Six Tips for Writing Descriptions
November 6, 2007 by John Hewitt
I am still behind on my NaNoWriMo project. I’m at about 4500 words right now and I am starting to realize how difficult the time commitment is for me. I will have to start eliminating some of the time-wasters from my life for a while if I am going to make it.
Six Quick Tips for Writing Descriptions
- Close your eyes and try to recreate the image in your head.
- Remember that people have five senses. Don’t just rely on visual description.
- Adjectives should describe, not evaluate. Describing skin as smooth or tan is better than describing it as pretty or perfect.
- Don’t over-describe things. A description should enhance the story, not drag it to a stop.
- Don’t describe things that don’t matter. If you spend a paragraph discussing a minor character’s mustache-grooming ritual, it had better be important to your story.
- Draw your descriptions from real-life memories.
For Further Reading
Related links
- Fifteen Writing Exercises (0.500)
- How to Create Fictional Characters Using Adversity (0.500)
- 12 Exercises for Improving Dialog (0.500)
- How to Format a Short Story (0.500)
- An Analysis of Indian Killer, To Kill a Mockingbird and Daisy Miller (0.500)
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Email: hewitt@poewar.comPhone: (520) 261-6104
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Tall dark and handsome, he’s 54 and 5′9. His skin is of a walnute and soft. His hands are big and rough though has a soft touch. He smells of oil and spice. He wares blue jeans a white tea-shirt, tucked in, with a black belt. He is wearing loufers and black socks. His eyes are of a sea of blue, with crystals dancing in them. His hair is of a dark and light grey, the which is in a shape of a halo around his head. His head of an oval and his jaw line in rough with a roughly shaped beard.
Is that what you are looking for? Or is it too much?
Great links, thanks John.