So I was trying to write a prologue for a story that I've been thinking about for a while. When I sent it to my sister, she noted that I had barely used any descriptions at all. It's probably because I have no idea of how to write good descriptions; you know, those that set the scene, don't get in the way of the narrative, and maybe even give insight into the characters themselves. I'm planning to read more closely and carefully my favorite novels to see how they do it, but I'd also like to ask you all if you had any specific tips. What makes good descriptions? When/how often/where should they be used? What makes you like or dislike the way an author uses descriptions? What novels use descriptions to great effect or in a unique way, in your opinion? Thanks in advance for your insights.. PD: I wasn't sure if this could've gone in Novel General or Community Fictions, so I'm putting it here to be safe.
Moderately long, give insight of what's happening, interesting, not repetitive, things described are easy to imagine. Most of the time, and everywhere. Overlord.
Whatever you do NEVER over do descriptions. I have read stories that just go on and on about their character and it is off putting. I think a good description captures the features in a quick summary. Like eye colour, hair, clothing and stand out features like for example a scar, big nose, sharp chin etc. Give just enough that a reader can fill in the character on their own. As for when. I'd say during the introduction, or when a long time has passed or something significant has changed. Also just keep the bigger descriptions for important figures no one cares what soon to be dead guy B looks like in great detail I don't really know a good example but a story that stuck with me because it annoyed me how much it backtracked to portray the female characters is Tales of Demons and Gods. Same rules apply for landscapes and towns. Give some important features and let your audience fill in the blanks
I like it when it's in the first person, giving me a glimpse of MC personality and character and the situation the MC is currently in, in the beginning of the story.
Are you asking about descriptions of settings or characters or relationships etc? You should also make sure you aren't conflating 'descriptions' with 'exposition' because you can have descriptions without exposition, i.e. descriptions inside dialogue, verbs etc. If you're looking for descriptions that don't get in the way of the narrative, you're probably thinking of descriptions that are either woven into the narrative or the dialogues, or exposition that is sprinkled into them. Good descriptive writing should set the tone without messing with the pacing too much. Try to make use of a bunch of senses, like touch, hearing, smell, sight and even taste. Use onomatopoeia or metaphors or whatever else might bring the reader into the scene and maybe paint a more vivid picture of what you're trying to describe. Painting is a good metaphor for what you might be wanting to do, by the way, since you want to be able to convey the feelings/atmosphere of the scene through your words alone. The reason I think you're conflating exposition with description is because of your second question. "When/how often/where should they be used" applies for exposition, since you want to avoid drowning your readers in it, but you should almost always be writing descriptively. In fact, you're always writing descriptively in a story, it's just that sometimes your descriptions are simple: "She ran" and sometimes they're a little more complex: "She ran quietly." Exposition is a different beast. Exposition is stuff like: "In the kingdom of Eriodor, the elves reigned supreme for a trillion years until..." yada yada yada. So yeah, make sure you understand this difference. If you're asking about exposition, it should be sprinkled into the narrative if needed, and completely omitted wherever possible. For instance, instead of saying the exposition above, you could put a part of that in dialogue. "The Elves ruled this kingdom for a trillion years!" he said. I like descriptive writing when it's done the way you said you wanted to do it, in a way that doesn't mess with the pacing of the narrative. The worst part about exposition is that it destroys any semblance of pacing. For published novels, the Harry Potter series is a great example of how to do a lot of descriptive writing with very little exposition. For webfiction, I'd say worm does a good job, partly because a lot of the exposition is woven into the first person narrative thoughts inside the character's head. Good luck with your writing btw!
Honestly? You can put as little description as you want IMO, if you aren't good with them, put the bare minimum you consider necessary and let the readers' imagination do the rest. I think most people forget most physical descriptions of characters/places anyway, so they don't matter that much.
For me a good description is a description that will allow me to imagine whatever it describe to a certain degree. if it is a character : i will be able to predict their action to some degree in a specific situation if it is a location : i will be able to roughly determine the rough layout/landscape/building there if it is a situation : i will be able to imagine what really happened as if i am watching a movie or reading a manga if it is an item : i will be able to roughly imagine the item characteristic as if i am holding/near it A good description doesnt necessarily need to be all in one chapter, it can be divided into several chapters (or even books for a special case like a key character, nation, etc). and one more thing, a good description must be believeable/constrained according to the novel's world law/history. but that is just my opinion, there are many type of reader out there that might disagree with me.
If writing the descriptions, its fine if it isn't unique or good. You only need to make it something to grab people's attention while not overbearing it that it doesn't even relate to a story. There are some people who don't like long descriptions so, try to make it short. A example would be this i guess?
Just sprinkle the description on the story text. Bold text is descriptive text, which is not necessary at all. Example: Or a long expository description: Or: Basically the description was there, so the reader could imagine the situation.
I personally keep my descriptions at the bare minimum. You should have descriptions, but there is no reason to go overboard. It isn't about how much or little descriptions one needs but about IF you need a description. A description sets up the world around you, so you can get a bit descriptive if you feel like conveying a certain emotion or scene. But you don't have to provide descriptions when it isn't necessary, especially for web novels/light novels. If you are writing a book aiming at an literature award, then descriptions are a way for authors to display their literature skills. But my guess that isn't your goal right? So if minimum descriptions is your thing keep to it. Not to mention it isn't uncommon for the prologue to have no description at all (or be all description). Because it is a prologue. In my story, I kept descriptions at bare minimum(like a sentence or 2 max) and no one complained. I only increase the descriptions when it gets to emotional scenes and even then maybe a paragraph.
I like short descriptions that use good imagery.. Like "his gnarled hands gripped the door as a sense of apprehension distorted his weathered face." Makes you wonder what's beyond the door..
When i write i use descriptors i use them as part of the passage of time, everytime you want the action/time to slow down in your writing you actively add additional adverbs and adjectives appropriately as an aspect of the action.
Be concise, unbiased, and provide a appropriate summary of what occurs or what the article explains. I prefer descriptions that glaze over the main points based on their importance, yet also provides snippets of details to note for deciding whether to read.