11 Tips for Writing Great Description

When I think description, I think of beautiful prose painting a scene. But as I did research, I found so much more. According to Mary Buckham in A Writer’s Guide to Active Setting, description can be a secret weapon to revealing thoughts, emotions, background, world view and foreshadowing. But it’s got to be done right.

Here are 11 tips, afterward we can talk about how you know you’re doing it right:

1. Always interpret description through your point of view (POV) character. One person can step into a scene and think what a beautiful room with all its antique vases and the floral pattered wall paper. Another person walks into the same room and gags on the potpourri, overstimulated by the clashing floral patterns on the walls and the couch. Description can be a secret weapon in revealing a person’s character and adding tension to the story. The first person I described sets a happy scene while the second person wants to bolt.
2. Anchor the reader. When you start a scene, you need to do a little description. The reader needs to know where everything takes place. If you have a character saying, “I won’t let go,” holding onto a person over a mountain ledge compared to the same phrase said clutching a subway railing, you’ll have too completely different interpretations of the scene.
3. Use the 3 sensory beats to do a quick anchor. Give the reader 1 smell and 2 sounds or 1 texture and 2 smells. You can do any combination of senses using this formula. Keep in mind: you don’t want to do this for every description.
4. Sprinkle description throughout a story. Description should be included in a dialogue tag when Joe slams his fist on the table. It should be included in the action when Jill snatched the closest object for a weapon, a chandelier-like lamp. It should make an appearance in a character’s thoughts when they cringe in disgust at seeing a long hair poking out of their chocolate cannoli.
5. Use active verbs within your description. Think of the difference between these sentences: a.) I drove past side roads. b.) I slammed on the gas. Side roads flew by on the passenger side. Which one gives you a more vivid picture?
6. Don’t rehash a description you already spent time explaining, let the characters interact with the description. I got this one from A Writer’s Guide to Active Setting. When I read it, I thought I don’t rehash. And then I reread a few scenes of my writing. Whoops!
7. Don’t describe everything. Be choosy. Describe things that are important, reveal character, add to the mood or foreshadow. Whatever you describe should paint a picture of the rest of the space.
8. The more words allocated, the more important something is.
9. Be specific with your word choice. If you are general, the reader might get the wrong picture. You also add authenticity to your writing when you’re specific.  It makes the reader feel like this is a real space they’re experiencing.
10. Use sensory details. Sensory details make the reader feel your descriptions. The prework would involve getting into to character like an actor and imagining walking through your scene. Let your imagination experience all of the senses . Then write what you saw and felt. Make sure whatever you describe still moves the story forward and keeps the tension.
11. Watch out for using the same pattern to describe everything in your story. For instance, this description uses the same adjective-noun-verb pattern : Jan walked into the dark classroom, through the poster-covered doorway. The tall teacher greeted her with a wide smile.

The question in my mind always is, “Am I doing it right?” Giving too much description can bore a reader. Not giving enough, can make my story generic or I might have floating characters.

When I edit, I categorize my sentences: thoughts, description, dialogue and action. Thoughts and description slow down a story while dialogue and action speed up a story. I want these four interacting at the right pace. More tense scenes require more dialogue and action. Calmer scenes have an interaction of all four.

Note: Please don’t torture the reader with paragraph after paragraph of thoughts or description. Believe me, I’ve done it before. My poor mom nearly fell asleep reading my scene.

That gets me to my next point. Read your scene to someone and note when you feel the slowness. For some reason, reading to someone out loud works better than reading to myself. You can also have a beta reader mark when they’re bored, space out or felt it went too quickly.

Lastly, read published work and pay attention to how they mingle description into their stories. Sometimes it’s hard to do when you get carried deep into the story (Hint: that means they’re doing it well).

What’s your favorite descriptions that you’ve written? (Please something within a 5 sentences or so.)

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