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 Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2009 2:08 pm
Please discuss the use of description here.
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Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2009 10:40 am
Obviously anyone with intelligence hates descriptions that go on for hours about a characters looks and clothes and such, but that same person knows description is very important. I personally love description a hell of a lot more than dialogue. Dialogue only says so much, but when you get into 3rd person narrative and you see everything that's going on, description can show a lot more. It also really helps to draw someone into the story because they can truly envision the place and characters around them.
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Lady Sedia Auvryarn Vice Captain
Friendly Conversationalist
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Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2009 12:00 pm
     S M I L E ...Ah, description...one of the most important parts of writing. Yes, dialogue is important. You've gotta spice a story up. But if you don't plan on writing a dialogue-only fic (yes, I have seen this; it was a one-shot but was quite interesting), description is the way to go. NO, THAT DOESN'T MEAN DESCRIBE THE CHARACTER'S CLOTHING. For the love of God, people, don't do that! You don't know how many times I've seen this. It's one of those things that really tick me off. Okay, yeah, it's nice to get a picture of what the character looks like exactly. But you don't say:
She wore a black jacket, and beneath that jacket was a plain, white t-shirt. Her pants were baggy, torn, and dark; it was hard to tell if black was the actual color with all of that dirt on it.
See all of that? If you typed that, delete it. Here's how you could do it:
She unzipped her black jacket, revealing a plain, white t-shirt underneath it.
Well, I can't think of anything for the pants right now, BUT if you really want to give a good description of what your character is wearing, do it through detail.
Another thing - if you really want to be a good writer, then detail is probably one of the most important things. IMO, a good story makes you feel like you're actually in it. The key to this is SENSORY DETAILS. Remember the five senses? Well look at that, school actually came in handy for once! ;3 Say you're describing a war (ahem, please excuse me, this is a war in my imagination, meaning it's going be effed up, 'kay?). Let's list some things that you may experience:
-Clanging of swords
-Gunshots
-The smell of blood
-Rotting corpses (okay, maybe that's the aftermath of the battle...)
-Pain (this would be very good for second person)
...And that's just to name a few. From those few things, you could do a hell of a lot....it's deceiving.    
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Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 9:24 am
CommanderShipper Kaida NO, THAT DOESN'T MEAN DESCRIBE THE CHARACTER'S CLOTHING. For the love of God, people, don't do that! THIS. Oh, the trauma... I suppose you could say the same about describing the setting ("she went into the bedroom and there was a desk, a wardrobe and a bed" - yes, those are usually the contents of a bedroom - and what the hell do I care about furniture anyway?), but clothing is really the most annoying thing. The reader has to be allowed to make a character their own, and if you're going to be forcing some type of meaningless detail that has nothing to do with what's on the reader's mind... it's not going to work well. Not to me, at least. In dialogue, the things I pay most attention to are the "dialogue tags" (you know, the "she whispered, hiding her face behind a hand" bits), even when the character has a very specific way of talking. I think body language is just a lot more genuine and revealing than spoken words. So, yeah: (subtle) description over dialogue. I've been seeing a sort of new type of fanfiction lately, especially on LJ. They're mostly one-shots that have practically zero description. All they do is give an account of the character's actions, usually in rather lyrical fashion, but provide no setting, timeframe or explanations as to what's going on. A lot of people seem to like that style, say that it's very free or deep or something, but I simply can't make heads or tails of it.
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Lady Sedia Auvryarn Vice Captain
Friendly Conversationalist
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Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2009 4:31 pm
I might be off on the author but I do believe Hemingway wrote dialogue only, or at least stories with very little description. Could have been a different author though, but it was still someone famous like that.
Anyways, yes never should one describe how someone looks in a single paragraph. That's like "instant removal" from almost every reader's list razz No matter how you write it, if you cover everything in one paragraph then you should delete it. Space things out! You don't need to talk about what a character is wearing unless it is important anyways.
Kaida brings up a good point with the senses and action, Pad's told me that's the best way to write an action scene hehe but yes senses are a great way to add detail and to pull a reader into the story because they can relate to what is happening better... granted I hope they can't truly relate to the smell of rotting corpses but moving on.... xd
Both of you girls have your bad examples of description as the telling way of writing. People need to remember to show the reader and not tell them. Never list things (like in the bad examples above)! Just like with Kaida's example of clothing, you have to space things out and use the senses:
"She walked into the bedroom and threw her coat on the back of the desk chair, ignoring the empty hanger in the nearby wardrobe, and sat down on the bed."
