Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

71%
+3 −0
Q&A Is this kind of description not recommended?

This reads completely normal to me and I don't really see anything wrong with it. If "tall" is what identifies the person in this scene it would be normal to use that if the narrator doesn't know...

posted 5y ago by Secespitus‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-12T23:01:25Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/47403
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T12:45:02Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/47403
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T12:45:02Z (almost 5 years ago)
This reads completely normal to me and I don't really see anything wrong with it.

If "tall" is what identifies the person in this scene it would be normal to use that if the narrator doesn't know the name of the person or wants to emphasize this person being "tall" for whatever reason, such as a small room or something like that.

Don't necessarily listen to any writing advice you find online as if it was the sole truth. Not everyone is an expert and if I write in my own blog that something shouldn't be done then maybe that is simply my opinion - not what everyone else ought to take as the holy grail. Read lots of opinions and you will come closer to the truth.

Maybe there was a reason this person said that you shouldn't use such characteristics. Or there is missing context. If the narrator knows the name of the character, why would they use such a description? Again, there can be reasons like I mentioned above, but if there is no such reasons you should probably use the name.

But without any more context about the kind of situations where you shouldn't do this such an advice is far too broad and generic. There are lots of advices like that for every kind of thing you shouldn't do in writing. It's the same in other fields, too. There are lots of advices about what a programmer should never, ever do for example - unless, of course, they know what they are doing and have a reason. Often this advice is for people new to the craft - many edge cases where things can go horribly wrong, so better stick to the simple stuff and an easy to remember guideline than to learn about every possible pitfall yet. There are cases where it makes sense to do something, but you should know when to do it and when not to do it.

That you _shouldn't_ do something is alone not a good advice.

There needs to be context about _why_ and _when_ not to do something. Otherwise such advice is pretty much useless as it just cuts off a path for you without teaching you anything about the reasons.

Obviously you should take this advice with a grain of salt - I, too, am just a random guy on the internet posting his opinion about how not to do something ;)

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-08-19T10:34:14Z (over 5 years ago)
Original score: 10