B&A: When is description bad? And when do you really need it?

Question

What I mean by this is: I know that it's cliche to put description at the beginning describing the characters hair, eyes etc. But what are other examples of badly used description in a story. And when in the story is description needed and actually hoped for?

BQ: What in one word describes your story?
BQ2: Who is your oldest character in your story?
BQ3: Do you like math? ( I am in algebra 2 right now)

Answer 1

Hi, Sterling :)



I kind of struggle with *writing* description, but I know what I want to get across. Anyway -



When description is bad -

- In action scenes. The reader doesn't want flowery words, metaphors and similes, they want it to be to the point, they want to know what happens next, not that the curtains have a flowery pattern on them when a murderer is coming towards them with a knife.

- Dialogue. Only sometimes, though. If people are having a conversation, then it's good to have some description but you don't want too much so that it disturbs the flow of conversation.



Good -

- When the MC (or whoever's POV you're writing from) goes somewhere they haven't been before.

- When meeting someone new.

- When something is unusual. Ex - Someone comes in on crutches. This is important because if you said someone came into the room, you wouldn't automatically assume that they're on crutches.

- To... how do I put this? To emphasise the character's personality. Ex - (And, yes, I know an example was needed after that description, lol) A character (let's call them Susan) is about to hit... Jillie because Jillie has been bullying Susan. Is Susan's face calm? Angry? Scared?

It's more of the little things with this one, like if someone plays with their hands when they're bored or whatever. Hope you got the point.



Mainly it's needed when you feel it's needed. And the thing to remember with description is that only mention the things the character would notice. If your MC is a thug, they're not going to notice the flowery curtains. (Why do I keep using curtains as an example? Lol).

Personally, I hate it when there's too much description, it's annoying and boring. But then I also do want some, but in the right places.

Good example of description - The Maze Runner by James Dashner.

Bad example - The Awakened Mage by Karen Mills. Some parts were good, but at others it was like, "I DON'T CARE WHAT THE FLOOR LOOKS LIKE!"



Lol, well, hope I helped and if I didn't I just made you read through all this and wasted five minutes of my life in the process.



Edit - Wow, I wrote a lot.

And - AAAAH! I forgot BQ's

:O

BQ - Unpredictable (because I never know what's going to happen next, not because I'm just *that* good, lol)

BQ2 - Oh, uh, Michael. Forty seven.

BQ3 - Oh, god, no. You should be banned from B&A for mentioning it in this section. (Yes, that is how strongly I feel).

Answer 2

I think description is bad when it pulls away from the story. Like in the middle of an action scene, if every little detail is described, it doesn't feel very "actiony."

Over describing is also bad, and super annoying. It's nice to know basic looks of a character but I don't need to know how many eyelashes they have.

Description is helpful whenever the setting has changed. I'm not so great with description, so when people critique, they mostly ask for setting description. Is the character sitting, standing, pacing. Outside, inside. And I think when describing something new, like a building they haven't seen yet, a car, or whatever, is helpful.





BQ: What in one word describes your story? Awesome! XD Ok, for real, I guess I'd call it, Busy. So much happens and I have so many subplots. I love having all this stuff going on but I probably ought to tone it down a bit.

BQ2: Who is your oldest character in your story? The oldest characters are ageless because they are demons. But the oldest actually living character is a bartender in his mid-twenties.

BQ3: Do you like math? ( I am in algebra 2 right now): Nope. I suck at math and so therefore am not really all that fond of it. I'd rather write.

Answer 3

To me, bad use of description is when it starts to read like an instruction manual or a rap sheet rather than a piece of fiction. I've seen writers do as you mentioned and list their characters hair colour, eye colour, height, weight, etc. The one that really irks me is when people over use description in things such as sex scenes and it reads like a how-to guide, step by step instructions. Things like that can completely distract you from the story and you find yourself thinking more about how dreadful that scene is than the rest of the story, which could have been brilliant. Unfortunately, the writer can ruin it all with just one badly written scene.



BQ1- Fluff (it wandered away from angst and back to fluff about 200 words ago)

BQ2- 29

BQ3- Absolutely hated it at school, yet I currently work in a cash/accounts office and it's not so bad now that there isn't a teacher putting me on the spot and getting cross when I don't know the answers.

Answer 4

Use of "Description" is bad when it cuts into the story breaking up the flow of the story line; when it is used very obviously to display what I like to call the "vocabulary" word(s) of the day - a great mass of mumbo-jumbo words that if removed shows it didn't add anything to the story to begin with.



BQ: One word to describe my story - Drama

BQ2: The oldest character in my story is not a person but a thing. (So don't know if that applies)

BQ3: I like math now more than I did before. It affects so much of our lives that I didn't realize or appreciate.



Hope that helps.

Answer 5

When it takes you out of the story, rather than bringing you into it. For example, when the writer flaunts a mob of words they don't know the meaning of to try and create a deep emotion, that's wrong. During an action scene, description shouldn't be over the top. It's really about knowing when enough is enough.



BQ: Deep

BQ2: At the moment, Thomas. He's a fourty year old restuarant owner.

BQ3: *gags* I'm not bad at it, and my family loves it. I simply dislike the subject.

Answer 6

When people over-describe. It gets boring and sometimes I feel like I have been transported out of the story, rather than in. Just unnecessary dribble. It's a real skill to be able to use the littlest of words and still create a vivid picture in the reader's mind.



BQ: Bland (lol, oops)

BQ2: There's this one guy that's immortal (and it's only one and he's not a main character.)And he's definitely not a vampire!

BQ3: NOOO! :)