{"id":17105,"date":"2020-10-31T09:02:47","date_gmt":"2020-10-31T13:02:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=17105"},"modified":"2020-11-08T14:26:46","modified_gmt":"2020-11-08T18:26:46","slug":"how-to-write-a-good-description","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-write-a-good-description\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Write a Good Description: Writing Advice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Do you want to know how to write a good description in a story or book? Are there ways you can learn to write better descriptions? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In his book <em>On Writing: A Memoir of The Craft Stephen King discusses how to write a good description<\/em> and the mechanics of this kind of writing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep reading to find out how to write a good description. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to Write a Good <strong>Description<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>For author Stephen King, description provides sensory texture to the story, which draws the reader in viscerally. You\u2019ll primarily describe the environment and the characters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>You don\u2019t want too little or too much description.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Too little description leaves the reader without a mental world to construct.&nbsp;<\/li><li>Too much description feels onerous and buries the story in unnecessary detail. Some writers get carried away, describing the world in florid detail. In reality, your job as a writer is to tell the story.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Aim for the middle. <strong>Provide enough detail to seed the reader\u2019s imagination, but not so much that you prevent the reader from filling in her own details.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>For instance, King only needs to describe Carrie White as a high school outcast with bad skin and outfits that invite bullying. You automatically fill in the rest, visualizing the specific outfit, the number of pimples on her face, her outdated hairstyle, and so on. Describing her any more than this would oppress the reader\u2019s imagery and weaken the bond between writer and reader.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Tips on writing description:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Visualize the scene in your head. Your job is to translate this feeling into words.<\/li><li>Choose the few details that immediately come to mind. Don\u2019t go beyond the few key details\u2014you need only enough to set the scene for the story.<\/li><li>Use figurative language, like similes and metaphors. When done well, they can show something familiar in a delightful new way.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>How not to write description:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Don\u2019t inject physical description with character, as in \u201cfiercely intelligent eyes\u201d or \u201celitist cheekbones.\u201d This is lazy the same way adverbs are; you should reveal character through actions and dialogue.<\/li><li>Don\u2019t use cliche figurative language, like \u201cas tough as nails\u201d or \u201cas white as snow.\u201d This makes you sound unread or lazy.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Stephen King, description is an extremely important part of the story and it&#8217;s important to learn how to write a good description. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Do you want to know how to write a good description in a story or book? Are there ways you can learn to write better descriptions? In his book On Writing: A Memoir of The Craft Stephen King discusses how to write a good description and the mechanics of this kind of writing. Keep reading to find out how to write a good description.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":17111,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,15,30],"tags":[145],"class_list":["post-17105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communication","category-education","category-work","tag-on-writing-a-memoir-of-the-craft","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to Write a Good Description: Writing Advice - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Do you want to learn how to write a good description in a story? A description provides a deeper context to the story. Here&#039;s how it works.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-write-a-good-description\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Write a Good Description: Writing Advice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Do you want to learn how to write a good description in a story? A description provides a deeper context to the story. Here&#039;s how it works.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-write-a-good-description\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-10-31T13:02:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-11-08T18:26:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/description-on-writing-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1709\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Carrie Cabral\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Carrie Cabral\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-write-a-good-description\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-write-a-good-description\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Carrie Cabral\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2ababb7c63a94ff5d2190f71dc417d56\"},\"headline\":\"How to Write a Good Description: Writing Advice\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-10-31T13:02:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-11-08T18:26:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-write-a-good-description\/\"},\"wordCount\":408,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-write-a-good-description\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/description-on-writing-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"On Writing: A Memoir of The Craft\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Communication\",\"Education\",\"Work\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-write-a-good-description\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-write-a-good-description\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-write-a-good-description\/\",\"name\":\"How to Write a Good Description: Writing Advice - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-write-a-good-description\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-write-a-good-description\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/description-on-writing-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-10-31T13:02:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-11-08T18:26:46+00:00\",\"description\":\"Do you want to learn how to write a good description in a story? 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