What's Write [COMPLETED]

A picture is worth a thousand words. (Description)

Description is a balance. You want enough that you get a feel for what is going on but not too much that the reader gets bogged down. You have to balance it with dialogue as well. And the amount of description you can put in a book changes depending on the genre.

For instance if you are writing pretty much anything other than a YA (Young Adult or Teen Fiction) novel, you can do a ton of more description. That's because your readers with be expecting a different pace. With YA you want to keep it short and snappy. Let me get a feel for the scene and then keep moving.

With having so little description you want it to pack a punch and be clear. Now I actually lean too much towards giving minimum description. Honestly, my books could probably stand to have a bit more but they also read really quickly.

I think about description as if it were a movie. You are the camera man. You're going to enter the scene and get to the heart of what's going on. You might give us a sweeping view of the room, (descriptions of the overall look and where the characters are positioned). But you're not going to zoom in on one part of the room for over a minute.
No, you're going to focus on what matters. The characters.

This is how you should see descriptions. Enough so I know where I am but not enough that I'm wondering when it will get to the important part. Description is meant to move the story forward, not stall it. (I think I switched analogies there. Anyways, moving on)

Here is example from A Secret Service. It is the very opening of the book. I'm not saying I'm perfect but just see how you get a feel for the space without staying too focused on it.

*************

The mahogany grandfather clock in the corner ticked impatiently. The dark wood echoed that of the imposing desk that took up half the room. Carter sat slightly curved in her chair, legs crossed, hands folded over her stomach. Her expression that of mild amusement.

"Mr. Owens, I appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to be here today," Principle Withers said.

Carter glanced at her father, his posture was one of military rigidity, his black suit immaculate, his face unreadable. Hints of gray peeked out through his hair, despite his age.

"I don't wish to keep the president waiting so I will come to the point. Mr. Owens, your daughter,"  Principle Withers shot a look at Carter, who had busied herself by picking a piece of imaginary lint off her crumpled uniform, "dislocated the shoulder of a fellow student."

Carter raised a finger.

"Technically, he dislocated his own shoulder," she interrupted.

In the blink of an eye she read annoyance in her father's face. The slight narrowing of his eyes, tightness in his lips and the twitch in his eyebrows.

"Lucky for Ms. Owens, no charges were pressed by the young man. Carter has already served her punishment for her actions, but I wanted to be sure to bring this to your attention. Since this was her first offense detention was assigned. But," Principal Withers's eyes narrowed at Carter. "should this happen again, Carter would be facing suspension, possibly expulsion."

Carter met the Principal's gaze, her face impassive.

**************

You can picture everything right? That's what you want with description, clarity balanced with forward progression of the book.

I know as a writer it's really easy to see every single bit of description down to the way the characters are sitting to the painting hanging on the wall to sound of the trees rustling outside. And that's great! That is a fantastic thing! If you need to write all of that down then do it! But when it comes time to post or share, cut away what doesn't matter.

I know this can sound harsh and like I'm asking too much but if you want people to stick with something you have to keep it moving. I know this because the version of Every Second on here was originally 290,000 words. That's double the length of Twilight. I cut so much stuff away from that book it's ridiculous, but I knew it had to move more quickly.

(🙈 I know Jacob I can't believe it either)

Did you know that the first chapter to A Second Chance isn't actually the original? There were three more chapters in front of it, but because it didn't get to the heart of the story they were cut. I know it's hard but you got to do it.

So! challenge for you! Take a chapter you have written and see whether it fits the structure of just enough description? If it does, BRAVO! STAND OVATION!! If it doesn't see what you need to take out.

Also if there is a great description you like then keep it, not all the wonderful things have to go. At the end of Every Second I kept a lot of the original descriptions for the flashback, because I liked the way I described the city. You can do that. Don't cut what you absolutely love!

Okay, this was long! I'll let you think over all that! Good luck and happy writing! 📝

Let me know if you have any questions! 😄

Might as well end on this! 😉 Give your brain a break!