One of the biggest problems facing new writers is description. How much should you do and how do you do it?
You may think you need to describe everything in specific detail so your readers can picture exactly what you are thinking about. This is not only a bad idea, but it’s not even what you really want as an author. You should think of the descriptive process as more of a collaboration between you and your reader. Your job is to give them enough information so they can create a realistic image in their minds. They’re creating the images with you, if that makes sense.
Remember how annoying it is to go to a movie and the characters look nothing like what you’ve imagined based on the book? That’s because you and the author of that book collaborated to form an image within your mind as you read their words. This is one reason you don’t want to lay down the law with those too-detailed descriptions of your characters and their setting. Your vision may clash with what the reader has been imagining, which will jar them from the story.
When you understand that you don’t need pages and pages of specific description, you’re well on your way to writing a better story. You do need to convey some idea of your character’s physical characteristics and the environment they live in, but you don’t need long paragraphs to give a good idea. Let’s look at some expert examples:
PG Wodehouse gives us “a tubby little chap who looked as if he had been poured into his clothes and had forgotten to say ‘When!’” in the novel Very Good, Jeeves. Not only do we know this guy is overweight, we also know he has poor fashion sense (wearing clothing that’s far too tight) and is a little comical, perhaps without realizing it.
And here’s how JRR Tolkien described his famous wizard: “Gandalf was shorter in stature than the other two; but his long white hair, his sweeping beard, and his broad shoulders, made him look like some wise king of ancient legend. In his aged face under great snowy brows his eyes were set like coals that could suddenly burst into fire.“
And one more: “Her skin was a rich black that would have peeled like a plum if snagged, but then no one would have thought of getting close enough to Mrs. Flowers to ruffle her dress, let alone snag her skin.” This is from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.
These descriptions work well because they’re not just dry recitations of physical characteristics. They tell you what the character is like, not just what they look like. Try not to over-do the metaphors, though, or you’ll run into the opposite of the dry description: the over-flowery, pretentious one, which can be just as bad, if not worse.
So aim to involve your reader. Give them just enough to form an image, and remember to convey a sense of character in addition to the physical description.