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Descriptive writing



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Tue Feb 05, 2013 12:46 am
shulchan says...



Can anyone give me some tips on how to be more descriptive? I want to be able to describe the setting in a detailed way, but not long and boring.

Also with emotions. My strories tend to be more dialogue and actions than anything else, so I'm trying to work on describing emotions better, and also to connect them to the actions.

In general, I'd appreciate any tips on describing things so that the reader can get a clear picture of the story.
  





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Tue Feb 05, 2013 10:34 pm
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Tenyo says...



Find the right focus
Long and boring descriptions are usually the result of looking at everything in 100% zoom. Being able to describe every thread on a tapestry doesn't tell you much about the tapestry- it tells you that the writer is trying way too hard. Sometimes a simple line like 'the colours had faded so much that it looked more like a calving in the dust than a tapestry' or 'there was too much red in it, too much blood,' can tell you worlds more about the tapestry and the person viewing it than any detailed description.

See what matters
You need a reason for everything, and describing things just because you're supposed to is one of the most annoying things I find in writing. Description is barely a broad label on an entire workshop of tools. If you're going to describe a room, put yourself physically in the feet of your character and ask what *they* see.
Have you ever noticed that the more you like someone the more attractive they seem to be? Your characters personality, mood, preconceptions, will all play a part in what this room looks like. What is pale and soothing to one person might be bright and overly-synthetic to another. Features, colours and objects will be noticed by different people.

As for emotions...
Personally I would say don't describe emotions. Telling your reader how something feels won't make them feel it. Actions and reactions are much more powerful. Instead of 'his cheeks turned red and he could feel the anger boiling inside him' try 'his face burned so much you could have fried eggs on his forehead.'

Experiment:
Take a picture (or get someone to find one for you) and only allow yourself to look at it for ten seconds.
Put it away and write as much as you can remember. Describe everything. Once you're done with the things you're sure of then turn to the things you're unsure of. Think of colour, lighting, texture, shape, e.c.t. Then, when you're done, make up the rest that you can't remember.
Come back in an hour and see how much your description of the picture varies from what is actually there. Make note of the first things you noticed, and try this a few times.
Hopefully you'll realise that the normal pattern in which you create things is very different from the order that you see things. When writing, this is what you do- describe the things that catch your characters attention most and why.
You can do this anywhere and at anytime. When you remember, just stop and scribble in your head the things that are most prominently noticable to you and why, whether you're in school, outside, or even just in your room.

The important part
In order to see things in your mind you have to perceive things outside of it. Watch things. Listen. Observe the way things change and move, were objects are placed and where they end up, the habits people have, the more you observe the more stuff in your brain you have to work with and when you come to put it down on paper it'll come naturally to you.
We were born to be amazing.
  





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"In my contact with people I find that, as a rule, it is only the little, narrow people who live for themselves, who never read good books, who do not travel, who never open up their souls in a way to permit them to come into contact with other souls -- with the great outside world."
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