How to Write Stories People Will Love

13. Tailor Your Descriptions

How much description is enough? How much is too much? It's a balance we must find for ourselves. This is hard because there isn't one correct answer.

Generally speaking, Fantasy and Science Fiction will both have more description than Contemporary, because the fantastical and sciency elements need to be explained for the story to make sense. Contemporary will have fewer because you can say "car" or "gun" and people will automatically know what those are like.

The White Room

One of the things I'm sometimes guilty of is "the white room". The reader reads about a character entering someplace for the first time and things start happening or people are talking, and nothing is said about what the place actually looks like. The reader wants to picture what's going on in their minds, but because there's so little description, the action pretty much takes place in a blank box.

Description Clutter

The opposite problem is when a writer spends way too much time describing the settings. They go into great detail about the wallpaper patterns and what pieces of furniture are there, how many photographs, what kind of light fixtures, the type of carpet. It's too much. People don't care about all that.

I've also read character descriptions that spend too much time on physical attributes. They'll talk about specific height and the freckles and the nose and the hair color and hair length and the eyelashes and the eye color and how there are little flecks of green in them and how it plays in the light. Some of that may be great, but all of that together is too much.

First Impressions

Here's a rule of thumb I've started telling myself: Give two to three details about the room, person, or object, and then move on. There are always exceptions, of course. But this is just a general guideline.

Let's take the above example of the over-description of the person. Pick two or three things that immediately stand out. When you first meet someone, you don't notice everything at once (unless you're Sherlock Holmes). A couple of features will always stand out. Maybe someone's nose is too big and their hair is messy. Or maybe their eyes are so mesmerizing that nothing else gets noticed. In which case, you can go ahead and describe the flecks of green that play in the light. A reader only needs a few details to conjure an image, then they need to get back into the plot before it gets boring.

Two Seconds

If you're having trouble figuring out which details to write about a setting, try this: Walk into a room, and give yourself two seconds to absorb it. I don't mean examine the room. I mean, just walk in and pay attention to what catches your eye first. Any more than two seconds, and you're studying. We want first impressions.

When people walk into my office, they usually remark first about all the plants. The second thing they probably notice is the clutter, but they're always too polite to say so. Two things, and now you have a decent idea of what my office is like, as well as a couple clues to my personality.

Stay Relevant

Now let's walk outside. What do I notice first? Maybe the air is fresh with a hint of rain, or maybe the neighborhood is full of dilapidated fences, or maybe the streets are thick with traffic. Pick the most relevant details. If the character loves rain, then the description about the air is relevant. If someone is about to get hit by a car, then the traffic is relevant. If the character being poor is important, then the dilapidated fences are relevant.

Keep in mind also the types of things your character will notice. I have friends who immediately notice when someone gets their nails done. I, the other hand, am lucky if I notice someone's haircut days later. Keep the details in character, and they'll add to your story instead of detract from it.

There are tons of details everywhere we go, but the ones we pick for our stories need to be significant. Each sentence needs to build the story, not simply pad it.

* Discovered any useful tips here? A vote would be nice, yes?