Main Points (courtesy Tanya B)
- Description is easy to overdo – avoid it, especially adjectives
- Make the descriptions shorter, more concrete and focused to do more than one thing.
- Remember: we have five senses. Use more than just sight.
- Shorter descriptions have more impact and more impact holds the reader to the story.
- Every book has a learning curve. Short, concrete descriptions and shifting the world-building later can lower the learning curve.
- Dole out information only as it becomes necessary. Shorten and chop up large descriptions, and distribute it throughout as a couple of lines here and there instead of one big block of text.\
Book Examples:
- Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson – Very steep learning curve
Next up: Description part 2
* Description is easy to overdue – avoid overdoing it.
* Make the descriptions shorter, more concrete and focused to do more than one thing.
* Remember: we have five senses. Use more than just sight.
* Shorter descriptions have more impact and more impact holds the reader to the story.
* Every book has a learning curve. Short, concrete descriptions and shifting the world-building later can lower the learning curve.
* Dole out information only as it becomes necessary. Shorten and chop up large descriptions, and distribute it throughout as a couple of lines here and there instead of one big block of text.
Book Examples:
Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson – Very steep learning curve
*overdo, not overdue.
Unless Description is a library book that’s past its due date, in which case, carry on.
Haha, thanks for the heads up Aerik. You are right
“…otherwise Way of Kings would have been 2,000 pages long…”
Something he mentions in the video: “In medias res” (into the middle of things) is a Latin phrase for the narrative technique where the relating of a story begins at the midpoint, rather than at the beginning, establishing setting, character, and conflict via flashback or expository conversations relating the pertinent past. The main advantage of in medias res is to open the story with dramatic action rather than exposition which sets up the characters and situation.