Your still listing everything that you had before but its done in a showing manner. The reader isn't being forced to see what is in the room but rather they are slowly visualizing things as the character is.
Anyways, Pad's brings up another good point, body language is a great way to express things if your having trouble doing it through dialogue but its also a great description tool. Besides, in real life people always say to look at someone's body language when they are talking because it can reveal more than what their words do.
As for that new "style" Pad's, its called being lazy. wink
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Posted: Fri Dec 10, 2010 11:48 pm
I have trouble describing scenery. I really want to write about how pretty the meadow is in my head and a dragon flying over it... but it is something really hard for me.
I don't often describe clothing unless there is blood dripping on it or the clothes are being taken off... rolleyes
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Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 4:06 am
I sort of have the same problem, when I start to feel like maybe what I wrote isn't enough to transmit the full picture in my mind. But then, sometimes, less is more. When you try too hard to describe something, it can become too artificial, overbearing and even distracting. I think that if you just write what's natural to you, the picture and the feelings in your mind should come across.
Lol at the clothes thing. whee
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Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 3:19 pm
My favorite things to describe are settings and scenery. Its fan fiction, people know what the characters look like and how they dress. But scenery? Settings? Those things change. Especially in series where the cast go to a different place every other episode or in older anime where the artists never draw the same place the same way twice (ah, Golion, you are so funny that way). You can also take the setting description a bit further into the character description by showing how the character appears in said setting. I'm sure we all can agree that different character are interpreted differently in different settings.
As for clothes and how they look... I rarely describe stuff like that. Only if I choose to put them in an outfit that was never shown in the series or style their hair differently, stuff like that. But I rarely spend much time on it. If all you care about are the characters' looks then draw fan art, that's all about looks. Fan fiction should be more substantial than that.
Describing thoughts, feelings and emotions is another one I tend to do allot. In fact, that might be the aspect of my fics that I describe maybe a little to much. I have been known in the past to write an entire "scene" only describing the character's thoughts and feelings and totally forgetting to describe their setting and actions. Of course, when I do this I usually already have then in an establish location doing little more than sitting there, but still... I do think I spend just a little to much on feelings and thoughts. I haven't had any complaints yet, but meh.
Action! Now that is something I need work on! I like action, I love to read it, I love to envision it in my mind. But when it comes to describing it... I fall a little flat. Of all the areas of description there are in writing, I think action is my weakest point. Blah. I need more practice with it...
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Lady Sedia Auvryarn Vice Captain
Friendly Conversationalist
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Posted: Fri Feb 18, 2011 5:05 pm
Renkon Root
My favorite things to describe are settings and scenery. Its fan fiction, people know what the characters look like and how they dress. But scenery? Settings? Those things change. Especially in series where the cast go to a different place every other episode or in older anime where the artists never draw the same place the same way twice (ah, Golion, you are so funny that way). You can also take the setting description a bit further into the character description by showing how the character appears in said setting. I'm sure we all can agree that different character are interpreted differently in different settings.
As for clothes and how they look... I rarely describe stuff like that. Only if I choose to put them in an outfit that was never shown in the series or style their hair differently, stuff like that. But I rarely spend much time on it. If all you care about are the characters' looks then draw fan art, that's all about looks. Fan fiction should be more substantial than that.
Describing thoughts, feelings and emotions is another one I tend to do allot. In fact, that might be the aspect of my fics that I describe maybe a little to much. I have been known in the past to write an entire "scene" only describing the character's thoughts and feelings and totally forgetting to describe their setting and actions. Of course, when I do this I usually already have then in an establish location doing little more than sitting there, but still... I do think I spend just a little to much on feelings and thoughts. I haven't had any complaints yet, but meh.
Action! Now that is something I need work on! I like action, I love to read it, I love to envision it in my mind. But when it comes to describing it... I fall a little flat. Of all the areas of description there are in writing, I think action is my weakest point. Blah. I need more practice with it...
Yes people know about the characters already but you don't want to have to much of one and not enough of another; things should still balance out. But it's good to focus on thoughts and feelings. I, personally, quite enjoying seeing how another writer views the character differently than me. Like you said, external is fanart smile I quite like that notion actually.  Give me intelligent conversation and I will give you my attention.
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