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Cyun

Cyun

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How about some guidelines situating descriptive writing within stories? It is an essential part in my opinion.

-- A useful technique of structuring a scenic descriptive bit of text is using the "camera method". By this I mean to imagine oneself looking through a lens of a camera. First you should overview a scene, the sky, the weather, the earth, the formation of land and the objects upon in it. Then, you can "zoom" in onto important areas or sections of a scene, describe the things within it, and even "zoom" in even more for a close up description of a particular thing. Of course, you can pan out once more as well.

-- It is important to keep the vocabulary you use varied and original, this can be done through a range of techniques that appeal to the reader and provoke them to adopt certain visuals and moods within a descriptive piece. Metaphors, similes, personification etc.

-- This is sometimes overlooked; sensory language. Appealing to the senses of the reader can do tremendous effect. These include of course:

+ Olfactory = Smell
+ Tactile/Kinaesthetic = Touch
+ Visual = Sight
+ Auditory = Hear
+ Gustatory = Taste

What can you see? what can you smell and taste in the air? What can you hear? How does it feel to touch?

-- And finally, it is useful to "subvert the norm". This means to view whatever you are seeing in an entirely new and interesting way - even if it is as dull as dish water, describe it as dull in an interesting approach.

20-May-2012 11:04:33

Yam42

Yam42

Posts: 1,134 Mithril Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
If I may contribute something:

1. Adverbs are a great way to add a flair to a character's action, but you need to watch where you place them because placement can change the meaning of the entire sentence. For instance, "I greatly enjoyed reading this," indicates that I had a great deal of pleasure during my reading; however, "I enjoyed reading this greatly," indicates that I've read this quite a bit.

2. Avoid giving too much description, as it can make a story very difficult to read and/or enjoy. I can recall having to read the unabridged version of Melville's *Moby ***** for English class one year. There's nothing quite as painful as having to read three pages that do nothing but describe a wall. A writer can use few words to convey much meaning.

20-May-2012 18:10:23

Cozmic

Cozmic

Forum Moderator Posts: 16,435 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
"-- A useful technique of structuring a scenic descriptive bit of text is using the "camera method". By this I mean to imagine oneself looking through a lens of a camera..."

I haven't heard of this myself. Does anyone else have any opinions on this style?

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"-- It is important to keep the vocabulary you use varied and original, this can be done through a range of techniques that appeal to the reader and provoke them to adopt certain visuals and moods within a descriptive piece. Metaphors, similes, personification etc..."

I can't agree more with this one.

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"-- This is sometimes overlooked; sensory language. Appealing to the senses of the reader can do tremendous effect. These include of course..."

Good point, although I think it's a bit of a given. What does everyone else think?

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"-- And finally, it is useful to "subvert the norm". This means to view whatever you are seeing in an entirely new and interesting way"

I agree. :)

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"1. Adverbs are a great way to add a flair to a character's action..."

This point seems a bit too technical for a lot of casual writers, who I think stand to benefit the most from this guide.

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"2. Avoid giving too much description, as it can make a story very difficult to read and/or enjoy..."

This is a very good point. Some of the best writers know how to put powerful messages in as few words as possible.

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20-May-2012 19:55:40

Chuk

Chuk

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Camera method would depend entirely on perspective. It seems to make sense for 3rd person omniscient, but not so much for third person limited or first person (though, of course, there are exceptions.) All in all, probably too specific for this guide (at least the tips part), IMO.

Original vocab - for sure.

I think it's worth mentioning all five senses. Perhaps not in quite so long a form, but it's worth pointing out that sight isn't the only sense you want to describe in stories, because it really is easy to rely on only what our eyes tell us, even though scent is more closely linked with memory. (Point being, you can probably be more concise with a scent, as it would bring up more memories for the reader with the same amount of words. or more detailed memories.)

Look for new and original descriptors - absolutely.

Adverbs are a bit clunky. Avoid use where possible. Find a stronger, more descriptive verb instead (thus spoke Stephen King. I don't personally go for horror, but he does know how to write, and I agree with him on this point.)

Absolutely avoid too much description, though this is, of course, subjective. Some readers will want more description than others. But something regarding pacing and how description fits there would be worthwhile, definitely. Ultimately, make sure your description serves a point. Don't go into detail describing a table, unless you plan to involve that specific table in an important way further on.

22-May-2012 11:44:51 - Last edited on 22-May-2012 11:45:27 by Chuk

Areno3

Areno3

Posts: 12,906 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
"2. Avoid giving too much description, as it can make a story very difficult to read and/or enjoy..."

I don't know about this. I love description and detail, and as much as I put, it hardly puts a reader away from the flow of the story. I guess if you have an immense amount of detail that's just getting out of hand, but that should be self-explannatory.

My only advice/tip would be to be slightly vague in descriptions of highly decorated objects and/or apparel. You want to let the reader envision some of the story for their themself, so if you describe EVERYTHING, it doesn't leave much use of imagination on the reader's part.

For example, many people have various ways of depicting characters from books. If the authors were to describe everything about one person so you can visualize them completely in all their glory, it just wouldn't be too fun.

10-Jun-2012 05:32:03

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