Writing page(s) long desrciptions

[nlough]

Ever since I started writing novels I have been faced with the difficult task of writing page long descriptions and most of my writing consists of dialogue. I know it's not completely a bad thing, but I look at other books like Tolkien's Lord of the Rings or Douglas Adams' Hitchhikers Guide and sometimes they go pages before a character even speaks and it makes me feel like something is wrong with my writing.

I put some description in like a rough explanation of what a character looks like, the description of a new city upon arrival, and even the actions the characters take. But that only takes up about a paragraph or two when I write it. Are there any tricks or tips that could help me expand upon my descriptions?

 

[ThinkerX]

These days, the trend is the opposite: short, condensed descriptions. Long descriptions ('info-dumps') are seen as getting in the way of the story.

 

[Svrtnsse]

I'd say that if you want more description, the way to do it isn't to increase the length of the descriptions you have, but to increase the number of things you describe.

I'm a very firm believe in giving a good first impression and then leaving it at that. In the real world, it takes just a few seconds for a person to form their first impression of another person. To me that translates into about one paragraph of text - on average. You can of course go on and describe the object/place/person in more detail, but the longer you go on, the more likely it is that you get to a point where the image the reader has already formed is different from what you're describing. You really want to avoid that.
There's a saying that goes something along the lines of "First impressions last." Keep that in mind.
Forming an initial impression of something is quick and easy. Changing this initial impression is difficult and takes time. If your descriptions go against the image in the reader's mind they're going to get annoyed - even though you as the author are "right".

When I write a description of something - and I quite like describing things - I try to start with the biggest, most obvious detail. I start with that which you would notice first. For example:

The round little woman had long black hair.

Just from this we get a whole lot of information and you probably have something of an image of the woman in question already.

You can add to the description later, but you'll have to remember what you've already said and not say anything that goes against it. Keep in mind that it's not just what you've said about the thing you're describing that matters. The reader will also base their expectations on what they know about the world so far.
This has the side effect that the further into the story you get, the less description you need to add.

In the example above, the reader is likely to make the assumption that the round little woman is a typical inhabitant of the setting she appears in. If she wasn't, it would have been mentioned. Since this is a fantasy forum, it's likely that readers of this thread will be in that kind of mindset when they read the thread and they'll probably assume the little woman is dressed conventionally for the setting they have in mind - regardless of what they have in mind.

I've now mentioned the little woman a few times. The only description I gave of her is the one in the quote above. But I've also talked of fantasy settings and about the world so far and I used the phrase "dressed conventionally". This isn't part of the description of her, but it does have an impact on your associations.
If I now went ahead and explained that the little round woman with the long black hair wears yellow spandex and carries a jet-pack on her back, that wouldn't fit with your initial impression.
Sure, it's a bit of a far fetched example, but that's mainly just to illustrate the point.

The point, I think, is that it's not just description that's description. It's not just the paragraphs that tell the reader how something looks that helps them form their image. Everything else they've experienced in your story so far helps them fill in all the blanks.

 

[nlough]

Alright thanks. I already have general descriptions for my characters and settings. It was just seeing how some authors go pages without a character speaking that made me feel a little uncomfortable. My descriptions are about a paragraph or two anyway, so I guess I should be all set.

 

[Svrtnsse]

It's about what works for you. Forcing something in that you don't feel comfortable with just because others do it may not necessarily be such a good idea.
If you want to pick up tips from how others do it, find someone who writes at a style you like and see what they do.

 

[wordwalker]

The trick may be, "description" doesn't mean nothing's happening. It just means that whatever happens, nobody opens their mouth. (Or maybe they should anyway. Two pages without regular dialog doesn't mean someone can't pop in a one line comment here or there, a great way to punctuate things. And readers do like seeing them in there to break the rest up.)

If you have a silent time, figure out not just what the scenery is but what is changing in a way that changes how the characters look at their goals. Gathering rainclouds are lesser things when you're indoors, but not when you're stuck walking-- or you're a drought-stricken farmer. A city might look like one thing, but as they go in further they may start seeing signs that that it's too poor to help them, or too full of sinister shadows to let their guard down in. You can present even a small hint that nudges the odds of things just a little.

And, you can stretch out description by having conversation--or other actions--having during it, a "walk and talk."

--Or, sometimes you do want just a paragraph to sum up a whole city for a while. Pacing is your own choice, both about how much your own style sets the "average length" of different kinds of writing (longer talks? many but brief descriptions, or do you want longer ones?), and which moments of the story need more or less than that based on their priority.

 

[Penpilot]

I put some description in like a rough explanation of what a character looks like, the description of a new city upon arrival, and even the actions the characters take. But that only takes up about a paragraph or two when I write it. Are there any tricks or tips that could help me expand upon my descriptions?

This sounds a lot like me when I was starting out. First, I'd like to ask, are you telling the story from a character's point of view? Second, are you letting the reader into the head's of your characters?

Not doing these two things held me back quite a lot leads to having not much to say.

When you're telling a story from a point of view and getting into the head of a character, there will be plenty to write about. What gets described will show the reader what's important to the character, and how it's described will reflect their emotional state.

If a thief walks into a tavern, they might describe everyone as marks, and be eyeing all the pretty purses and jewels people are wearing.

If an knight walks into a tavern, they might describe everyone as ladies and sirs, and size everyone up by placing them into one of two categories, fighter or non-fighter.

 

[skip.knox]

Try not to pay attention to what other authors do. To be more precise, take notice of how they write, but try not to let them cause you to think you ought to write that way. The author is not a good judge of how a book *ought* to be written. That's what readers are for.

Instead, write one work all the way to completion. Write it so it makes *you* happy. Then give it to beta readers.

If they all come back saying you need more description, then you can consider description to be an issue in your writing and you can start exploring ways to do it better. Length might be one way.

But, until you've got that completed work, with feedback, you're getting ahead of yourself if you start worrying about how your style compares to others.

 

[Terry Greer]

The advice so far is all good.

It's hard to realise fully that readers don't see the characters and their actions as detailed as you do. They need leading by the hand sometimes.

Exercises I use:
Try describing what a character does in detail when they are on their own. That way you're forced to deal with a character's actions.

Try imagining a sequence as a film - and describe all the little actions, cutaways etc. that a director might put in to add additional character and meaning to a scene.

Use references in descriptions rather than simple facts e.g. rather than 'This hair was dark and unkempt' try 'His hair was dark and stringy, unwashed and unkempt to the point it resembled a well-used mop that hadn't recently been rinsed.

You have to be careful with this though as it's easy to go to far or use it too often and it's not to everyone's taste.

 

[nlough]

Thanks everyone. I'll keep all this advice in mind while writing.