SPA Girls Podcast - EP229 - How To Write Great Description

<p><em><strong>How can we write more descriptively?  </strong></em></p> <p><em><strong>Characters? Setting? What gives "visual" to readers?</strong></em></p> <p>What is the point of description? - To enrich the readers understanding of a story, to move the story forward, and to help readers see a character. (Description by Monica Wood)</p> <p>So how can we write great description without it sounding cliched, over-written or just plain boring? Listen up and we’ll share all our best description writing tips from ourselves and from some great writing teachers.</p> <p>We’ve compiled a few notes to give you ideas on how to use description effectively in your writing, without overwhelming or underwhelming your readers…</p> <p><strong>Describing Characters</strong></p> <p>Often descriptions of characters tends to be like "she had red hair, blue eyes and was of medium build."</p> <p>Consider instead, "She tucked a tendril of red hair behind her ear, and gave me a cheeky smile. Her eyes sparkled with mischief as she took off on the trail ahead of me, her pack bouncing on her back."</p> <p>Which one gives you more of a sense of who the character is?</p> <p><strong>Describing Setting</strong></p> <p>Put characters in uncomfortable situations</p> <p>Setting can be an amazing way to put our characters into uncomfortable positions. Consider the fish out of water kind of scenario, that will amp up a boring scene. A billionaire walks into a dirty dive and, all suited up in an expensive outfit, his Rolex on show, orders a tap beer. Or a whiskey. Or a house wine.</p> <p><strong>Consider your infallible narrator</strong></p> <p>Describe the scene through your character's eyes (which you should be doing anyway, most of the time), but with an awareness of how they'd see it. Someone who was a neat freak would see a messy caravan set up on a ranch differently so someone who was used to dirt and disorder.</p> <p><strong>Only give a hint as to the setting</strong></p> <p>Readers like to spend time imagining the world for themselves. Begi