Should Authors add images of their Characters!!

[garyandrews]

I am a recreational writer and write when i get free time from the Forces.. I have been following this website on and off for last 10 years..
I have a suggestion to make.. As the authors visualise their characters based on a certain person/image in their mind.. Why doest the website provide a facility in which an author can post an image of character embedded in the story so that the reader can also picture the character exactly as the author intended it to be .. Ofcourse i understand that adding an exact image is not possible but what a similar image.. Guys any suggestion?? Just my 2 cents..

~
Gary Andrews

 

[oggbashan]

There is a category for illustrated stories.

I wouldn't attempt to add a picture of any of my characters because I think that part of the attraction of the written word is the ability to imagine the character for yourself.

If you like blondes - then the heroine can be a blonde.

If you like long hair - then the heroine can have long hair.

But if the author adds a picture - that limits the character. If you personally aren't attracted to that picture, then the story won't work for you.

Og

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I agree with Og...(how 'bout that)...in my stories the description of the women is limited to hair color, eye color and maybe just saying she's beautiful and let the reader fill in the blanks as to what they imagine beauty is, because that aspect of a character may differ from reader to reader.

 

[Weird Harold]

I am a recreational writer and write when i get free time from the Forces.. I have been following this website on and off for last 10 years..
I have a suggestion to make.. As the authors visualise their characters based on a certain person/image in their mind.. Why doest the website provide a facility in which an author can post an image of character embedded in the story so that the reader can also picture the character exactly as the author intended it to be .. Ofcourse i understand that adding an exact image is not possible but what a similar image.. Guys any suggestion?? Just my 2 cents..

~
Gary Andrews

One of the best compliments I ever got was given as a criticism: "Your main character sounds like a stereotypical japanese school girl." Since that is exactly the image I wanted to paint for the reader, I considered that part of the story, at ;east, a success.

If you need to add a picture, or name a celebrity, to get your image of a character across, you're either lazy or need to improve your descriptive skills.

 

[sr71plt]

I wouldn't attempt to add a picture of any of my characters because I think that part of the attraction of the written word is the ability to imagine the character for yourself.

Bingo. But there are unimaginative readers, though, so if you want to cater to them, this would be a useful dimension to have.

I'll have to admit that I liked it when a reader went through a phase of drawing illustrations to stories of mine he'd read and sending them to me. One of my publishers put them on a Web site--and I think they're pretty kicky--to see what a reader saw in the characters. This, of course, was different from how I saw them when I wrote the story.

 

[Stella_Omega]

It isn't "less imagination," it's a different way the imagination works.

I know a lot of (women, mostly) who take images and collage them into brand new images so that they have the face they are imagining, on a body in a situation that illustrates the story they've written. Many of these manip artists are really talented.


http://community.livejournal.com/manipped/

 

[sr71plt]

It isn't "less imagination," it's a different way the imagination works.

I know a lot of (women, mostly) who take images and collage them into brand new images so that they have the face they are imagining, on a body in a situation that illustrates the story they've written. Many of these manip artists are really talented.


http://community.livejournal.com/manipped/

And, so, you don't think it limits/channels a reader by giving her/him an image along with the writing?

I've read some of Collen McCullough's Rome novels. She illustrates them herself with headshots, and she can't draw worth spit. I can't read the novels without having the image in my head of people with lopsided faces and looking like all of the other characters except for their hairstyle.

 

[Boota]

I get email quite often about my books and it is pretty interesting to see who people see the characters as. I give very sparse description with characters because I want the reader to see who they want to see and they don't need hit over the head. A picture wouldn't work for me.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Oh yes, it definitely channels the reader--but some readers want that. Wierd, huh? But try googling "fanfiction" and see how many hits you get. All of those people are basing their work-- some of which is every bit as good, in every other respect, as the best 'original' fiction, really-- on channeled imagery.

I've never read McCullogh's books, but Mervyn Peake illustrated his Gormenghast series with portraits and doodles. he was a professional illustrator though.

http://www.mervynpeake.org/gormenghast/images/gormenghast_characters.jpg

When a different edition finally happened, the publishers illustrated nearly every other page-- but never put a human face in any image.

 

[OzoneRed]

Speaking as a reader, not an author, I'd rather not see descriptions of characters, beyond what might be necessary for the plot. I usually skip right over the character descriptions.

Two observations, however, slightly off-topic.

Most authors describe female characters in much more detail than male characters.

