Describing female characters using nude photos

[MayorReynolds]

This is something that I frequently do when writing erotica. I have a collection of naked pics I've compiled into a 'catalog' from numerous sources, like free galleries, torrents, image dumps, etc. When I'm searching for the right 'look' for a girl I comb through my picture sets and use a visual nude form to paint her into the story with words.

Although this method has worked for me in the past, it's getting difficult as well because I still have to come up with newer ways to describe attributes, breasts and vulvas and the like, without repeating myself or going purple. I like to start with the face first, however - that's actually the hardest part!

Who else does this, and if you do, what is your method as far as narrative conversion?

 

[elfin_odalisque]

I think you put things upside down. surely, for erotica, you lightly paint the physical attributes and concentrate on emotional involvement and sexual frisson.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I pay attention to women and note what I like and dislike.

One of the most striking gals I ever saw was 25 years ago. She was super obese yet about as sexy as women get. I still remember her, and I'm not a chubby chaser.

Note what works for individual gals.

 

[49greg]

I have used detailed descriptions, but now prefer to use generalities and let the reader use their imagination to fill in the rest. Personality comes through via actions and conversation, with a dash of internal thought and pinch of explanation.

 

[DreamCloud]

I have used detailed descriptions, but now prefer to use generalities and let the reader use their imagination to fill in the rest. Personality comes through via actions and conversation, with a dash of internal thought and pinch of explanation.

Ditto

 

[sr71plt]

It varies with me. Sometimes I want the character to look a specific way--usually when seeing someone the storyline forms around that sighting. But usually other aspects of the story are more important to me than pinning down exactly what the character looks like or acts. So, sometimes a photo does set off the inspiration, but I don't go looking for photos for each of my characters and try to make the specific person one of my characters.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

It varies with me. Sometimes I want the character to look a specific way--usually when seeing someone the storyline forms around that sighting. But usually other aspects of the story are more important to me than pinning down exactly what the character looks like or acts. So, sometimes a photo does set off the inspiration, but I don't go looking for photos for each of my characters and try to make the specific person one of my characters.

Every woman looks a specific way, because all women belong to the same species.

The word you want is PARTICULAR.

 

[MayorReynolds]

I think you put things upside down. surely, for erotica, you lightly paint the physical attributes and concentrate on emotional involvement and sexual frisson.

I generally want to focus on character development and conflict first, so when it's time to fit a female's description into the story I begin with what she looks like clothed: her hair color, the length of it and the way she wears it, the shape of her face and the color/size of her eyes. I wait until the sexual encounter part of the story when her clothes drop to start painting in her breasts, areolae, grooming habits, etc.

And I can lightly touch on details in the narrative without throwing it into a blow-by-blow description, i.e. "she widened one of her brown eyes in confusion."

 

[sr71plt]

Every woman looks a specific way, because all women belong to the same species.

The word you want is PARTICULAR.

I'm specifically not interested.

 

[sr71plt]

I generally want to focus on character development and conflict first, so when it's time to fit a female's description into the story I begin with what she looks like clothed: her hair color, the length of it and the way she wears it, the shape of her face and the color/size of her eyes. I wait until the sexual encounter part of the story when her clothes drop to start painting in her breasts, areolae, grooming habits, etc.

And I can lightly touch on details in the narrative without throwing it into a blow-by-blow description, i.e. "she widened one of her brown eyes in confusion."

If there's no importance to the story that her eyes be brown you are then just padding out with irrelevant and distracting words. That probably has something to do with so many Literotica readers demanding that Lit. stories go to at least two pages when mainstream competition stories go to less than a Lit. page.

 

[Handley_Page]

This is something that I frequently do when writing erotica. I have a collection of naked pics I've compiled into a 'catalog' from numerous sources, like free galleries, torrents, image dumps, etc. When I'm searching for the right 'look' for a girl I comb through my picture sets and use a visual nude form to paint her into the story with words.

