How much description is necessary?
I have trouble imagining things. With me everything is blurred, as if I were almost blind. That's why I find it hard to describe things. For example, the protagonists enter a castle. I have a very rough idea of what the castle looks like. But when it becomes more precise, it becomes much more difficult. I couldn't say exactly how the rooms are decorated, only that they are decorated. I'm always worried that I won't describe enough and the readers can' t get a picture of the setting. How much description is necessary and when is it too little?
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Description isn't just visual.
You did a pretty decent job describing your "blindness" to imagining how something looks.
Let's imagine that castle....
- How does it sound? (echos indoors? surrounded by ponds with singing frogs? what about hearing more outside noises when inside? I can imagine the windows are non-existent or not very tight, but then the walls are thick, so is sound more muted or more noticeable?)
- How does it smell? (musty? old? mineraly from stonework? can you smell forests or ponds or other open space when indoors?)
- How does it *feel?" (are the walls very sturdy or do they seem like they're going to fall down? Is the floor thick and unyielding? Is it cold?)
- Where is it located compared to other places? (Far away from regular houses? Was it difficult to get to?)
All of these things will immerse your reader in the setting and help her/him to imagine being there. Even if you were good at visual description, you would need to involve the other senses.
As a direct answer, yes you need description and you need some of it to be visual. It can be small things if the setting is familiar. I've never been in a real castle but they're so common in books and movies that I can imagine one. If I was reading a book set in a castle, I wouldn't need more than a few words here and there that oriented me to the type and size of castle and a few other details as needed. But if the setting was someplace else and not familiar, I would need more.
You don't need (or want) pages of description. It's best to weave it into the story. Perhaps a short paragraph setting the scene then a line here, two lines there, and a few evocative adjectives.
The best way to know if you've done too little (or too much) is to ask people to read your work. There's no hard and fast rule. If they don't understand the setting or can't immerse themselves in it, then you need more. If they're bored with the long descriptions and want to get back to the story, then you need less.
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A complaint from readers if description is not sufficient goes something like: "It felt like floating heads were talking in a white room."
Readers wish to feel grounded. You don't necessarily need to do this with external detail and description (but there is a quick work around for that, below the first quote box). You can instead do it with internalization, ideas and reactions, and so on. Instead of describing the castle, for example, describe the person's response to the castle:
It was like being alone in a cave. So big, with nothing to to focus on, nothing familiar, nothing comforting--just open space and hard surfaces. It made him nervous to even be there. He hesitated to make any noise at all, afraid the sound would echo.
That's mostly internal stuff and vague externalities, but it grounds the reader. You want the reader to be grounded more often than not.
Now, if you decide what you want is external detail and can't picture it in your head, simply pull up an image online. Google image 'castle' and you will see the following details without any imagination needed:
Soaring turrets, ivy draped stonework, softened edges--perhaps from centuries of rain, narrow windows occasionally dotting the walls, grey and brown brick ...
Those are details from the outside of the castles, but you can specify inside a castle in your search.
This is a similar trick to the common advice regarding dialog--just pay attention. Listen and look and take notes. You are allowed to do this. :) You are allowed to use tools like this, especially if it helps you reach a better story.
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/41816. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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