Questions tagged [description]
Painting a picture with a thousand words.
287
questions
0
votes
1answer
42 views
How to beautifully describe a marble statue? [closed]
The scene is that a student has sculpted a marble statue of a woman and is presenting it in a competition (there is magic involved). The person who is judging them finds his breath taken away by this ...
3
votes
2answers
97 views
How do I show a character is involved in Internet subculture without making them seem dated?
I have a character who one of their primary character quirks is supposed to be that they are very involved in Internet subculture. They're a programmer who spends a lot of their spare time on certain ...
12
votes
4answers
2k views
Dealing with annoying quirks: Long names
In the story I am currently writing, the culture has an obsession with unique names for each individual person. For some poor saps, this means ridiculously long, quintuple-hyphenated names.
Of course, ...
3
votes
3answers
80 views
Continuous Description in Dance Story
So my character is a competitive dancer, and the competitions she attends are a heavy part of the story. I'm writing her second competition, and I realize that I'll have to describe the routine ...
1
vote
1answer
52 views
How can I describe a character who is black, but lighter-skinned?
So I have a character who's on the lighter shade for black and I want to describe her better:
"Hi, Mama," An attractive curly-haired woman greets. Her honey brown eyes gaze around the ...
4
votes
1answer
48 views
How else to describe: in the mind's eye? (images that appear to the character in the midst of thinking)
Often, my characters will be thinking and flash, some image appears to guide their thought. An example:
I promised her. No. You pinky swore. You swore you’ll drudge down to the library and study. She ...
5
votes
2answers
71 views
I’m trying to describe a character who broke his leg
I am a young author writing a fantasy series. I am re-writing a chapter that I wrote a few months ago because it’s an earlier one, and I didn’t really know what I was doing, so it sounded bad. Anyway, ...
-1
votes
1answer
66 views
Describing suddenly remembering [closed]
How can you describe suddenly remembering something? For example: My MC suddenly remembers her purse, and feels relief when she feels it laying on her thighs.
Maybe, “I froze. My purse.”
1
vote
1answer
50 views
Words use to describe racing heartbeat
I think that it is too simple just to use "my heart pounded." I prefer something a little bit more elaborated. What sentence can I use besides from "my heart pounded?" Maybe you ...
1
vote
1answer
67 views
How do I tastefully handle a female-to-male transforming character?
My character is a girl who is later revealed in my story to be under a curse that allows her to transform into an older man. She is sharing a body with a powerful male spirit who can take control and ...
0
votes
1answer
65 views
Can you be too detailed in fantasy writing?
I am wondering if there is such a thing as “too detailed” in writing. If yes, then I want to know if I am doing it. I will insert a descriptive paragraph from my own writing below.
Its scaly head was ...
14
votes
5answers
1k views
How to clearly distinguish the settings of different scenes from each other, and make them “feel” different?
Background
I've been working on doing nitty-gritty editor revisions of my detective novel in preparation for publishing, going over sentences and picking through details. In the course of the story, ...
0
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0answers
57 views
Cons of Extensive Detailing [duplicate]
Every time I start a story, I create the scene in my mind. I'm pretty sure others would be able to write it in 2000 words. However, once I start writing, I detail every scene way too much and the end ...
0
votes
2answers
143 views
What are some examples of the “simple but vivid” description that Chekhov talks about in the quote below?
(The quote below is from one of Chekhov's letters to other Russian writer, Maxim Gorky.)
Your nature descriptions are artistic; you are a true landscape
painter. But your frequent personifications (...
0
votes
1answer
74 views
Resources to describe medieval clothing from different cultures?
I realise this may not be the best place for this question, but I'm not sure where else to ask. I'd like to describe specific clothing from various societies existing when feudalism was still around, ...
4
votes
7answers
873 views
Alternative to “it is commonly said”
I have a sentence I am trying to write that just doesn't feel right. It currently reads "It is commonly said that X, but the truth is that Y." The second part feels okay, but the first part feels like ...