There's usually no need to read the descriptions of the female characters, since most of them are blonde, blue eyed, and 38DD-24-36.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

There are two extreme schools of thought.

1) Don't describe something unless you have to. Leave everything that you can up to the reader's imagination.

2) Describe everything. How do they know what they are looking at unless you describe it to them first?

So many people around here get so caught up in leaving it up to the reader that they forget there is more to writing than dialogue and plot. You are allowed to describe a character, a location, an automobile in as much detail as possible (so long as you keep it interesting). There is nothing wrong with giving a top to bottom ____ of your characters (sorry, my vocabulary failed me there ).

"She was statuesque. Tall and curvy, she wore a long red gown with frills from top to bottom that matched her long red hair. A deep shade of red that perfectly accentuated her rosy cheeks against her pale complexion. Her mane was so long it disappeared into into the frills of the dress. Her shoulders were covered, but her bountiful cleavage was on full display. The dress appeared to suck in her waist as if it were a corset, but she worked hard to keep her figure so fit. She was a slim as she wanted, and yet kept her butt nice and round the way her men liked. The skirt tapered down to just below her calves. It didn't look like she could walk it fit so perfectly, but the frills hid a slit that went all the way up the side and around to her hip allowing near full movement. Her tall heels matched the rest of her outfit, covering her feet but showing off her ankles. She looked perfect. She was a goddess standing next to all the other women out that night. She was the only woman that I saw, and I was the only man that she wanted."

There is nothing wrong with detail. Now, if I had dragged that out for another page like some people do that would be well overboard, but god damn, don't be a snob and hold everything back in the name of "leaving up to the reader's imagination." They are your characters. Draw them out every once in a while.

*stops being a hypocrite that hasn't described anyone like that in any of his stories ever*

 

[bronzeage]

It's a great idea, and some authors could benefit, but I would have to pass.

All my stories are true, and based on real people. The physical descriptions are very accurate, though sometimes I make them a little older or younger than in reality.

Posting pictures of them would just be over the line.

 

[ShyChiWriter]

JK Rowling was very concerned when she was first approached about them making movies out of the Harry Potter books because she believed so much in the power of the readers' imaginations to imagine the characters and settings.

She's certainly been pleased with the movies and the cast, but I think her concern was well-founded.

I think there are some situations well-suited to the original poster's wish. Illustrated stories are a match. Every now and then there is a poster on the pics board or the story ideas board of people asking for a story to go with pics they post.

In general, I go more along the route several others have posted. I'd rather provide the blueprint of the character in my description, and let the readers' imaginations be the engineers of building the final product in their own mind.

 

[driphoney]

... There is nothing wrong with giving a top to bottom ____ of your characters (sorry, my vocabulary failed me there ).

HAHAHA! You crack me up! Thanks for that.

And good point, too.

 

[Stella_Omega]

..
In general, I go more along the route several others have posted. I'd rather provide the blueprint of the character in my description, and let the readers' imaginations be the engineers of building the final product in their own mind.

That's so well expressed!

That's my most common modus as well.

Astro, in the light of day, was jeans-clad and sneakered. She wore a white button-down shirt, sleeves rolled up past her tanned forearms. Her dark brown hair was pulled back into a tail, and gleamed with shiny health.

That's all you get. The rest of her is up to you.

 

[Bebeslut]

I think that's the way to go. Long, drawn-out descriptions don't make it for me.
I, too, "blueprint." My character from The Crew stories, Cat, is described as short, blond, and small-breasted. I assume the reader understands she's good-looking. I sometimes describe her clothes. I probably have spent more time describing her attitude than anything else.
Poison, from the same stories, is described only as tattooed from the waist up.
I have described the other two main characters, Sass and Britt, who are twins, only as extremely beautiful; again, their attitudes get more play, Sass being dominant and Britt submissive.
Despite the lack of description of the twins, I have one fan who is obsessive about Britt. I'd like to see how he sees her.

 

[Jake Marlow]

I give very detailed descriptions of the women in my stories. I do not subscribe to the "less is more" philsophy, but to each his own. Both approaches have their fans. For me, a story is often sparked by an image, or a real woman, so I want to describe what's in my mind. I sort of "see" stories happening and write what I see, so I try to be a descriptive as possible.

But all that said, I don't know if whatever canned porn images they might have access to would capture what I have in mind, so I would probably pass. I have considered "casting" my stories, though, and letting readers know who I could see playing the characters.