Ask a Published Author: "How do you avoid over-description?"

Oh! Steampunk! That’s my genre! Being the imaginative genre that it is, how do you get your vision across to the readers without overdoing descriptions, or improperly using description in the first place? — Dream3r

When it comes to descriptions, I try to describe things through the eyes of the character. To give you an example, in Innocent Darkness, my main character Noli likes to fix and invent things. If she saw an airship, she might wonder educatedly about how it worked, and would pay attention to the details that interest her. However, Steven, one of the other POV characters, probably wouldn’t care and might give it only a cursory description.

It’s the same with clothes. Noli’s mother is a dressmaker, so she might spend a sentence or two on what someone was wearing. In contrast, Steven, as a teenage boy, might note that someone’s dress was green, if he bothered to notice it at all. I find that using this as a guideline helps me to make sure I don’t over-describe in a way that is out of character, which can pull readers out of the story.

Also, less is often more—you don’t need to constantly remind the reader that this is a steampunk story, which is easy to do. Also, ask yourself, “Does the reader need to know this?" and, “Does the reader need to know this right now?"

Suzanne Lazear is the author of the steampunk fairytale series The Aether Chronicles.  Innocent Darkness  is out now. The sequel,  Charmed Vengeance , will be released on August 8, by Flux.

Next week Jennifer Bosworth, author of the YA novel Struck, will take up the Head Counselor whistle and answer your questions!  Ask her about first-week jitters, writing YA, and more here!