1
vote
2answers
87 views
Are there any good alternatives to “a fire inside” of someone?
I'm trying to express the idea of a character undergoing a realisation, thus feeling an idea along the lines of a "fire being ignited inside of him".
However, I was wondering, are there any better ...
1
vote
3answers
95 views
How can I describe an incredible release of power, realistically [closed]
In my writing, a goddess is removed from her position as a god and reduced to a human. (See my previous question) At the moment of the loss of power huge amounts of energy would be released into the ...
0
votes
2answers
148 views
Where to draw the line between bloody and purely repulsive?
Violence and gore are an integral part of my story. However, I can usually keep the focus on the emotions, and the reactions, rather than the description of the injury.
My problem comes with one of ...
0
votes
1answer
67 views
How to Describe Topography
I have an image in my mind but I can't describe the topography, so I would always repeat, "grounds", "a little elavation", "inside the forest","some mounds,"surrounded by houses", is there any ...
4
votes
3answers
167 views
When you can't even draw a stick man…? (concept art)
Good day all. Hope the writing muses are with you all.
I was wondering what helps you to imagine details in a scene? I can't say that I'm a detailed oriented person so what I find acceptable as a ...
27
votes
12answers
6k views
How do I define smells I have never experienced?
I am a lifelong writer, who was also born without an ability to smell. I have been trained to engage the reader by applying the five senses, or as many of the five as is practical without becoming ...
4
votes
2answers
245 views
Describing shapes and objects
While I absolutely agree, that descriptions should be experienced through the narrator's / protagonist's eyes in terms of personal involvement, I oftentimes find myself puzzled in describing the basic ...
3
votes
2answers
114 views
How Do I Define Smells Of A World With Anosmia? [duplicate]
I am a lifelong writer, who was also born without an ability to smell. I have been trained to engage the reader by applying the five senses, or as many of the five as is practical without becoming ...
0
votes
1answer
106 views
How to write mishearing/mispronouncing without lying to the reader?
Sometimes the plot requires communication to partially break down between characters. A misheard or mispronounced word can have great consequences, after all. Often people aren't even aware it ...
1
vote
4answers
428 views
How do I describe something vividly without being purple?
I feel that the following example from Rosa Luxemburg is good at describing my goal. Despite using "complicated" words it doesn't come off as pretentious or edgy, but it still manages to give off the ...
1
vote
3answers
289 views
I abstain from using concise words in my writing, so as to “show” instead of “tell”. Is this bad writing?
Instead of explaining this whole practice, I'll rather give an example. In a scene in my book, there is this character. This character is pompous and arrogant. I describe their gait shortly after ...
1
vote
2answers
160 views
Setting exposition vs scene descriptions
If my main character goes to a new building – let's say in the beggining of a short story – and I describe the facade and the design of the building, is this exposition (i.e. information that is not ...
0
votes
2answers
214 views
Can overwriting be made to look intentional from a first-person narrative?
I am an aspiring author, trying to get my 80,000-word traditionally published, though I will self-publish it if that doesn't work out.
this article suggests that we avoid it altogether.
I've used ...
6
votes
2answers
289 views
Should you write character description points in bulk or spread them out?
I've heard a lot of people saying they skip descriptions if they are written as one bulk list, but others say it's important that we let the reader know what the character looks like and include all ...
2
votes
3answers
103 views
Do we simplify descriptions when they sound weird? [closed]
The woman said as she pulled a small coin out of a small wallet ... The
woman said as she pulled a small coin out of a small box she
opened/used earlier.
I am wondering if "opened" or "used" is ...
6
votes
3answers
2k views
Describing the taste of food
I’m asking about this not because I have a tendency to do so myself, but rather because I find it unusually aggravating when I come across it in other people’s works. I’m wondering if this sort of ...
1
vote
2answers
190 views
How to convey the anatomy of a humanoid race? [closed]
I am writing a extra-terrestrial high fantasy novel. The story is completely set in an alien world. No visits from Earth and no visits to Earth.
