Writing TG/TF Captions + 100th Caption Celebration (Meta-Post)
As you probably may have already deduced from the title, this post is none other than my 100th post here. When I started this blog on TG/TF captions a bit more than two years ago, I never imagined that it would grow this big or that it would get this much traction. Originally, this blog came to being out of my need to find and read the kind of TG/TF captions I would like to read, and well, what better way to do that than to write them myself!
That's still the case as of this day, but with the addition that it's now clear to me that reading such captions is not only entertaining to me, but to you as well! This blog would not be the blog it is today if it weren't for all of you, so this is me thanking you all for the support.
So you enjoy reading TG/TF captions...
Then why not write them yourself ?...
Seriously, why not?
For starters, I'm not going to pretend to be an expert in writing, image selection, or the likes, but to my knowledge, there are not many guides out there to writing TG/TF captions (the only two I know are from DeviantArt). Thus, I think going into some detail about how I approach writing TG/TF captions will not only be useful for some of you, but also entertaining for all of you as well!
I will focus on the three things I have always kept in mind when writing TG/TF captions: the format, the image, and the story.
I. The Format
What I mean with the format is how does one lay out the text with the image itself. In my case, what I do is what I will call the embedded format: I embed my selected image into the blogger page itself, and then make sure to position it correctly so that text can appear right to its right side (this is in the case of people reading it from a computer and not a smartphone). This ends up looking like this:
Blah, blah, blah.
We have a guy called John who is transformed into a woman because of Insert here.
More blah, blah, blah.
A bit more blah, blah, blah
The End
This format is nice because you only need to worry about the composition of the image (more on that later) and the size of the text. Nonetheless, another format that many people use is what I will call the caption format: embed the text into the image itself, thus creating an actual caption:
This format certainly works, but I prefer the embedded format because the caption format is a lot more constraining if you ask me. If you want to write a very short story, then the caption format is excellent, but if you want to write a longer story, you will either have to increase the horizontal length of the writing section or decrease the size of the font. This can quickly lead into many problems: the text is too small to read, the resolution of the image you wanted to use is too small, or the text sections takes so much of the image itself that the entire caption looks very lopsided. Not only that, but you also have to make sure that the caption image itself is huge in order to ensure that it does not look pixelated.
If you want to use the caption format, then I would strongly recommend GIMP. It's a free, image-manipulating software that can do the basic things you need for positioning images and writing in this format. I would also recommend it in general because it lets you crop easily section of an image.
And taking about images-
II. The Image
A TG/TF caption without an image is not a caption anymore, so it's always great to include one. That being said, you can make a caption look better if you select an image that looks good. My take when it comes to choosing images is 1) that one should prioritize high-resolution image when possible, and 2) that one should make sure that the image you've selected has good composition. The first point should be self-evident, but the second point is a bit more subtle. For example, let's look at the image below:
The image above by no means looks bad, but you might notice that there is bit more space in the upper section than needed, which then makes the image look a bit lopsided. If you then use some software like GIMP to crop out the upper section while still keeping the person in center, then you end up with an image that looks better:
This, of course, depends on the story you want to write. Sometimes, you actually want to play with the composition of the image in order to convey a certain mood. For example, see the pair of images below, the original to the left, and the cropped one to the right:
You could certainly use the use the cropped version, but I would argue that in this case, the original version is more interesting to look at. It gives a sense of retrospection that the cropped image does not have.
And talking about how the image relates to the story-
III. The Story
This is by far the most subjective part because at the end of the day, the content you decide to write will depend on the things you enjoy in TG/TF captions. That being said, there are a few things that I think are worth noting.
A very basic one is the following: do you first write the story and then choose the image, or do you first choose the image and then write the story? Both approaches work (the former one is how one writes prose in general), but almost always I use the latter approach. I personally find it easier and more exciting because sometimes one can just find an image that lends itself for a story. For example, look at the image below:
What sort of story do you think this image is telling?
Is this a story where a man got unwillingly swapped into the body of a woman, or is it a story of a man who has finally embraced his new life as a woman?
Did someone else do this to him either as punishment or as entertainment, or did this simply happened to him out of coincidence?
Are other people aware of his current situation, or is he completely on his own?
As you can already see, a good image lends itself for a good story, though I have to confess that I've had this image in my folder for years now and I still have not written a caption for it.
Then there's the story itself. Again, this will depend on the sort of TG/TF caption that you enjoy, but some general tips are to make sure that swapped/transformed characters are recognizable (this is crucial if your story involves multiple swaps), that there is some sort of conflict in the story, that the story is coherent, etc. More specific to the TG/TF genre is that you should make it clear that a change either has happened, is currently happening, or will happen sometime in the future. Description is your friend here. Yes, a lot of the description will involve physical changes, but I would recommend to also focus on mental changes and/or lifestyle changes that go beyond just sex. We all like to read NSFW every once in a while, but sometimes, what one needs to read is a compelling story.
Talking about the NSFW aspects that TG/TF captions tend to have, it's essential to be mindful that you're using images of other people. In other words, please make sure the images are public or that they don't involve minors. Also, dark TG/TF captions are entertaining to read, but always make sure that they don't get too problematic (downright racist, sexist, etc.). In general, just avoid problematic, stereotypical tropes and imagery. Not only is it in bad taste, but it's also not entertaining to read.
And last but not least, edit.
Yeah, sometimes you will just finish writing, publish what you have, and be done with it, but at least checking the text once and editing out any typos, confusing sentences, or anything like that improves the overall quality of the TG/TF caption.
Again, this is not supposed to be the most detailed guide for making TG/TF captions, but hopefully, it should give you a head start if you want to write a few yourself.
Either way, expect more captions in the near future, requests are open if interested, and as always, feel free to comment and ask questions. Did you find the tips to be helpful? Are there captions I've written that you've really enjoyed?
Comments
Post a Comment