Compelling Description

Descriptions are often a problem for new writers, but even practiced writers can feel insecure about their descriptions.

There can be too little description so it becomes difficult to understand what actually happens, and there can be too much description making readers skip to more interesting parts of the story. Balance is key! 

What exactly makes for quality description? 

I’d like to discuss three points on this topic: Vivid, engaging and emotive description.

• Vivid description involves the five senses.
  Try to picture what you want to describe, what it feels like, sounds, smells and tastes like. By focusing on all your senses, you can find new ways to describe something.

Examples:

It is obvious to describe food by the way it tastes, but the way it feels in your mouth can be far more interesting. A potion can run down your character’s throat, wine can leave a furry feeling on the tongue. Try to be a little unconventional and paint a multidimensional picture so the reader can relive what your characters are sensing.

• Engaging description usually involves action.
  Describe how things interact and impact their surroundings. Describe settings, objects and people by having your characters interact with them in a certain way.

Examples:

Someone is tall? He bumps into things and crouches down. The sun is bright? Have your characters squint against the light. That way your readers can identify with your characters and understand the impact and relationship between the things you describe. A nice way to do this is by writing from a perspective, and I do not mean using first person, but by focusing on how a specific character perceives the world.

• Emotive description is all about atmosphere and emotion.
  Focus on what your characters feel in a certain situation.

Examples:

What does the setting do to your character? Do they feel small or crowded, do they enjoy the view or are they appalled by the smell? This also works better if you have a more limited point of view.

Final Advice: 

Description should be effective. It should not interrupt your flow and keep the readers engaged instead.

• Make it brief but interesting and coherent.

Always give it purpose—be it to make characters multidimensional, to introduce action or to build atmosphere.