Writing Description That Works
The description elements in literature can be deceptive. They might look easy on the pages of books written by skilled authors, but when it comes to doing it yourself, it can often turn into a nightmare. The fact is that what you see in a published book is the result of a lot of learning, crafting, writing and editing on the part of the author. Many writers admit to agonising for hours over just one sentence or paragraph! In addition to the challenge of writing description, it is also a very important element of your work. So, how can you learn to write better description?
Follow the Leader
In almost any pursuit, literary or otherwise, there is a lot to be learned from the experienced professionals. Grab a genre book off your bookshelf and start looking through it, taking note of pages where there is description. When you have a few of these pages, begin to study. Look at the way the author has crafted the descriptions. What words do they use? How do they form their sentences and paragraphs? What effect does the description have on you as a reader? These are all things that you can learn from studying the work of a professional author.
Description Overload
Commonly, speculative fiction contains a lot of world building. Authors can spend countless hours designing their own universe from the ground up, and they know every little detail. Every river has a name, every costume is drawn and every person has a back story. So, it can of course be tempting for an author to try to squeeze all of this information into their story. This is a bad idea! The details are great to have on hand, as they help you to understand the world you have created on a deeper level. But under no circumstances should you spend half of your book just naming the different parts of the world and explaining its history. Use your details sparingly so that you don’t overwhelm and ultimately bore your readers.
Word Perfect
The specifics of what you write when you are adding description will depend on the mood that you want to portray. If you are describing a haunted castle, for example, the words you will use will be strong, dark words that are designed to instil a sense of foreboding in your reader. If you are describing an enchanted forest, then your words will be much different – lighter, brighter and more magical. The trick when writing description is to decide on what atmosphere you want to convey FIRST, and then base your description around that.
