One of the most common questions I hear from new writers is: “How much description should I use?” The truth is, that’s the wrong question. Your story may require a ton of description or almost none at all. The question should be: What type of description should I use? The answer: relevant description.
Imagine that you’ve just walked into a living room. It’s your living room. You’ve walked into it every day for the past five years. Do you spend time thinking about the floral pattern on the sofa you’ve owned for twenty years? Do you study the lampshade you bought when you moved into the house? Probably not. You’re more likely to notice your kids running at you with news about school, the dog barking up a storm, and your husband asking how your day was.
Even then, are you likely to stop and describe your husband? If you’ve been married for ten years, then why would you stop and think about his square jaw, thick brown hair, and blue eyes? Unless your son has a black eye, why would you notice that his are blue like his father’s?
Now, let’s rewind and walk into the living room again. The floral sofa, the one your Aunt Ross gave you as a house warming gift and you wish you had the money to replace, is gone. In its place is a brand new leather sofa with a bright red bow on top. The children and the dog are only noticeable by their absence, and romantic music is playing on the stereo. Suddenly, it’s a whole new living room, one worthy of note and description. Something is about to happen here – probably something romantic – and it is set in motion by the very things you see when you step into that room.
Let’s step into a different living room now. This time it’s not yours, it’s your sisters, and you haven’t seen or heard from her in ten years. Cockroaches scatter when you turn on the light and the room smells of beer and marijuana. Your sister isn’t home yet, but from this description you have a horrible idea of what you might expect.
RELEVANT details are details that are either important to the story or to the character – preferably both. Description should move the story forward rather than slow it down. It should work with the action rather than against it. Description can tell a story on its own if you let it do its work properly.
The other thing about relevant description is that it doesn’t tend to saturate your brain all at once. If it takes a realistic character some time to notice important details then it will take your readers the same amount of time. Many readers will skim a paragraph that tries to hit them with all the details all at once. It’s just too much.
Let’s say that you walk into a sports arena. You may notice the excitement of the crowd, the noise, and the sticky concrete floor as you search for your seat. When you find it, you may notice that it’s orange or red or blue. After you sit down and chat with your friend you may notice the vender coming but to sell drinks or cotton candy. The announcer may come on and ask you to direct your attention to the scoreboard – which may be the first time you really notice that scoreboard.
How will the reader know what your settings and characters look like if you only give them details that are relevant to the plot? Well, they have imaginations too. As writers, we have to accept that our stories will take on a life of their own in the minds of our readers and we need to work with that rather than against that. There will be aspects that need to be envisioned a certain way, but do I really need to know that the sofa is blue? When I can fill in the less important parts of your story with things from my own life, like the green sofa I’m sitting on right now, then the details not only become relevant to your story, but they also become relevant to me.
Use descriptions. Bring out details to make the story come alive, but make it all relevant so that the details help tell the story rather than take over the story.