Stories with illustrations - Do readers want them?

[UntoldDepths]

I’m considering doing a story with sketches to accompany the text. These would be drawn by myself, and include scene set-ups and equipment for clarity. There would also be guideline safe character sketches, like the one below. I thought it might help visualisation. Is it worth the additional effort?

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Illustrated stories are no longer what they used to be. There's a no-nudity policy in force here. So you'd need to make do with fully clothed drawings and images. To make things worse, illustrated stories usually take weeks to get approved.

In all honesty, I don't think they are worth the hassle right now.

 

[TheWorldBuilder]

Art of that quality is certainly welcome from a reader's point of view. As Awkwardly says, is it worth the hassle from an author/illustrator's perspective?

 

[JuanSeiszFitzHall]

Here's a question for folks who have been on Literotica a really long time. When the site began, was all content text-only? Were visuals added only after more bandwidth, and stronger graphics chips for users, became available?

If so, then maybe it could be argued that getting rid of visuals simply takes Lit back to its roots. That said, I regret that the site folks had to make this move, if it was seen as necessary to defend the site.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Here's a question for folks who have been on Literotica a really long time. When the site began, was all content text-only? Were visuals added only after more bandwidth, and stronger graphics chips for users, became available?

From what I can tell looking at archives, the content was originally just text and audio, but images were added very early on. In March 2000 the relevant link in the index was titled "Stories - our original erotic stories and audio" but by October it had changed to "Stories and pics".

https://web.archive.org/web/20000229110103/http://literotica.com:80/
https://web.archive.org/web/20000301185549/http://www.literotica.com:80/

The earliest versions of the site also hosted some content that would be completely off limits today.

 

[SkyBubble]

There's a no-nudity policy in force here.

On an erotica site!

 

[EmilyMiller]

I’m considering doing a story with sketches to accompany the text. These would be drawn by myself, and include scene set-ups and equipment for clarity. There would also be guideline safe character sketches, like the one below. I thought it might help visualisation. Is it worth the additional effort?

View attachment 2571458

I don’t think you are going to be in luck here after the recent changes. But cool illustration

 

[KittyOfSteele]

I like the art. I've done something similar before more than once. That's actually the 10th step-by-step illustration on Thierry Beaudenon's book Je Dessine des Pin-up from 2006; quite a cool and easy book to follow...

Anyway, tangent aside, you take the risk. Nudity is off limits now, though I'm not sure how is that going to affect you, or how did the audience respond to that as I don't do illustrated stories. However, by pure coincidence, I got ahold of a few numbers of the Spicy Stories pulp magazine from across the 30s. I haven't read the stories yet (as I've just got them today), but I've seen some, like "Try, Try Again!" by Past Hunt (found in the March 1938 issue) that is paired with four illustrations; none of them have nudity. On this same issue, there's even a cartoon on Page 15 where the nudity is "censored" by its context (the joke is centered around a man watching a naked woman who seems to be hidden by a curtain or a sheet). While these are examples in which nudity is non-existent or implied, I should note that the magazine is just like Lit when nudity was allowed, and so there it was after flipping through more pages: nude illustrations, and actual nude models from the 30s.

If you're willing to take the risk, follow the rules, and give it a shot. You be the judge and see if it is worth to you or not. Honestly, in my opinion, the non-nudity policy doesn't discourage me as much as anyone else does here, especially after seeing how Spicy Stories did it without nudity, though that doesn't mean I agree with the non-nudity policy. No, what discourages me is that illustrated stories take longer than just text stories, and if text stories are being delayed more often than not lately...

 

[kreemi_pi]

I’m considering doing a story with sketches to accompany the text. These would be drawn by myself, and include scene set-ups and equipment for clarity. There would also be guideline safe character sketches, like the one below. I thought it might help visualisation. Is it worth the additional effort?

View attachment 2571458

Generally i like them and i go searching that category sometimes. The problem is, the quality is pretty uneven and a lot of the illustration seems to be made by the same crappy software that looks like a 2005 video game.

Plus, i think there's just different tastes. Some illustrations seem well done, but just don't appeal to me.

Your drawing above, on the other hand, is exquisite

 

[Writer61]

Personally, I don't think that illustrations add much to a story. Better use the time to improve the text.

 

[kreemi_pi]

Personally, I don't think that illustrations add much to a story. Better use the time to improve the text.

I get your point. I just look at it as a different genre, with appeal to a certain audience.

 

[KittyOfSteele]

Personally, I don't think that illustrations add much to a story. Better use the time to improve the text.

There are stories that work a whole lot better on an illustrated medium rather than just text. V for Vendetta works a thousand times better as a graphic novel rather than just words on the page. I would also die of boredom if Ghost in the Shell was a novel instead of a manga.

 

[Baztrachian]

Illustrated stories are no longer what they used to be. There's a no-nudity policy in force here. So you'd need to make do with fully clothed drawings and images. To make things worse, illustrated stories usually take weeks to get approved.

In all honesty, I don't think they are worth the hassle right now.

Tumblr is allowing that kind of thing again.

 

[IWroteThis]

There's a no-nudity policy in force here.

On an erotica site!

That puts ads on each story page with images that would get an illustrated story rejected.

 

[DEFCOM5]

That puts ads on each story page with images that would get an illustrated story rejected.

I love the irony!

 

[UntoldDepths]

I’m more interested in assisting the reader visualise the story. Between 2% and 5% of the population can’t easily form mental images (aphantasia). I thought it might help them. Also, it would bring life to hard to describe scenarios.

 

[OtherwisePrint6210]

That Irish Girl has a few illustrated stories, it does enhance the reading pleasure for me.

 

[SimonDoom]

It's always good to look at the data.

Historically, and especially in the last five years ago, Illustrated stories did extremely well in terms of getting views. It was the most-viewed category, along with Incest and Taboo. Earlier this year, Literotica decided to ban nude photos AND artwork, across the board. Fewer Illustrated stories have been written. They still get very high views, relative to other stories, but they don't get very high scores and they don't get comments and favorites that are commensurate with the view numbers. So my impression is that there's a huge appetite for good Illustrated stories, and a potential readership that checks them out in high numbers, but many of them are disappointed at how tame the illustrations are, so the reaction isn't impressive.

If you have a good story and some good non-nude but sexy illustrations, then go ahead and do it, because you'll probably get a lot of people checking it out, and if the story is good enough they may like it, too. But don't expect the kind of reaction these stories got before the Site changed the rules.

 

[Writer61]

I get your point. I just look at it as a different genre, with appeal to a certain audience.

I think different genre is the point.

 

[Writer61]

There are stories that work a whole lot better on an illustrated medium rather than just text. V for Vendetta works a thousand times better as a graphic novel rather than just words on the page. I would also die of boredom if Ghost in the Shell was a novel instead of a manga.

Those are stories told through the illustrations which, to me, is something different than a text-based story with the occasional picture in them.

 

[Sixfoot4again]

I put relevant gifs into mine, which means Lit won't publish them, so they're available 'on application'....