Thread: Problems with "What to Say"!

The only main issue that is preventing me from getting consistent work done on my novel seems to be knowing "what to say." You know what I mean? What exactly should I say in my story? What should I leave out? Most of this is referring to description. I am very good at dialogue, but I'm uncertain whether I'm using it too much. I feel like I need to implement more description into my novel. My only problem is I'm not the best at describing things. Anyone have any good tips regarding how to get better at description? Is there a website I can logon to and find out more? I feel like I need to look at the setting, get a visual picture of it in order to get a grasp on what I'm talking about. I just need to put the words to paper, but I need more practice.

Well, the one thing is that it needs to get down on paper regardless. You can always go back and add in description. That's what I end up doing. Description is the one thing I never seem to get right, but I leave that worry for later. One thing that might help is this: Do you always have to say something to be understood? People can communicate through body language, silence, and many other ways. If you feel like you are dialoguing too much, see what you can do about the parts that don't need to be spoken at all. That's just a little something really, but if you feel that you might be having too much dialogue, you can at least eliminate some of that. Writing out the book, flaws and all, is good practice. Everything can be fixed, though, once the book is all down on paper/computer.

General description: try using How, What, When, Where. Say, a character was standing outside. What time of day was it? How did the sky look? Where was she? In a market, by herself? What was she thinking? What was she looking at? Where is she going? Why was she outside in the first place? To shop? To get something? Just so she didn't have to be inside? The more questions you ask yourself, perhaps, the more it will help to know what to say/what to describe. Also, if you mean to describe surroundings, you can liken something to something else. "The tree in the middle of the field was gnarly and skeletal, as though winter had stolen away its garment and Spring forgot to grant it new clothes."

A thesaurus helps too. If you want to start describing things in detail, this can be very handy. Also, use the 5 senses: sight, sound, touch, smell, taste. How did the blanket feel after hanging in front of the fire on a cold night? What did he hear moving around in the dark? What smell brought the hungry boy straight to the kitchen? Describing with the five senses is probably the most important part of describing.

You can also pick up any book in your genre and just look and see how other authors describe things. You can dissect how and what they describe and how they do it. It's good practice to see what works or what doesn't. But again, you can always go back and fix something you dont like. You learn as you go, but you also don't have to be perfect about it now.

This is basic stuff you probably already know. I'm not a very good writer, but I hope this helped a little.

I guess this is one of those things that should get done during editing. Maybe something that would help is if you write down some very basic notes of the description before hand, it might at least give you a handle on what you're trying to say.

Practice. It's how you get better. I have a couple dozen writing books, and not all of them were great, most provided some insight into the different aspects of writing. First thing is to get to a point where your stories are readable without interpretation by you outside of the words you use. After that you focus on another aspect of writing till you learn enough that it isn't something you have to think about that often.

There is no magic web site, or program, or anything else (outside of being extremely gifted) that will help you learn to write better than writing and getting honest feedback on the writing. The second is almost impossible to get from friends and family.

Practice.

Maybe just look at something in a room or on a sidewalk, and think about how to describe it.
There is no better way to improve describing then to describe.
You don't have to write it down, its not about making it readable or interesting, just concentrate on how to describe it to the smallest detail.

Write some poetry. It'll do wonders for your ability to pen concise, effectively descriptive prose.

I agree with the majority of the responses here. Practicing writing description and such will greatly increase your mastery concerning this. Also, as Argentum said, just write whatever comes to mind (staying on topic of course!). When your done with your "spewing" go back and either add or subtract words to your hearts content!

I feel like I need to implement more description into my novel. My only problem is I'm not the best at describing things. Anyone have any good tips regarding how to get better at description?

Try this! Take a picture of anything! A Hawaiian beach. New Zealand. Mount Everest. Get out a piece of paper and just write and describe it! What do you see? How can you describe it's feel and atmosphere. After your done writing about it, hand your description to someone and let them read it. You should also show them the picture. After that, just listen to their comments!