posted
How do you know when to add detail and when not to? I have no problem describing people, clothing, that kind of thing. But when it comes to setting I'm totally blank. It ends up being a forest,or a house. Very boring.
I also have a habit of including comletely irrelevent detail, and leaving out stuff that is important.
so, how do you decide what to put in, and what to leave out?
posted
I tend to leave out details until I am done writing. Some writers describe everything, down to the color of the last stone in the walkway. Others only give you a brief sketch.
I think it depends on the story, is it important that the door is red? If not then maybe the fact that it is a wooden door will do with no color involved, and so on.
The important thing, I think is to include all the senses when describing, touch, taste, and smell often get left out.
posted
I love it as a reader when detail is added to describe a scene, even if it's not necessary (of course, I'm not talking excessive detail here). For my own writing, I try always to dig up something in my memory that is enough like what I'm trying to describe that it gives me some very good (and often unexpected) ideas. I find that I have to have a real sensory memory of something to do a good job of writing about it. This means that if you want to write about a setting or place you haven't experienced before, the best thing to do is go out and experience it-- or at least get the closest you can to doing so. If you need to write about an old, dilapidated house, go visit an old, dilapidated house-- even if it isn't exactly the same as the one you want to write about, it will be close enough to give you some amazing ideas you wouldn't have had on your own. The same thing goes for if you want to write about, say, a glade in the forest. What strikes me first when I think about the forest is my memory of the sweet, spicy smell of the leaf litter of the pine forest back home... and I guarantee that the odor of the forest would not be what I would think of first if I had never actually been in one.
Going out and experiencing things (or dredging experiences up in your memory) is likely the best way to not only give yourself some ideas for detail, but to force you to put wonderful, compelling details into words for the first time. It's a fantastic way to avoid cliche, in any case.
posted
You are dealing with a very common problem: today's reader wants vivid descriptions, but today's reader also wants a fast-paced plot. Your job is to find the perfect balance.
The rule of thumb is that each scene should be experienced by the POV character via three senses. If you've given a few visual details, the reader gets more bang for his/her buck if you make the next detail a sound, taste, smell, or tactile sensation.
Said another way: Describing a little detail through three senses is a more productive use of the reader's time than using the same number of words to describe three sights.
In my book, dialogue does not count as a sound. In this sense, speaking characters are "silent," while chirping birds, creaking timbers, dripping water, and whistling breezes are "real" sounds. That's my view; your mileage may vary.
posted
Doc is right, presenting setting through the POV character's senses (three is a good rule of thumb) is essential to allow the reader to experience the scene rather than just scan it.
You can decide what to include and what to exclude by a very simple process. Ask yourself, what does the POV character notice and think interesting about this setting?
quote:Doc is right, presenting setting through the POV character's senses (three is a good rule of thumb) is essential to allow the reader to experience the scene rather than just scan it.
That's really good advice, actually. I was going to be a little more vague. When it seems appropriate go for it, but if it feels like you have to force it forget it. When I read I can usually pick out detail that sounds as if the author felt as if he/she HAD to describe the setting and it has the opposite effect. It pulls me away from the scene, instead of making me feel like I'm part of it.
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