As a writer, one of my greatest strengths, or so I’ve been told, is description. I do love for the reader to see the countryside as I see it. And to write an engaging account, the author needs to intimately know the landscape. If you’re writing about an area where you’ve lived and love, it’s easy. Otherwise, unless you visit the area or do a great deal of research, it may sound stilted or flat.
But how much description should you include in your story and when does it become too much? Good question and one I’ve faced many times. Because I love it, I write it and then have to reduce it by 3/4ths.
My first novel had pages of beautiful descriptive passages of west Texas, the flora and fauna, the mesas, the land ruined by oil derricks, and the offensive smell of gas. My sister had never been to the area and loved it. An editor said it read like a travelogue. Oh, it was painful to cut out that beautiful description from my manuscript, but when it was finished, I had a much better story.
Description should enhance the characters and have a direct affect on the plot of your story. In my first novel, When the Ocotillo Bloom(reissued by Champagne Books July 2009), the hero compares the heroine to the ocotillo plant. It is bare and ugly in the winter, but when it rains in the spring, tiny green leaves adorn the stems and cover its thorns. At the top of each long spike blooms a beautiful reddish-gold flower. The heroine is prickly with an attitude, but as the layers of her discontent peel away, her beauty is exposed.
Our readers need to know what our character’s environments are like, but they don’t need a detailed description of the floor plan or furniture. It’s nice if they know the style of the house because in many ways it reflects the hero/heroine’s personality and lifestyle. The u-shaped hacienda blended with the raw landscape of distant mesas and purple sunsets. The cactus that grew beside the front walk merged with the adobe giving the impression it was an extension of the house itself.
If we describe the house inside, we want the description to be part of the action. She plopped down on the horrid orange sofa she’d bought at a salvage house. It clashed nicely with the stuffed red chair she’d found by the dumpster outside her apartment. Yep, her place added a new dimension to shabby chic.
How do you handle description in your stories? Is writing it a pleasure or a pain?
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Happy Reading and Writing!
Linda
Hi Linda - description and mood is the best part of writing for me - I hate to remove it - but more than a sentence or two every few pages doesn't belong in most popular fiction - I'm afraid it's either switch to literary fiction or drop all the fun and go right to the action~ -
ReplyDeleteHi Judi, I so agree. Either literary or more mainstream. Thanks for stopping by.
ReplyDeleteI love imagery, but I always overdue it. Guilty.
ReplyDeleteI'm just the opposite, I think. I tend to under do the setting so I often have to look for places in my ms to add more richness. Ugh.
ReplyDeleteAs always, Linda, you have produced an insightful and thought tickling post. It does bring about what writers hate the most, cutting away prose that we adore. Stephen King said in respect to this,"...kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings...) Hence we are all literary homicidal maniacs it seems, and this is a good thing.
ReplyDeleteHi Mary, It's a hard habit to break, isn't it. Thanks for stopping by.
ReplyDeleteHi Ciara,
ReplyDeleteWe all have our strengths and weaknesses. Your action and dialogue rocks!
Hi Angelica and Zi,
ReplyDeleteI'm getting better at cutting but it still hurts. I loved Stephen King's book on writing. He made such good points.
Hi Linda,
ReplyDeleteI enjoy description when it's done well. To me, that means that, for the most part, it's mixed in with the action.
Marci
Excellent point, Anthology Authors. I appreciate you stopping by and leaving a comment.
ReplyDeleteHello Linda, Wonderful blog.
ReplyDeletevery good...and i love, LOVE the picture of the plant (which i had to look but earlier and the picture wasn't nearly this good!)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mallory. I appreciate you stopping by.
ReplyDeleteGlad you like the ocotillo, Hodgepodgespv. It's my favorite. What a shame it won't grow here where I live.
ReplyDeleteHey Linda
ReplyDeleteI love good description, but when it's woven into the story, into the character's POV, mostly. It feels like the character is describing you a slice of his/her life then, and I love that kind of involvement.
I too love to write description, especially when it's about Mauritius, my beautiful island, but I need to remember that less is more in this case, so I try to describe it as best I can in one sentence or two.
Good post, lovely cover again!
Hugs
Z(Aasiyah/Nolwynn)
Good points, Linda. BTW, while in Sugarland, Tx this Summer, I stumbled upon an ocotillo plant outside the restaurant. This is just southwest of Houston.
ReplyDeleteWonderful post, Linda.
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid I'm one of those who have to go back and put description in my stories. Smile. I even forget to put clothes on my characters. lol
Hi, Z. Sharing descriptions of your home island of Mauritius gives your readers a glimpse of what it's like there. I'd be clueless.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by.
Hi Anna,
ReplyDeleteWas it blooming? Wanda's puts on leaves but has yet to bloom and I think she's had it six years. I think mine didn't get enough sun and got too much water.
Linda--me, too! I'm in the process right of cutting bunches of descriptions in a submitted ms. And I know better! Some force takes over when I begin to "see" the surroundings in my own book. Yes, I've been told that, too--"sounds like a travelogue." Celia
ReplyDeleteHi, Sandy. I forget to dress my characters, too, and have to go back and put clothes on them.
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain, Celia. When a place is beautiful, we naturally want our readers to see it. Thank goodness it's easier to cut than add.
ReplyDeleteI'm the same as you, Linda. In my historicals, I do TONS of research and want to include it all but, alas, like you said, it then reads like a travelogue or a history lesson.
ReplyDeleteCutting it up is hard to do... *sniff, sniff* (crying as I look at the virtual piles of deleted details)
Yeah, Candace, they say that's the key, knowing how much to add and when it's enough.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by.
Yikes, I have no idea how I handle description. I'm more of a dialogue girl. But I love your helpful tip, that desciption should enhance the character and plot. Thank you so much.
ReplyDeleteI love reading description if it in with the action, writing that way is easier for me, too. Doesn't mean I always get it right!
ReplyDeleteOh, must get my copy of "On Writing" out again, now you've mentioned it, Linda!
Hi Linda,
ReplyDeleteDialogue is good. For me I have to struggle to maintain a balance.
Thanks for your comment.
Hi Ella,
ReplyDeleteI need to review those books too. Learning never ends, does it?
Thanks for stopping by.