By: Jessica Perez
Writing with detail is the best way to give your writing life. It creates images that stick with the reader and make the imaginary world of your story as close to tangible as it can be. What most people call details are also called sensory details, because they appeal to the five senses. While you can technically write without much sensory detail, using it skillfully can bring your writing to the next level and help tell the best story possible.
Here are five tips to remember about writing with detail:
Pages and pages of detail about a flower vase will lose your readers’ attention – they want to get to the action! But at the same time, if that particular vase is important, make sure your reader has enough information to clearly visualize it. It’s all about balance.
Let’s say your setting is an old house in need of renovation. Describing the house as “dusty, with plenty of shadows and creaky floorboards” fits for a spooky story. Describing that same house as “needing a clean, but full of history and character” wouldn’t be as successful. That would be more appropriate for a story about a family rebuilding their lives in a new home.
It can be hard to demonstrate taste or touch, depending on what your characters are doing, but it’s important to hit all five senses when you can. In fact, try to ease off the visual details and reinforce those images with details appealing to other senses. For example, a certain smell can be extremely evocative, and is more creative than describing merely what the characters see. Using all the senses creates a more complete and memorable image for the reader.
I can say that I have an old teddy bear. That’s a layer of detail, because I didn’t just say “teddy bear.” But it’s a lot more effective to say I have a teddy bear that’s missing an eye and leaking stuffing from its armpit. It’s not an insanely long description, so the reader doesn’t get tired of it, but it paints a better picture. And if you really want to stick to one-word descriptions, make it a strong adjective. Beat-up teddy bear is better than old teddy bear.
There’s an old saying about an English teacher teaching her students a short story wherein the main character’s house has blue curtains. The teacher says the curtains are blue to signify the main character’s depression, while her students argue that the curtains are just blue because the character liked them. Not every detail has to have life-altering significance in your story. The most important thing is that you convey your message to the reader. Cohesive stories with memorable narratives and images are better than deep symbolism. Write it how you want it to be!
Feel free to include any tips of your own in the comments!
Creativity
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I love love this piece, and especially the final comment. I love analyzing and looking deeper into artist’s meanings, but I must admit that sometimes overly done details can be slightly exhausting. And the blue is just blue is the perfect quote for writers and readers everywhere. Lovely piece!
I love how down-to-earth this article is. I’ve read some advice on writing with detail, and it amazes me the way the task looks near impossible. The truth is, most people are much better at detail than they believe (think about when you embellish to make a story more interesting, or pause and describe expressions to make an event funnier when you tell a friend). You’ve done a great job explaining how to weave this skill into writing. Using personification is my favorite thing when adding detail (i.e. “as the stars fell asleep” or something like this:
“This particular chair was mischievous in nature, embellished arms and a cushy pillow, beckoning passerbys to sit for just a moment. Only later did they realize they’d forgotten where they’d been going, and had become entangled by the simple comforts of rest.”)
I’ll be honest, I don’t know why a chair popped in my mind…
These are really awesome tips, Jessica! Great piece!
Thanks, the tips and helps for writing better is very needful for me!