Publishing and Self-publishing: Advice for Writers

Q: Paano pa ba mas lalong maging descriptive na natural lang?

From a comment by @ rdcastillo24: Paano pa ba mas lalong maging descriptive na natural lang lalo na kapag nag-eexplain ng surroundings sa english? Hirap kasi ako dun. Thank you!

This is interesting to me kasi hindi ako mahilig sa exposition! I try not to "info dump" location descriptions because yes those are awkward for me to read. If the opposite of info dumping yung tinutukoy mo na "natural lang" then this is how I do it:

I draft an info-dump description of the place but I will not use it as is in my manuscript. I think it's best to include our senses when describing a location (so also "dump" into the draft what someone can see, feel, hear, smell, and can touch)--not just where it is located on a map.

When I have a complete "info dump" of what a place looks like and is like, I will choose where to put it in the chapter based on how my characters move in the place. Minsan baligtad--I want to describe the place so I will write my characters moving around it in a certain way para siguradong magamit ko yung description na kailangan. 

Pero ina-alternate ko rin yung subtle and not-subtle descriptions of a place. Kasi pwede namang derecho lang sabihin na nandito sila sa lugar na to.

But to help set the scene in a reader's head, I might do stuff like:

If I want to convey that it's cold, I'll describe their outfits.

If I want to say there's dried leaves all over, maybe the characters will step on it, or remove it from a park bench before they sit.

There are places that change the smell of a location, because they're part of a location -- like a bakery, a resto that serves sisig, ganyan.

If a character walks into a shop and they hear classical music, or a Kpop song, or something else, that's also "natural" description of a location even if you don't yet fully describe the location.

Ideally by the time I end my chapter or the scene set at that location I've incorporated all of these fully. Pero minsan din hindi ko to ginagawa, kasi hindi naman point nung scene or chapter yung location. So it's all about practicing and learning when is just enough. :)