USING CHARACTER PHOTOS IN TUG STORIES

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bondagefreak
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USING CHARACTER PHOTOS IN TUG STORIES

Post by bondagefreak »

USING CHARACTER PHOTOS IN TUG STORIES
A CAUTIONARY BIT OF ADVICE


Being one of the authors who uses a lot of photos and illustrations to complement his works, questions relating to photos and their use regularly find themselves trickling into my inbox.

Those of you who've asked me what my thoughts are on the matter, or asked me how I go about choosing my photos and where I get them from have all received the same answer.

I'm just going to post what I have to say here instead of writing my thoughts down each time I receive a PM on the subject.
More specifically, I want to talk about character photos and their use in tug stories.



I use photo illustrations in most of my stories, and while there seems to be a near-unanimous support and appreciation for them, I must also point out that using character portraits/photos is far riskier business.


If you're an author or if you're thinking about writing a tale in the near future and have been considering including character photos in your story, read what I have to say and think about it long and hard before proceeding.



First thing I want to say is that including character illustrations will generally yield some effect among the readership.

One of the major pit traps that many new authors fall into (and one that I fell into back when I first started writing) is including character photos to a story that's already well underway.


If the story introduces a new character, then that's fine.
But if the character has already been introduced a while ago, please think twice before inserting a photo of him or her.

Doing so can have a very detrimental effect on the readership.
I've seen many promising stories literally plummet the instant character illustrations were added.


It's important for the author to keep in mind that in the case of established characters, the readers have already formed and cemented a pleasant mental image in their heads to compensate for the previous lack of imagery. That mental image will be tailored to suit everyone's tastes and every reader will have a different mental image of the character(s) being described in said story.

The sudden introduction of a character photo after the cementing of this pleasing mental image in the reader's mind can and will (in most cases) be a major turn of for many readers. The image provided may not align with the reader's taste, or it may simply differ so much from the mental image they'd formed in their heads that it proves to be an insurmountable distraction.



I am not going to tell you whether you should or shouldn't use character images. That's for you to decide.
What I can tell you though is that if you're going to do so, insert the image in the same chapter as the character is being introduced.

If the character has already been introduced a while ago, think long and hard before you decide to add said character's photo to the storyline. Your taste and choice of men/women may not align with the pleasing mental image that's been cementing in your reader's head for the past days/weeks/months, and that may prove to be of great detriment to the continued success of the story you're trying to enhance.


Hope this helps.



P.s - This is not a thread for you to voice your thoughts about whether you think photos have a place in tug stories. This is a piece of advice to whomever it may concern about when and when not to insert character photos into a storyline.
FOR A LIST OF ALL MY WRITTEN WORKS, CLICK HERE: BONDAGEFREAK'S STORIES

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Xtc
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Post by Xtc »

As they say: the pictures are so much better on the radio.
They all say boxer shorts are cool,
but little Speedos always rule.
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