Reference photos for your characters?

Quote by RowanThorn

I avoid it actually. Some people write extremely specific descriptions for their characters, I find this less effective than keeping it a bit vague. Especially in erotica people have their own personal tastes as to what they like. Many like to project themselves to certain characters. I leave some leeway for the reader to create pictures in their own mind. I'll have some physical traits I find important to the character, vital to who they are. It's a balancing act. I would like to think that if a bunch of artists drew one of my characters based on my story I would see a lot of differences in the interpretation but the essence is always there.

Yeah, I describe as much as needed for the story. I have written fairly long stories with minimal description of the characters and I usually don't drop a detail until it matters. No long descriptive passages if I can avoid it.

And when I write first person, I rarely describe the narrator unless something is germane to the story or character. Even then, I might have it come as dialogue from another character or something.

e.g. "Oo, your cock is so big. Must be eight or nine inches, eh," she cooed, caressing my erect penis.

Some others have already said this, but for the most part my characters are based on real people. Often my depictions go beyond the reality of these individuals. I do have each character cast in my mind by an actor or singer, etc. Someone who has photos available. Would it be of interest if I posted my cast somewhere on here for reference?

Quote by erotiQus
Would it be of interest if I posted my cast somewhere on here for reference?

I think reference photos or "dream cast" should stay just that. No need to make them public. Let the reader use their imagination to come up with their own idea of how the characters look. Just my .02 as both writer and reader.

All my characters are based on photos - Pexels are increasingly good - be imaginative in your search, Getty are bloody expensive so I never use them, Alamy are great VFM and you hold the photo rights in perpetuity, meaning you can download copies more than once, I don't normally download characters off porn image sites as they might police you afterward

Well, since so many of my stories are based on high school and college coulda-happened experiences, I can refer to yearbook photos for a lot of them. To be clear, that's for my own reference only. I would never post those.

Kinda backwards for me. Every so often, when I see a person out in public, I start imagining their back story, just making one up that seems to fit their look or the situation I saw them in. Something about them just triggers that. Or I see a picture online, and something about it - the setting or a look in their eyes or whatever - hits me, and a character and plot pop into mind. I mix and match in traits from people I know, or know about, along with just making things up.

Like others who have commented, my characters are based on real people, so I have a clear idea of what they look like. I can also (hopefully) make the characters more believable by imagining how they would react, what they would say, etc. in given situations. It’s important not to over-describe the physical characteristics of the character, I feel. The reader will bring their own imagination to bear, according to taste. 😉

I enjoy generating images of my characters and situations using MidJourney AI. Currently I'm working on two series of cuckold stories, and I have lots of images of settings and characters.
https://www.lushstories.com/stories/cuckold/couples-therapy-3
https://www.lushstories.com/stories/cuckold/self-service-wife-chapter-1

Like a few other people have noted about their own work, I don't really see much value in photo-realism when it comes to writing a story. I feel that good writing isn't about providing every possible detail, but selecting just a few well-placed ones and allowing the reader to do the rest in their own head to their own liking. In some pieces you could get away with just an indication of gender and nothing more, and still write a successful story based on the interaction of characters with the world around them and their own interiority.

Quote by Seeker4

I think reference photos or "dream cast" should stay just that. No need to make them public. Let the reader use their imagination to come up with their own idea of how the characters look. Just my .02 as both writer and reader.

Yeah, I was tempted to do this and wouldn't mind anyone doing it for their stories, but then I realized that could ruin the immersion for some people.

I base characters off of real people, celebs... shit anyone.

I have turned this the other way round and used an image of someone and written a story about them. I am a very visual person, and I would expect others are the same, so I always provide a cover image, putting them in a Story Images folder afterwards.

Yes, finding images to suit a character can be a real pain in the ass, too. Still I persevere, and use Google Images to help me find one - which can take ages.