WRITING DESCRIPTIONS

I admit, I don’t enjoy writing descriptions, and I don’t think I do them well. So I made it a mission to find out all I could about it. It’s hard when you’re not a visual person. I remember more things by hearing about them (conversations, lectures) than I do about seeing/reading about them. So, it’s difficult to translate what I should be seeing, but often am not, into descriptions that will allow others to “see” what I’m trying to describe. Ironically, most of what I’ve learned about doing descriptions is by reading(!) descriptions, not actually paying much attention to things I see.

But description can create a sense of immediacy, a feeling in the reader that she is right there inside the story. One thing I learned just a couple of years ago was to describe things through your character’s eyes. This makes a whole lot of sense. One character will be like me—won’t notice the décor or what people are wearing. Another character will notice every single detail. So, whatever your strengths or weaknesses, you can put them into your characters, and have your readers nodding their heads. They are either themselves like those characters or know people who are.

So, besides that one terrific tip, here are a few more:

Use details that are interesting, even entertaining. “Evan bumbled across the living room, knocking over the Venus statue and breaking a leg—Venus’s leg, that is. Poor Venus.” Here we get two descriptive clues in one sentence. Evan is clumsy, and the living room is probably rather formal.

Use description to show characterization. “Stephanie watched Evan bumble across the living room and knock over the Venus statue. She slapped her hand across her mouth to prevent the giggles from erupting when the statue’s leg hit Mrs. Jamison in her formidable bosom.” Here we learn four descriptive clues in just two sentences. Evan is clumsy, Stephanie is easily amused, the room is formal, and Mrs. Jamison is probably a large woman.

Most of the points you use should come into the story later. In other words, Evan’s clumsiness could play a crucial role later on, as could poor Venus, Stephanie’s propensity to giggle at the wrong time, and Mrs. Jamison’s bosom. Well, maybe not. If the description is compelling enough, it can stand on its own.

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I searched on the Creative Commons clip art section for “describe” and this popped up. The creator put in the description: “how to describe – it’s a fish maybe?!” Now I’m trying to think about how I would describe this to someone who has never seen a fish before, or to someone who has seen a fish, but never seen a fish like this before.

I try to aim for no more than three sentences of description in one place. It’s better to intersperse them as you write about other things. I saw a tip about writing down all the things you can think of about the character, setting or item, then pick the three most interesting to mention.

I’ve also seen it suggested that you not use more than three senses to describe anything. It will overload the reader’s senses and probably distract from the story. Unless you’re going for comedy.

Use description to heighten tension. Intersperse dialogue with descriptions of reactions of the people present. This is especially effective at the end of a story.

To wrap it up: Try to appeal to both the emotions and to the senses. Put down what people are feeling and what they’re thinking.  When you decide it’s necessary, show two or three things they are seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and smelling.

Bonus tips:

A member of the Short Mystery Fiction Society mentioned that reading travel books was a good way to learn how to describe places.

Following on that, I’ve also read that studying famous plays or screenplays can teach us how to write better dialogue.

Any tips you have I’ve missed? I’d love to read them in the comments because I can use all the help I can get.