How to Write Description

Australian Landscape, uploaded by ambientlight

Description: it is one of the most crucial elements of creative writing, and if not handled correctly, it can be dull, confusing, and not provide any helpful depth at all. The main objective of description is to provide a picture of the scene of the reader that is so real and vivid that the reader feels like he has been placed in the scene, observing everything. It's an important way of getting your reader fully into the world of your story, invested in what's transpiring.

Begin with a sense of space. Nothing is more disorienting for a reader than to have a book bursting into a new room -- and then never getting a feel for the space in that room. Is it small and crowded? Vast and echoing? Cozy? Cold? The same goes for exterior scenes as well -- is the forest huge, the trees massive, or is everything small and stunted, as in a desert? Are we on a vast plain where we can see the horizon, or in a hilly environment where the distances are hidden? Before you start with anything else, give us a sense of the space around the character so that the reader can imagine what it feels like to be there.

After the jump: use all your senses, get the feel, and more.

Use all your senses. I've said this before, but people (who can see) rely on their vision far too much in their writing. The most vivid writing evokes other senses, often the ones you would least expect, like the sound of a food, the feel of a musical instrument, the taste of a color. It's these unusual pairings that can get people to experience things in new and interesting ways in your writing. When describing a place, person, or thing, take all of it in, and not just with your eyes! Remember the smell, sound, and feel of the person, place, or thing. When you bring it into your writing, don't overwhelm the reader by including it, however; choose a select few, telling details that capture what you're trying to describe, and stop there. Let the reader do a little imagining by himself.

Integrate description into the story and action. It's jarring if your story is progressing nicely and you suddenly slam to a halt and engage in a chunky paragraph of description. Description is part of life, and part of our story's forward motion. If the only reason a description is in your story is to be beautiful, then you must cut it out. When description is necessary, integrate it into the action of the story by reminding us how everything looks to the character viewing the person, place, or thing, and how it is important to his story.

Get the feel. This is the hardest bit about writing description: getting the feel right. Sometimes writers can disobey all of the rules I've laid out here today and still write killer description. As I've always said, if you understand the rules, only then you can break them. So view these rules as a guide, but don't be afraid to violate them for your own artistic vision. While you're writing, remember how the scene feels to you in your mind, and try to evoke that feeling above all else.

Comments

[KJ Micthell]

Want to learn how to write. Check out this blog with tips about writing: http://krystina-johnson.blogspot.com/2009/02/writing-that-perfect-paper.html.

[Anjuelle Floyd]

I truly needed to read this.

It was very clear and to the point.

Thanks so much.

I've Tweeted this.

[Acai Optimum]

I totally agree with you Anjuelle. I needed this too. Thanks for your educational post!

[sam]

yeah...thanx?????????