Too Much v. Too Little Description – Part 2


Continuing a look at too much versus too little description, in part 2 we’ll look at how writers should actively strike a balance between the two so that the resulting novel doesn’t have too much and doesn’t end up with too little.
In Part 1 we looked at why too much or too little can become negatives, but also how they can work for the writer in some aspects, i.e. having less description in action scenes in order to keep the pace, and more description in longer, tense, atmospheric or emotional scenes etc, which enhances the reading enjoyment.
Where description is concerned, it really is a matter of balance.
Lacing the Narrative
Description isn’t just about describing the obvious in manageable chunks – sometimes description is about subtlety and dropping hints.
Many writers lace their scenes with description by blending dialogue and description or with character actions and description. For example, here’s simple dialogue and description:
‘Nearly there...’ He hauled the log into place. Sinews rippled; dark sun-kissed skin taught with tension. ‘That’s the last one.’
In this simple example, instead of saying ‘He was a strong, well-built man and could lift the logs with ease’, the description tells the reader he’s strong because it shows his sinews rippling as he lifts the log. The reader also knows that his skin is tanned by the mention of ‘sun-kissed’.
With character actions and descriptions, the writer can reveal more about the character, motivations and otherwise unknown details that help the reader build a picture. For example:
Further along the ridge he noticed more people, which only made him more anxious. He hadn’t counted on the warm weather bringing so many people to the park. Months of meticulous plans teetered on an imaginary ledge and now panic – something he’d never felt before – stuttered through his veins.
You’ll notice that the character not only reveals something about himself and his motivation, but also what he is noticing around him. This is important if you want your readers to see things from your character’s perspective. By making such observations, you make the story inclusive for the reader; it will get them more involved, not only with your character, but with the story.
What is Good Description?
Good description does several things – it provides details, it moves the story along, it reveals characters and it heightens emotions and senses, whether it’s fast action, whether it’s a slower love scene, a reflective scene or a scary scene full of atmosphere and tension.
Good description provides imagery, but doesn’t become flowery. It uses more nouns and verbs and less adjectives and adverbs. It enhances the narrative rather than weaken it and there’s just enough to keep the reader sufficiently interested, entertained and desperate to read the next page rather than putting them to sleep through sheer boredom.
Know When to Describe
Easy said than done, right? The more you write, the more you learn about when to describe, because everyone knows that the type of description either slows down the pace or speeds it up. That means knowing when to describe a key scene. In other words, your description should have purpose – to move the story forward, to provide detail, reveal character and heighten emotions and senses.
Know What to Describe
If left to their own devices, writers will write about everything.
What you describe is as important as the rest of the story. Describe only what is important, what is necessary and that which enhances the story. Important scenes, action scenes, emotional scenes, reflective scenes – the scenes that serve a purpose and provide perspective. These are what you need to describe.
So, the original question was Too Much v. Too Little Description? Description should always advance your story but never restrict it. It should have a balance, therefore it should never have too many large descriptive chunks (or pages and pages) nor have so few descriptions that the novel looks threadbare.
Goldilocks wins every time: not too much, not too little, but just about right.

Next week: Avoid getting Tenses in a Tangle.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What Makes a Story Dark?

If you’re a horror writer or you love to write dark, psychological stories and thrillers, or moralistic tales, this is the one question that needs an answer. Wanting a dark story and writing one are two different things, so how do you actually make a story dark? To answer that you first have to understand what is meant by ‘dark’. We usually define ‘dark’ as quantifiable elements that we know and are familiar with, but it’s more than that. Dark doesn’t necessarily mean scary or gory with a crazy psychopath going around chopping people into bits. Instead we have to think of ‘dark ‘as anything outside our accepted rose-tinted reality. Dark is the underbelly of our society; it’s the handling of ideas, themes, social issues and behaviours that would be seen as morally unacceptable. It’s less about fictional monsters but more about the real monsters that lurk in the shadows, something that is underscored by our fears and anxieties. It’s the unknown, because the things we don’t know
Read more

Chapter & Novel Lengths

Just how long should a chapter be? What’s the best length? And does a novel have to fit into a set amount of words? These are just two of the most common questions asked by writers.   They assume they have to work to a strict template of X amount of words and X amount of chapters, usually because most novels have around 30 or 40 chapters and around 80,000 words.   Novel Lengths Firstly, let’s dispel a few myths - novel lengths are dictated by the story itself, not the writer or the editor or a specific written formula.   Secondly, writers don’t have to fit their word count into generic set amounts.   Again, the story will dictate how long the novel will be. It’s also worth knowing the different types of novels that work well with different word counts.   Uncomplicated stories containing minimal characters tend to be short – usually around 20,000 to 60,000 words.   These are called novellas. Longer, more complex stories, which contain a handful of main characters and periphe
Read more

Cadence in Writing

Following on from last week’s article about purple prose, cadence – something many writers haven’t heard of – is something that writers aspire to but don’t always manage it, yet it’s the fundamental difference between poetic language and over-indulgent, flowery prose. Cadence in writing is a sense of rhythm and pace, it lifts the narrative from the page and makes it dynamic; brings a certain tempo to the words and sentences; it’s what makes prose poetic, layered and fluid without it being extravagant. Cadence makes the writing visual and evocative, and to an extent, beautiful . It’s an important element in fiction writing, because without it, narrative certainly won’t be as effective. Writers don’t actively think about cadence – they simply want to write and get the words down. It’s not until later, while editing, that they realise that a sense of rhythm might be missing from their narrative. When poetic description works, it’s called cadence. When it doesn’t work, people ref
Read more