“The Secret of Magical Descriptions in Your Novel...
--An Expert's Step-by-Step Guide”
Here's a secret strategy that will let you write the most powerful descriptions you've ever seen in any novel!
by Steve Manning
Take a look at the work of Shakespeare, or Hemmingway, or Stephen King, or Elmore Leonard and you’ve just discovered the key to magical descriptions when you write your book, no matter what kind of fiction you produce.
It’s really not that difficult to master and when you do, you’ve just taken your work leaps and bounds ahead of where it was.
Let’s start with Shakespeare. Look at all the stage directions and setting descriptions. There aren’t any. In fact, in only one play does Shakespeare do anything like that. A character comes to the center of the stage and asks the audience to imagine a battlefield. That’s it.
Hemmingway? I’ve never see such sparse descriptions. A couple of lines describes a complete meal, and yet never has food sounded more delicious.
As for King and Leonard, both hold back words of description as if they were each chunks of gold, extracted from their very own pockets, lost forever once they were down on the page.
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The secret to great descriptions? Avoid them at all costs. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a restaurant, or a rail worker, a palatial mansion or a plantation manservant. Try to minimize (or eliminate) the description at all costs.
There are two very powerful reasons for this.
First, the reader is infinitely better at imagining the person that you are at describing him or her. Each reader has a picture of them in their mind’s eye. They know how they walk, how they talk, how they dress and everything else that’s important to them. They certainly don’t need you to clarify any of the points they’ve already decided. Anything absolutely essential to the story, the person is left-handed, for example, you can add in when it’s necessary. Beyond that, don’t.
Most people have been in a restaurant before, or a science lab, or a middle class home, or a backyard swimming pool. Even if they haven’t, they’ve got enough experience to imagine what it would be like. And you putting in your two cents worth as the author isn’t helping them.
The second reason for avoiding description? It just gets in the way of the story. And the story is the only thing that is important. If it doesn’t move the story along, it just isn’t needed when you write your book.
Yes, I know, we’ve all read books that had pages of gorgeous descriptions of just about everything that appeared in the book, from hats, to Havanas to Haitian beaches.
And what is the first thing we skip over when we want to speed things up as we read? That’s right, those very same pages of description.
To borrow from a former U.S. President, “It’s the story, stupid.”
Here’s a writing rule that will make things a bit easier for you.
If at all possible, avoid describing anything unless it directly moves the story forward. If you want to fly into a fit of description, go ahead, but you’re allowed to say only three things about whatever it is you want to describe. That’s all, three maximum. Try to keep it down to one or two.
“The beige house had a manicured lawn and a double garage”
“She took off her broad-brimmed hat and placed it on the desk so he could see the small feather on it.”
Remember, the key to offering the reader truly outstanding description is to offer the reader only minimal descriptions, if you offer them at all.
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