Quick Tip: 3 Tips to Improve Description In Your Writing
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- Опубликовано: 18 сен 2024
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Great tips Chris. Don't forget use of the senses in description. Only use when relevant, don't overdo it.
What enjoyed about the common room description was that it reinforced Berts position and view of the world - ducking an elbow reminded me he's a goblin without having to hammer the idea home by mentioning it specifically.
This video is so great and concise, yet VERY helpful for people who don't think in "descriptions" and think more in "dialogue" or "movement." Super super helpful, thanks!
First off, I'll gotta say, the camera position is much better. Feels good to watch at your face/eyes, instead of down and you're looking up (like before). Second, This video is great! I'm really bad at describing stuff, so this will help me out alot! Also the little screen which tells the tips in short is really good and easy for the viewer to get a hang on what's going on. Keep up the hard work!
Agreed, camera position/angle is much better. I do like the tip overlays.
Great tips, Chris. Nice cameo by Bert! 😂
This is something I still struggle with as a novice writer, I always appreciate this kind of advice from experienced peeps.
These are all great ways to not just improve your writing, but to also increase the length of your story when you fall short or can’t think of what else to write.
Tauvia Siemens yes, who doesn't remember his/her first writing attempts where the first two chapters fitted on one page haha
I still struggle with good description, but a rule of thumb I like to keep to is using description to imply things, especially if they further the plot or develop some other facet of the story (Character, setting, etc).
Hey Chris,
Good set of tips. Description is such an important aspect of writing. I've always exhibited skill when writing descriptions. Reading other well-written authors and writers, devouring novels, as well as certain types of collaborative writing helped me build that skillset. I started out with a good basis for this though.
One concept I've always used to relay to others is painting an image in words. Like describing a movie set, or taking a photograph in freeze-frame and describing it. But doing so in a way that puts them there. I often like to put them into the skin of the POV character. I'll use sensory details - What do they feel? Smell? See? Hear?
Combined with the techniques of your video, any writer should have no problem transporting a reader to another time and place. Then it's time to start applying the pressure, and setting people hurtling toward crossed purposes and crossed blades (figuratively or literally) somewhere down the road.
I'm sure I'm going to relay this video to someone next time they are struggling with describing something. Though, I usually have a small community of solid writers, so I have no idea when that will be.
Many thanks.
Great tips! Thanks!
I've always struggled with not only description, but making it long enough to fill out scenes. Thanks for the tips Chris.
I've been watching your vids for a while now and have enjoyed improving my writing through them. Decided to take it to the next level today though and purchase all your Write Faster, Write Smarter books. Appreciate all that you do!
Great tips! If you have any experience with the visual arts, that's a great jumping off point for thinking about descriptive writing. You start with a general idea of the shape of the scene, and add details with respect to the mood you want to create -- or if you think something is an interesting element or something people will want to know about, you give that more detail too. Good scene direction allows light descriptive bits to add a LOT to your writing. In the same way, even an average scene can be made memorable with a standout piece of description or a particularly appropriate line. I don't know where I'm going with this, but basically, any descriptive passage that isn't detracting from the scene is adding to it.
a good way of looking at the descriptions, thank you
Thanks Chris, your videos are always very useful and this one was no different :)
Always excited to get another Chris Fox Video!!! :)
Needed this right now. Thanks Chris!
This is enough to be an entire book on description right here
I was told that my story is too descriptive. One person suggest to keep it as short as 3 sentences and if there's more, put it around the characters conversation. This person said if the description is irrelevant to the story, then get rid of it.
Too much description becomes exposition, where you are telling the reader about things. Wherever possible you want to keep description short, and have it relate to the scene it's in. If it's irrelevant, your friend is right about ditching it.
Can I see an example of your writing, TheHardMode?
Hey HardMode,
I've had people tell me similar in the past. A lot of it is about balance. Take your reader there, but leave enough room for them to fill in the gaps.
I am sure I struggle with this a little still. My writing has often been compared to Stephen King. I must be doing something right though, yeah?
Like Alec, I'd love to see an example of your writing.
More like this, I really found this helpful! Thanks!
great tips
I'm usually very light on description of less exotic settings. I'm afraid that it slows down the pacing when I'm trying to keep things moving, or that those details aren't relevant enough to include. I guess I've been conditioned for screenwriting in that way.
Pacing is always a primary concern for me, and I'm always trying to strike the right balance. For my MSF books I have very little description, because none is needed for most concepts. People know how starship combat works. For my space fantasy, though, I need a lot more because there's a lot more worldbuilding to convey. That does mean sacrificing some pacing, but I'm learning to juggle story needs versus detail. It's definitely the thing I struggle with the most, I think.
Great tips, thank you so much!
Great quick tip. It's obvious, but hard to get right. Isn't it the infamous "show don't tell"-concept?
