Descriptive Writing And Style.

hastalavista

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So I need your advice on two problems,
My story had been reviewed a few days ago with a well informative review. I was told that I lacked so much in setting the scenes and visualization. Which for example was that I hadn't mentioned the use of smartphones until Ch7 so the readers had a vague idea about the level of technology till that chapter.
So I wanted to know how to gain a descriptive writing style without describing the unnecessary. I know it needs practice, but have anyone of you practiced in a particular way that made it not boring and a bit quicker?

And for my other problem, style. I'm not so good at English. Although my grammar is good, my plot is good and my characters are decent... My style is mediocre at best. And I want to improve that. Have anyone of you improved their style? If yes then how? Do you have resources? Courses? Or a few types of exercises you had practiced?
 

GDLiZy

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Style is experience so you gotta write more and gradually developing it. To help with the description you need a dictionary and have to look up every word you don't know to build your vocabulary.
 

HappyVainGlory

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Well, as GDLiZy said, style comes with practice. Mostly familiarity with writing. In terms of being more descriptive though, there's a few ways to go about it.

The simplest, albeit most tedious, way would be to find a book you like with good description and try to pick it apart. Copy it verbatim, try changing a few words, try rewriting it, etc. It's hard work, but you have a model to work with then so you aren't quite shooting in the dark.

The next step up would be just trying to describe things in general. Pick an object and try to write as many things about it as you can. Take a pencil for example. You could write that it has a lead core, that it's yellow, that its sharpened or unsharpened, etc. Of course, the point of doing this is to train your mind to thinking about describing things. It wouldn't do any good to write every single detail down in your story, but rather to get just enough. As for how much 'enough' is, that's something you decide from your personal taste and/or experience.

As for a more abstract but formulaic way, you could just try writing broad to specific details. Like in drawing, you start by outlining what's on the scene in broad strokes.

For example:
The room was dark.

Afterwards, you sketch in the details by slowly adding them.

Continuing with example:
The room was dark. It was a deep black, milky and almost tangible. Not a single ray of could be seen. Then again, even if there was one, it would probably be snuffed out before it could reach the eye.

Those are the main tricks I've picked up in learning how to write more descriptively. These days I mostly just say 'screw it' and run with the bare minimum though, so maybe it was a waste of time...

Meh.

Hope that helps!
 

FriendlyDragon

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Description is a tool. You use it to paint the setting or highlight important things. That means, it requires you to pinpoint when description is needed or not. So remember that. Sometimes just saying "The cottage was small but cozy" would be sufficient if the cottage isn't important.

In terms of actually describing, it just requires you to know descriptors. Remember your five senses and use them when painting a picture in your readers' minds. Don't just focus on the sight of the place. Talk about the sounds or the smell. For things like objects, you can talk about their texture or even their taste (but that's a bit weird since most people don't go about licking things). Another good tool is figurative language. It's great for relaying information since it equates something in your mind to something that most people would know. Metaphors, similes, personification are things that are common in descriptions.
 

OvidLemma

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As others have said, the best way to develop an intuitive sense of style and description is to practice. Write, write, write. But I have a few rules of thumb that I use that are probably good overall ideas.
1) The difference between a scene with poor description and a scene with good description isn't that much. You don't need to go into exhaustive detail - the trick is to get the reader to paint a picture with just a little information. In many cases, less is more.
2) In most cases, use evocative descriptions rather than physical descriptions. Rather than saying that a room has a high ceiling, call it cavernous. Rather than calling it small, call it cozy or cramped.

Compare and contrast:
1) Sam and Angie walked from the entryway into the noisy main hall. Sam had never seen a place like it before, but he didn't have much experience with traveling, so that was hardly surprising. He just wanted to stop and take it all in, but Angie seemed to know where she was going and they were on a schedule, so he dutifully followed after her.
2) The entryway was a cramped area, maybe two meters wide and just as tall, and Sam had to squeeze his way out. The main hall was huge, though, its ceiling fifty meters up or more, a tan marble dome. There were hundreds of busy people in the main hall going about their business. The sheer numbers surprised Sam, but Angie seemed unimpressed. She marched along and he followed after her.
3) Sam ducked out of the cramped confines of the entryway and into the echoing expanse of the main hall. He'd never imagined a place like it, columns reaching up to the sky festooned with posters and advertisements and people noisily bustling everywhere. A busker in a shabby suit tried to draw their attention, but Angie was in a hurry and Sam didn't want to get lost, so he followed after her.

Notice that all three passages are roughly the same length and convey the same basic facts but 1 is hardly descriptive at all, 2 uses physical descriptions in a way that doesn't lend itself to the imagination, and 3 makes use of the reader's imagination to help paint the scene in a much more nuanced way. The drawback of #3 is that each reader will interpret the evocative language a bit differently, so the exact image in your head might not carry over... but this is the best way to carry the emotional impression and sense of action over. The alternative is to write much, much more and risk boring your readers to death.
 

Glorious_Milfhunter

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Your best bet is to write, write, and write while keeping in mind what you want your readers to imagine.
Or consume as many books as you can to learn more about description that evoke senses.
Good luck and hope you get better :blob_nom:
 

HURGMCGURG

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If you're looking for style, my advice isn't practice. If you don't know how to write with style, then practice isn't going to suddenly make you know. First, you have to discover the style you like. This involves experimentation. I'd recommend trying to write from different POV, using different techniques for describing something, and dissecting the work of authors you enjoy.

As for good description, I find that a good bit of poeticism can help. Remember that however it's described should be based upon who's describing it.
 
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Tejoka

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Stylistically, I'd recommend that you try to avoid adverbs and adjectives and replace them with verbs where you can. Not at all costs, though. Also, look for synonyms for words (there are online thesaurus websites) and try to change your vocabulary up a bit and avoid repeated words, just don't use any that are so rare people won't know them. And try to avoid too many sentences that just go "the x was ...".

For descriptions, I second the opinion that just practicing isn't enough. As the old saw goes, if you do something wrong, then practicing only gets you in the habit of doing it wrong. But if you have guidelines and advice in mind while writing, and then look over and edit what you've written, that's better.

There are actually a lot of helpful resources on the web. For descriptions, I found a few:
https://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/how-to-write-vivid-descriptions
https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/story-description/
https://jerichowriters.com/sense-of-place-novel/
Or just try googling, I'm sure you'll find something that helps.
 

hastalavista

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Thank you everyone! Your advices are really helpful and most of them were new to me. I'll put them to practice soon.
 
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