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[ALitteSlow]

How do you guys come up with descriptions? If it be a person or a place that you describe?

I have a very hard time coming up with them. Maybe if I could think of a way to encourage my thoughts more I can do it. But if I was to see a blue car that is all it would be to me. Someone else might come up with something elegant. If you ask me to say more I would say "shiny." lol. Someone told me I do not describe my characters or places very well, but I can't seem to come up with the creative words. Ideas?

[LittleMrsSunshine]

The first best thing you can do is read read read.
Another useful tool is a thesaurus.
Descriptions are, in my opinion at least, not as important as motions and actions. In the scheme of things, blue car would suffice. A more detailed rundown of a car might be appropriate in a story where they will need to find the car (bank robber, kidnapping, etc) But we don't need a paragraph on what a car looks like in most cases. What would be more important is what the person driving the car is thinking or doing. Don't describe things that aren't important to the plot of the story. And flowery words are not always necessary. Sometimes it can take away from the story to read about the "robins egg blue 1992 caprice with chipped paint" sometimes just a "dark blue sedan" is the better option. You can also look into resources like "descriptionaries" and such. A neat online site is http://thebookshelfmuse.blogspot.com/
just take it one sentence at a time... picture yourself there. what do you see, feel, hear, think, taste, smell, etc. what of that is important to the story, important to help the reader relate to the character or plot?

good luck! its hard at first but with practice it gets easier.

[slingink]

This is an easier problem to solve than you might expect.

When you see that one-word description, like shiny, simply write why it is shiny.

Example: shiny. Why is something shiny? Because...
The sun slipped between the last leaves of autumn to reflect off its glossy surface.

Cool?

[ALitteSlow]

I can do that kind of description but I guess comparing. Like green eyes= emeralds.

I have 50/50 for feedback on my writing. One says that they like how I write action, thoughts, not so much elegance. Just to the point. Then the other person says I don't have enough. Like I need to compare things like the green eyes to emeralds but more flashy than that.

But your example helps me anyway because I can improve. A lot.

[ALitteSlow]

^ I think I went a little valley girl up there because I said LIKE a little too often lol

[slingink]

Valley girls...there's a term I haven't heard since the 80's. Sweet.

In that example, I did not simply compare shiny to something else like glossy. [Totally! Gag me with a spoon!]

Describing the cause of the effect is where description can become elegant.
Effect: Shiny
Cause: Sun slipped...

Here's another example: "The old canoe was worn." (Boring!)
Years of crossing the rocky river had etched rough scars into the sides of the old canoe.

Now I'm just waxing poetic. Typically, less is more. But, sometimes, good description calls for more details.

[WriterBlocked]

Also, context. Use the point of view to help. Johny Jackhammer probably isn't going to see things in elegant description so action becomes more important.

The sedan parked along the curb, the noonday sun glaring off the blue finish, momentarily blinding him.

Where Marissa Moonbeam might marvel at the sedan as the midday sun glints off its royal blue finish.

It's crap, I know, but I just wanted to tie the descriptions to action (as slingink suggested). Now we have a blue sedan and a noonday sun. You don't have to stop to describe anything. It's all in the action of the car parking (and blinding poor Johny Jackhammer or mesmerizing Marissa Moonbeam {what's with me and Ms right now?})

Same with people. You can use the descriptions of people to let us inside the charaters' heads. Just think of someone you find attractive, then think of how you would describe that person to a friend. Then, try to distance yourself from the attraction and think of what a person who doesn't find them attractive might say. A person who hates him/her would almost certainly have an even different description.

This is where your green eyes vs. emeralds come in.

Her emerald eyes puzzled him, and he could have gazed at them all day long trying to figure out why.

or...

There was something wrong with her green eyes, and he wasn't about to stick around and find out what.

Don't use emeralds if the character wouldn't. This second guy most certainly isn't going to compare her eyes to precious stones, whereas the first just might.

Listen to your characters and stay true to your theme and eventually you'll get it. And like someone else said, read, read, read. Hope that was at least a little helpful.

RW

[slingink]

Great post, WB.
I neglected POV altogether. Foul!

[Darksculptures]

The only advice I have is to employ the techniques they suggested above and try to use as many of your senses as possible when trying to descide how to describe something.

Taste, touch, smell, sound, sight and don't forget the biggy, how it makes you feel emotionally. Try not to use metaphores unless you can come up with something origional, and don't overuse simile's or you hedge on being a little purple in your prose. (I am guilty of the last).

Excellent discussion on POV Writerblocked! I am adding your point to my editing checklist.

That's all I have to offer.

[yaghish]

Description is awful to give hints and red herrings.

If the blue car is shiny, it might have been painted just before, covering up it once was red and was used in a kidnap. Or it went just to the car wash to make sure it lost the traces of that unpaved path in the wood. Or the witness is a woman who doesn't know the difference between Cadillac and Chevrolet, but is sure the car is blue. Or the blue car is faster in the chase than the yellow one.

If you are not going to use the details in the story, don't write them.

[T.L. Kenworth]

Don't know if this will help or not but to get details(even those I don't use)into my mind's camera, I use pictures of places, people, animals etc. It helps to draw a clear image to work from. Not that I dwell on the looks but I prefer not to let my characters or settings exist in a void. They give you a "board" to bounce off of and the descriptions will come. As said, the type of car it is may not be important unless it's vital to the story as in what the kidnappers/hit-and-run driver etc. drives but even name authors like to sprinkle in brand names here and there. In the end, it's your preference and what works for the story.

[jerich100]

Also, bias your description toward the perspective of the current active character.

If the main character is a three-year-old, then describe green beans as those "green long, stringy vegetables that squeak when you chew them."

The first two paragraph of Orwell's 1984 contain, "...Winston Smith, his chin nuzzled into his breast in an effort to escape the vile wind, slipped quickly through the glass doors of Victory Mansions, though not quickly enough to prevent a swirl of gritty dust from entering along with him. The hallway smelt of boiled cabbage and old rag mats. At one end of it a colored poster..."

Everything above is from the perspective of the main character. This way, all of that descripion applies. Nothing is described that the main charcter isn't experiencing. This makes your description more relevant to the reader.