[Writing Discussion] Description

[Aix]

A really straightforward discussion topic today. Let's talk about description. How much description should be put into writing? How much description do you use in writing? What's the best way to go about description?

[Mugendramon]

as long as you avoid adjectives description is fun!

 

just avoid adjectives. writing becomes a lot more show and a lot less tell.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Honestly I like to give a little description but otherwise leave it out unless it's important (such as if the fact that the building is abnormally dusty affects how people react upon entering it.)

I never really enjoyed seeing too much description, it makes reading feel more bogged down than needed.

 

Though I do think I need to get better at describing certain things, like settings.

[Blake]

Honestly I like to give a little description but otherwise leave it out unless it's important (such as if the fact that the building is abnormally dusty affects how people react upon entering it.)

I never really enjoyed seeing too much description, it makes reading feel more bogged down than needed.

 

Though I do think I need to get better at describing certain things, like settings.

pretty much my full thoughts

[a bad post]

I love to put a lot of description into to my writing, because I want to give the person reading it a good mental image, though I usually spread it out throughout my writing like describing a character across several paragraphs throwing a few snippets of description in as others notice it, or have characters talk about their environment so that it's not just lines and lines of text telling you what someone or something looks like. It just feels more natural to me that way, like it flows better.

[(GigaDrillBreaker)]

as long as you avoid adjectives description is fun!

 

just avoid adjectives. writing becomes a lot more show and a lot less tell.

All of this. Details are great, but not if they funk up the tempo of the description.

[Sethera]

Adjectives and adverbs are a description's worst enemy! Okay maybe not really, but too many of them spoil the pot.

Some noteworthy nouns and vivid verbs can do wonders for spicing up the soup though.

Idk why I keep using food analogies, but I like food, so yeah.

 

In all seriousness, as a fan of such authors as Brian Jacques, J.R.R. Tolkien, and various classics, I'm of the opinion that description can be really useful for creating atmosphere in a story. It goes hand in hand with dialogue in setting a tone. Of course, you have to know what's too much and what's not enough. Too much will slow the reader down. A good example of this is "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens. I think he spent three pages describing Miss Havisham's dress, no joke. However, too little means you're only giving your readers half of the toolset to immerse themselves in your story.

 

And I'm a huge fan of the "show, don't tell" idea, though I don't always remember to abide by it (usually when I'm being lazy in RP posts, which is 90% of them). Showing, of course, requires description, as opposed to telling, which requires almost none at all.

 

I could probably go on and on about description but I'm feeling too lazy right now for that.

[Aerion Brightflame]

Given that description is probably the greatest way to effectively world build, I'm all for it. But there's the matter of finding balance; I think that description for the sake of description is poor however, and odten leads into it just being wasteful. 

 

The best thing I've seen involving description is where it's continually used to reinforce foreshadowing or thematic messages, which whilst kinda obvious as a use, it actually gets done really poorly or not at all, and it actually leaves out of lot of potential depth in your writing. 

[Kazooie]

I love to describe environments, I feel like it's important to get a really good view of where the action is taking place...

 

Describing people? I HATE doing that. I'm awful at descriptions of people.