Although this method has worked for me in the past, it's getting difficult as well because I still have to come up with newer ways to describe attributes, breasts and vulvas and the like, without repeating myself or going purple. I like to start with the face first, however - that's actually the hardest part!

Who else does this, and if you do, what is your method as far as narrative conversion?

I generally want to focus on character development and conflict first, so when it's time to fit a female's description into the story I begin with what she looks like clothed: her hair color, the length of it and the way she wears it, the shape of her face and the color/size of her eyes. I wait until the sexual encounter part of the story when her clothes drop to start painting in her breasts, areolae, grooming habits, etc.

And I can lightly touch on details in the narrative without throwing it into a blow-by-blow description, i.e. "she widened one of her brown eyes in confusion."

As Elphin said, I feel you go much too far trying to be accurate.
Let's face it, you're not trying to give a description for Legal purposes, are you ?
As if that's not enough, some of the events have to happen in the readers mind, not technically perfect on the page. That said, the protagonist might observe a small mole on the inside of her right thigh. . . .

Then theres:-
"she widened one of her brown eyes in confusion."

Why only one eye and which one ?
How about something like:
"Her eys opened wider as her confusion rose." ??

 

[rjordan]

"She widened one of her brown eyes in confusion."

That would throw me right out of the story. It threw me right out of your post. I've been sitting here for 3 minutes trying to see if I could widen just one of my eyes. I can squint one and raise my eyebrows which gives me a Popeye look where one eye is sort of widened relative to the squinted one. But that's as close as I get.

I haven't looked into the possibilities afforded by a third brown eye.

rj

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I'm specifically not interested.

I love it when you piss your pants and say, I MEANT TO DO THAT.

 

[sr71plt]

I love it when you piss your pants and say, I MEANT TO DO THAT.

I tried to follow your previous explanation on why these words had to be separate and didn't follow then or care then or care now. I think you're full of shit. Well, I knew that before.

But it gives you attention and that's what you specifically crave.

 

[MayorReynolds]

That wasn't phrased very well.

 

[rjordan]

That wasn't phrased very well.

No, but it was fun.

BTW, in answer to your original post, when I need a character I just mix and match from people I have known or somehow come in contact with. Could be a local barista I remember because she was Employee of the Month (she has no idea she will be a cheating wife on Literotica).

Her character could be married to another character I remember from a favorite movie--maybe Brian Dennehy in Never Cry Wolf. Her lover might be me, or some Marine I saw sitting at a ride station outside Camp Pendleton one day.

I don't like lots of physical description, so it's not that hard to mold what's in my head into whatever character I need. The character also evolves as the story evolves. Sometimes I need the dialog to be something that my character probably wouldn't say. So I might remold her a little to fit, or fire her and stick another character in her place.

rj

 

[49greg]

Coming back to this post later on: I do like the idea of looking at a picture to fix in my mind what a character looks like, even if my story won't necessarily describer her down to the nth degree. So far though I have been thinking of specific people I've known or seen in my life when I put a character together.

Although I usually change them here and there, and the character traits, the parts that really count in a person, are usually idealized. Except and unless I were to write a bad or evil person, I've known enough of them that all I would have to do is change the name.

You know who you are WS and ML and ....

(nobody here, just some SOBs and Bs I've had the misfortune to know)

 

[glynndah]

I know what my characters look like, but unless there's a specific reason for describing them, e.g., they changed so much since high school; they look just like an infamous criminal, etc., I rarely give much details about their appearance at all.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I generally describe with a broad brush, unless there is a particular (specific) attribute - I've used both words just so the boys can continue their internecine war at my expense.**

But if there is a particular description, it's usually something that is more important to me as the author, than for the tale itself - given that the majority of my characters start off being someone I know (but then get lives of their own).

I figure if I don't describe too much, then the reader can picture their own vision. Besides which, I don't know what a 36 D cup really means...

