By this title I mean that you have two types of description. Type one: surface traits.
Example: Gabriela has shoulder-length curly red hair and green eyes. She is 5'3'' and weights 135 pounds. She has freckles on her cheeks and she is pale.
What do we learn? We now know what she looks like. We might assume she is of Irish descent.
Type two: implicit traits (while they state one thing, the true meaning behind it is implied).
Example: Gabriela always wears her red hair in a messy bun to keep it out of her eyes while she paints, and she squints more often than not because she's always forgetting to put in her contacts in the morning. When she's bored you can tell because she likes to lift herself up on her tiptoes while talking to you, as if imagining her life were she taller. Gabriela’s only fashion interest is her large collection of hats for when the sun is too strong.
What do we learn? Gabriela is artistic; she paints. She has long hair, or hair cut so that it interferes when she is painting. She is forgetful. She is easily distracted; she is in her head a lot. She doesn't think much about her appearance, only when it's important (sun protection), so she’s practical. She's probably pale, and short.
Do you see the difference between these two? Which is better? Obviously the later, because we learn about Gabriela's appearance but we also learn about her character. It's a double-whammy! So when you describe something, aim to give us the implicit traits, and not just the surface ones. It makes the read much more entertaining, not to mention it saves you having to write more to tell us what the characters are like.
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Writing Mistakes You're Making
De TodoA self-help book for beginning writers, covering everything from grammar to plot with a dash of humor to keep you interested and learning! (The best part? Anything you already know, you can just skip over.)