Awesome advice as always, Chris :-)
This is a big thing I need to work on, and a big reason I haven't finished any of the stories I start.
some good info thx for the vid :)
Can you add automatic English subtitles to this one? I am not native and you are talking fast, I cannot keep up with you. Great videos by the way. Truly unbelievable, congrats.
Now I want grapefruit.
Hi Chris, kind of off topic but I was wondering what your thoughts were on the pending TM's "Destroyer" and "Star Justice" and how broad the application is? I know you have a book called Destroyer. I know it seems like you stay out of the drama in the indie world and I think that is amazing but since your book is potentially affected, what are your thoughts on it?
Hello Chris, i found your channel some days ago and i already love your content, i wanted to ask you something...
I'm in the process of writing my first book ever, a fantasy novel set on another world which i had on my mind for 9 years or so, i started writing it on january of the last year, 2 weeks after i got interested in reading, i personally had no big expectations, but the book came out pretty well, although i've been struggling with one particular issue since i've started...
There are more than 60 characters in total, 19 of them which are introduced in the first book, my protagonist and some of the characters of his group are amnesic, the only thing they remember is basic information about themselves (Like name, age, skills, etc) and common knowledge, so any kind of complex description using actual everyday items would be really difficult to pull off... ¿Could you give me some tips about it? Like for example, how to describe non-human characters or objects, like weapons or so, i plan on putting an image of an important/shocking/impactfull scene at the end of every chapter, i already have some ideas on my mind, but i think it's too much stuff.
I've never readed a book until december of 2016, i've been learning at the same pace i was writing it, and i got a pretty good headstart because of the fact that i used to write a lot since i was little (Social media, essays for school, etc), but as i said, i still struggle to come up with character, weapon and environmental descriptions, i'd love it if you or anybody else that's reading this comment could give me any kind of feedback.
I might be asking for much right now, but if you do actually respond, thanks for reading my comment.
My gut here is that the way you handle this is going to vary dramatically depending on story specifics, but with regard to detail, I’d think you have two main courses of action you could take:
1. Choose first person POV characters carefully to get the description in the way you want. If your protagonist can’t remember object names, for example, you could use his POV to illustrate the “confusion” and “alien-ness” feelings he’s going through, and switch off to someone who’s retained their memory in situations where you need to be clearer for purposes of setting the scene or pacing through action.
2. Write in third person and detach your narration just a smidge to talk to readers directly and sidestep some of the issues, moving in and out of direct description versus character experience as the story needs.
Great video as always. Wanted to give you a heads up (if you read this): If you remember cockygate, there's now a trademark application for "Destroyer", "Dragon Slayer", "Tamer", and "Star Justice" in your genre from a Michael Scott Earle. Susan Tisdale mentioned it in one of her videos, but I haven't verified since I don't know how to. Apparently cockybot on Twitter picked up on the Dragon Slayer trademark application. One of your books is titled Destroyer, and you're both in the same genre... Wish I knew how to verify this, but really wanted to make you aware. Stay awesome.
edit: Found the Dragon Slayer Trademark by searching this author on Facebook. Don't know about the other three. Replace (dot) in the link with an actual dot, for anyone who wants to view it. tsdr(dot)uspto(dot)gov/documentviewer?caseId=sn87954712#docIndex=0&page=1
Each trademark corresponds to one of his series. His Destroyer trademark is, as I understand it, for 'The Destroyer', which he's welcome to. There are dozens of novels named Destroyer, and some date back to the 1950s, and I doubt he intends to come after any of us. That would be a terrible idea, and Michael is smarter than that. People are understandably nervous, and I'm not sure all of these will be granted. He's likely to get Star Justice, but Tamer and Dragon Slayer will be much harder to enforce.
Other authors are filing every day, and the trademark wars will begin in earnest over the next several years. The same thing happened in the app development world. =/
I'm glad you saw this. Thing is, this is what we thought about Faleena Hopkins as well, and a screenshot of one of his Facebook posts about cockygate made me even more leery.
A trademark is null and void unless it is enforced, from what author Susan Tisdale said, but I'm not savvy about the law so I'm not sure about that.
I will always understand trademarks for very specific things like if it was "Destroyer of the Dragon Slayers" or something very specific like that. But to me, this is like a farmer trademarking the word "apple" so that other farmers cannot use it. Guess we'll wait and see, thanks for your response. (:
I love how absurd this trademarking words is... brands, concepts and specific unique ideas yes i'm all for it-go ahead if you're selfish and you want to disappoint fans immersed in fan-fiction and dim their interest. I think i'll apply for a trademark for all the words in all the dictionaries and signs of all known and unknown languages not just on Earth but universally-be it an existing universe or made up ones. Heads up, everybody no more verbal communication!
(Hmm... fun concept- whoever wants it, it's freely given if someone else hasn't already snapped it yet)
;)