5 Writing Tips & Tricks to Help You Write Better Descriptions

How do you write better descriptions? It’s a question that I get asked a lot as a developmental editor. Most of the writers I work with don’t feel confident in their descriptions. They’re worried that they’re saying too much or not enough. That their descriptions are focused on the wrong things, or leaving out key information.

I’ve written a post before on writing compelling character descriptions, which I think is a good place to look if that’s your main concern. But characters aren’t the only things you have to describe!

So, taking a generalised approach, what are the tips and tricks you can apply to write better descriptions, right now? Let’s take a look.

If you want to write better descriptions, start by making sure you have a clear picture in your own mind

Depending on the capabilities of your imagination, this might be very easy or very difficult. Or, you know, anywhere in between. If you are able to vividly (and consistently) imagine an environment, or a character, or whatever you’re describing, great! If not, reference images are your friend.

Collect images that are a close match to what you’re describing, and use those to anchor your descriptions. If you’re writing non-fiction, this should be much easier! You can find pictures of the actual places and people that you’re writing about. If you’re a fiction writer, it can be a little harder. Sci-fi or fantasy might be harder still, if you’re writing about things that don’t exactly exist in our world.

Bear in mind though that you don’t need a picture to show exactly what you’re trying to describe. You’re looking for visuals that capture the key details.

Things like texture, colour, scale, rough shape, or any number of other aspects. Whatever’s most important to your story.

Once your image is settled, pick out the details – get specific

Providing key details is so important for giving readers a strong sense of character or place. This is the whole point of description, right? To help your readers see what you’re seeing.

That doesn’t mean you need to get a tape measure out and start reeling off specific dimensions of places and people! The key is to choose the specific details that really define the thing you’re trying to describe.

This might mean honing in on the specific material something is made of, the number of buildings on the bank of a river, the particular slant of somebody’s shoulders as they sit waiting for bad news.

It doesn’t mean writing every detail, to be clear! But we’ll cover more on that in a bit.

To write better descriptions, sometimes you have to go for better words; you don’t always have to settle for the obvious

Sometimes, obvious is good. Sometimes the first word that comes to mind is the best one. But sometimes… sometimes you need to be prepared to go hunting for a word with the precise meaning or connotations that you’re looking for.

I actually really intensely dislike overwrought descriptions, so I encourage walking a pretty fine line here!

I think it can be a helpful exercise to go wild with the thesaurus on a first pass of important description. Look up every variation on a word and choose the one you like best. Write a whole string of beautiful, bewitching, magnificent, pulchritudinous words. But then get ready for the next step…

Then get selective: brutal editing is a key step in writing better descriptions

Remember: your aim is not to share as much information as possible in your descriptions. It’s not even to share the most precise impression that you can with your reader.

Your aim, if you’re looking to write better descriptions, is to get better at picking out the most relevant and impactful piece of information. So, try pulling out different parts of a lengthy description, and think about the effect of each component on its own. What captures the most important part of the place, person or thing that you’re describing?

Once you’ve found the part that has the greatest impact, or gives the closest impression to what you’re getting at, cut the rest.

Yes, all of it. Yes, even if it sounds really good when you read it aloud to yourself. Keep all of your favourite snippets of cut description in a secret document somewhere if you like! Anything that makes it easier to remove it from the final draft.

Don’t forget the emotional component of description

The most powerful description provokes an emotional response. That doesn’t mean that every description has to move your readers to tears! That would be weird, honestly. But think about the feeling of comfort you can evoke with a description of a crackling fire on a cold night. Consider the way you can create tension with the description of a sound in the dark when you thought you were alone.

When you’re writing description, try to figure out what emotional response you’re hoping to create in your reader. Familiarity, frustration, amusement, wonder, curiosity, the list is endless.

I’m not saying that everything you describe has to have this emotional side to it. Sometimes you’ll just need to describe something because it’s important for the logistics of a scene, without wanting to place unnecessary weight on it.

But part of figuring out how to write better descriptions is, I think, working out what you’re trying to do with those descriptions. And keeping an eye out for those opportunities to pack an emotional punch with your description is part of that.

Have you got any favourite tips on how to write better descriptions?

Author advice, tips from your own experience or writers who you think do a great job? Share it all in the comments! I’m just about to embark on a major edit of my contemporary YA project, so I’ll be keeping an eye out for descriptions I can hone.