How to Write Description Without Going Overboard

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Description helps brings a novel to life, but too much of it can choke the life right out of the story. Finding the right balance between description and dialogue can be tricky.

One wonderful and yet annoying aspect of writing, is that there’s no set formula for how much description is necessary. Description levels vary by genre and authors, and even readers have their preferences. Fans of poetically written literary novels typically enjoy richer descriptions than fans of fast-paced thrillers, for example.

How we choose to write the description also plays a role. That thriller can have just as many details in a scene as the literary novel, but how they’re woven into the story will be completely different. The author’s style and voice, as well as the genre’s style, influence the description.
Continue ReadingWritten by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com