actually not written a chapter because I couldn't find the right photo!
 
I go back and forth on this a lot. Some of my stories have pictures but I'm extremely picky about which ones I choose. If I can't find a good one for a character, it's best to just not have one at all. It must be so cool to be able to draw. That would be the dream.

Also, really enjoying NaughtyOppa's story "Idol Sister"
 
Sometimes it's hard to find consistent photos for a story. Inconsistencies such as the background in a picture not matching the story, different people that look similar to represent a character, pictures of an object that looks different, etc. can help inspire more of the story (although a lot may confuse the reader).

For example, the background could be at a beach and can be used to change the setting of the story. Objects may change appearance because something happened to it, and the character may look different after a certain event happens, or it could give an alternative appearance of the character.

I do see the appeal of not having a description or picture though. It allows the reader to use their imagination to choose how everything in the story looks. Perhaps the customize tab is better suited to describe the appearance of something or someone in the story rather than a character's name.
 
ThreeNipps said:
I go back and forth on this a lot. Some of my stories have pictures but I'm extremely picky about which ones I choose. If I can't find a good one for a character, it's best to just not have one at all. It must be so cool to be able to draw. That would be the dream.

Also, really enjoying NaughtyOppa's story "Idol Sister"
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Thanks ThreeNipps!
 
Don’t mind them personally but don’t like them when they are used in place of an actual description of the character. I’ve always felt the point of describing a character or anything in your story is fundamentally to stimulate the readers imagination through creative wordplay, if you rely on pictures too much they negate that. That being said they can be useful tools to give readers an idea of what the character looks like or to stimulate the fantasy play of the resemblance of real people being in the story itself.

Personally I would prefer to use commissioned artwork for characters if possible
 
Sanpeux said:
For my current story I have been using images and Gifs.

I think it adds a little bit to the story, but I may not do this for future stories and keep them only text only.
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You may find you have more freedom in your writing when you refrain from using the images, allowing you to create more unique characters rather than be restrained by images of models/celebrities/pornstars etc. However I stand by the strange satisfaction in the wish-fulfilment of using the likeness of real-world people for characters, and there's an audience for that too.
 
Personally I like stories without any pictures. Best thing about reading a story is you have the freedom to imagine it however you want, characters, scenes, locations, backgrounds and everything. When there is a picture people (at least I am) tend to imagine the story according to the picture. So, no pictures for me.
 
Images in stories are a fairly complex subject for me. I don't use them myself, but I have no objection to a well chosen one at the start or end of a chapter/major section.

That said, I generally don't like real life images. Admittedly, that has a lot to do with my specific fetishes, many of which would be biologically impossible in real life, so finding a realistic image just reminds me that if it was actually happening, it would be extremely unpleasant and most likely fatal, and that's a pretty big turn-off.

Fortunately, because they're impossible in real life, there aren't too many realistic looking images around.
 
Interesting question, my opinion on pics keeps changing.

At first I had no idea how to get them into my stories. Then when I worked it out I went pic mad. I spent ages searching for the right pics, it can be very frustrating! Finding a pic first then basing a character on the model is the easier way of doing it (I think that was mentioned above). After my initial pic (and gif) frenzy I calmed down then went the other way and stopped using them. Now I have a happy medium where I put plenty of pics on a character page and leave it there.

Having said that, I've just found a rich source of pics for one of my main characters so I may drop a few in some upcoming chapters. One set of pics of her has actually inspired me to write a chapter based around them because of the interesting setting (Oktoberfest in Germany).
 
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