My characters are humanoids, who look like elves, ...
18
votes
7answers
2k views
Detail vs. filler
How can I minimise the "filler" text that I end up writing when fleshing out a scene with detail?
An appropriate level of detail seems to me to be a fundamental requirement for good prose. Whatever I ...
6
votes
4answers
3k views
How to realistically describe pain?
So, I was doing a writing excersie, I came up with, to help me with sentence structuring and developing my style. One thing, I ran into, however, was that I couldn't describe pain very well.
The ...
4
votes
4answers
102 views
How to eliminate standoff between “Lengthy” vs “Concision”?
Often while writing a software requirement/change-request documentation, I need to include the quoted requirements descriptively, the impacted modules, the changes provided both in UI and in logic. ...
1
vote
2answers
332 views
How do we end a description properly?
Sometimes, I have trouble coming up with a way to end a description properly, especially one that's at the very end of a chapter. What are some of the things you can do, especially when the ...
18
votes
5answers
2k views
Spicing up a moment of peace
In the ever swinging tone of a novel, one may wish to show a moment of peace amidst all the chaos. In my novel it happens a few times, most notably when characters are travelling across vast natural ...
8
votes
3answers
1k views
Is this kind of description not recommended?
I think I read somewhere that when writing, you shouldn't describe characters by their characteristics
i.e.
The tall man walked across the room
Is this true? Maybe I'm misremembering
4
votes
1answer
95 views
A pulse, a throb, and a beat
I wrote a passage where one of my characters heard beats, (i.e., the sound) then he found the beating object and, when he held it in his hand, it started throbbing like a heart, (i.e., the feeling). ...
4
votes
2answers
496 views
Describing weighing an object in hand [closed]
A person holds a stone object in one hand.
They throw it up and down in the air,
in that hand, a few times,
to judge the weight/feel/impact of the object.
Does this particular physical action have ...
3
votes
2answers
288 views
Job description for my employment reference
I've canceled my job to move on. Now I was asked how I want my Job description for my employment reference.
My first draft was one full page... This is too much. Now I've reduced the long version to ...
-1
votes
2answers
57 views
geographic description of coastal rock formation [closed]
Hello masters of geographic eloquence,
A rock arch bridges across to a rock formation
seen in the screen right of the image/photograph.
It's not an independent 'island'.
What word(s) best describe ...
9
votes
6answers
745 views
Building a scene and readability
When building a scene at the beginning of a chapter for instance, before character interactions take place, what are the important elements to consider, and how long should the description be, before ...
2
votes
3answers
2k views
Is it stylistically sound to use onomatopoeic words?
I'm writing a non-comedic fantasy novel, and I find myself using onomatopoeic words, like "SLAM!" and "TWISH" (for the shooting of arrows). To my knowledge, onomatopoeic words are almost only used in ...
18
votes
8answers
3k views
How to describe POV characters?
I want to describe my first person perspective character who's narrating without doing the Wattpad "mirror scene." How would I go about this?
4
votes
5answers
883 views
Should fiction mention song names and iPods?
In my novel, the protagonist is depressed. In the story which is in my mind...
The autumn leaves were falling as I was sitting alone and Gary Jules' "Mad World" was ringing in my iPod.
The ...
3
votes
1answer
92 views
How do we follow up a description within a descriptive text with another description?
How do we follow up a description within a descriptive text with another description? Let's say you mention A and B in the first sentence, and then follow up with a long description of B, how do you ...
18
votes
6answers
6k views
Is it bad to describe a character long after their introduction?
I have a tendency to forget to describe character's appearance. But I always describe them, though often a little while after their introduction. So, how long after someone's introduction is "...
1
vote
1answer
173 views
Should we avoid “nonsensical” or “unclear” metaphors?
Should we avoid "nonsensical" or "unclear" metaphors? I am not sure if this is a case of "nonsensical" or "unclear" metaphor, but sometimes you have certain phrases that doesn't seem to be suited for ...