** the boys fighting can be fun, but EVERY FUCKING THREAD? Sometimes I wish Laurel could program her bots to spot the usual combinations and just fuck them off to their own special thread and leave the rest of us alone. To be honest, I thought you had to be older than 18 to submit to this site. The predictable brawls - reminds me of the time when the fifteen year old boys used to meet behind the bike shed for the weekly fight at school. Either that, or it's a fucking bromance which they just can't consummate! Seriously guys, just put your fingers on your cocks, next time, not the keyboard...

 

[MayorReynolds]

I generally describe with a broad brush, unless there is a particular (specific) attribute - I've used both words just so the boys can continue their internecine war at my expense.**

But if there is a particular description, it's usually something that is more important to me as the author, than for the tale itself - given that the majority of my characters start off being someone I know (but then get lives of their own).

I figure if I don't describe too much, then the reader can picture their own vision. Besides which, I don't know what a 36 D cup really means...

I was reading an erotic story a few days ago that described its female character (heavily paraphrasing) as "a brunette who looked like a 70's screen starlet" or something along those lines. The narrative went into a few more details about her attributes beyond that, but from that phrase alone I got a striking image in my head of her looking like a young Karen Allen or Farrah Fawcet. It really helped me picture her in action.

As for the 36D...I read several of the Lit writing guides early on and there is collective agreement that throwing in the waistband and cup size is something we're never, ever supposed to do, ever. Inevitably some guy is going to end up saying she's 80EE, thinking he's writing her as having impossibly giant back-breaking hentai doujin boobs on her hot athletic tanned body, but in reality he's making her morbidly obese. I'm sure I'm guilty of that crime in my first few submissions. I haven't revisited them in a while.

But describing the breasts is difficult for me as well, and to me that's crucial to the erotic aspect of the story. Dudes like tits and they wanna know what the tits look like to the last flowery detail. That's when we start stroking.

 

[TxRad]

Pictures trigger stories and make a reference when I go back to write more on a story. Beyond that, I use only as much detail as needed and try to scatter it out so it doesn't read like a laundry list.

 

[sr71plt]

As for the 36D...I read several of the Lit writing guides early on and there is collective agreement that throwing in the waistband and cup size is something we're never, ever supposed to do, ever.

I agree that this is the guidance continually given here, but I think it's wrong (the never, ever part). Interest in measurements persists in both writers and readers here--there are both writers and readers who image and get aroused in these terms. So "never, ever" is snobbish and not serving a lot of the writers/readers here.

No, I don't use measurements myself, but I don't reject them as reality turn ons for others. I keep looking for an opportunity to write a character who is motivated by them and uses them in dialogue. And I would consider this a completely legitimate use of measurements in a story. Haven't written a character yet who is in that mind set, but I'm not avoiding writing such a character, the "wisdom" of Lit. arm chair "experts" on effective writing for Literotica not withstanding.

 

[lovecraft68]

If there's no importance to the story that her eyes be brown you are then just padding out with irrelevant and distracting words. That probably has something to do with so many Literotica readers demanding that Lit. stories go to at least two pages when mainstream competition stories go to less than a Lit. page.

Can you cite where you polled lit readers and discovered that so many of them want two page stories?

Or is it that you're taking heat for tossing up one page chapters to pad your precious story count?

 

[lovecraft68]

Pictures trigger stories and make a reference when I go back to write more on a story. Beyond that, I use only as much detail as needed and try to scatter it out so it doesn't read like a laundry list.

When I've looked for stock photos for covers I've ended up spotting a pic that instantly puts an idea in my head.

 

[sr71plt]

Can you cite where you polled lit readers and discovered that so many of them want two page stories?

Or is it that you're taking heat for tossing up one page chapters to pad your precious story count?

Oh, it gets mentioned frequently on the boards. Feel free to take your nose out of my ass and do some research of your own by doing more than following me around on the boards.