Writing to Describe

The art of writing description can be a very delicate thing.  Sometimes it’s what you don’t say that carries your description perfectly – for instance, if you were describing a major auto accident, the occupant of the car might see, apparently out of context, a tuft of sheep’s wool caught on a barbed wire fence nearby, lifting in the breeze. It’s just such weird observations that occur in moments of tremendous stress, and while the accident itself is not described, the occupant’s view of it is and we find ourselves in the car with him.

 As a member of the Writer’s International discussion group through LinkedIn, the question was recently posed, “How to captivate readers with descriptive writing that rocks?”  The comments have been interesting. Check this group out – they provide some interesting fodder if you’re a writer.

I’ve recently also been doing a bit of editing for someone who is a new writer working on a major fiction for young people.  One of the issues that new writers often face is how to adequately describe things. Often they’ll look for umbrella words – let’s take for instance the word, flirting.  If we see the word flirting used in context we understand what is meant, but it does not further our understanding of the character or the situation. Flirting is better described by having our character, engage in the act of flirting and describe that – not necessarily in detail, but enough to paint an image for the reader. For instance, she sidled up to the counter and rested one hip against it, then leaned slowly across to directly meet the barkeeper’s eye.  When he looked back at her, she dropped her eyelid in a provocative wink.

Less is often more in description, and a description which spends too much time with details can slow down the pace of the story.  We need to keep our reader wanting more, not bog him down in the curlicues.

Have a go – describe this 2,000 year old tree.

©Theresa Sjoquist