Tuesday's Inspiration - When Is Enough Enough? #MFRWauthor #amwriting

Was looking at a book that I read years ago and skimming through thinking I might want to read it again. Suddenly I stopped and stared. There were four pages describing a single room in a house. Partway through the description I became bored. A pencil found it's way into my hand and I began chopping out words and sentences. There were too many words about this room. Did I form an impression of the room, I did but the room was more like a picture on the wall. I did't see the characters acting and reacting to the room.

Mow I've been sometimes accused of being too sparse in my descriptions of people. I am trying to over come this. I really like the reader to create a picture in their head of the character but often I do fail in this aspect. I'm working on this. I now have learned to find something more than she had red hair and green eyes. I've tried to use words that can give a hint of the true color of a character's hair. Once I used this bit. Brown hair but streaks of the colors found in a fire, yellow, orange, red and a hint of white. Those aren't the exact words in the story since I've moved ahead and left that story and that character behind.

But to answer the question, When Is Enough Enough. read over your own work and pay attention to the descriptive passage. When you start to yawn sit back and see what part of the descriptive passage needs to stay and which to be saved for another book. When the description flashes by you at warp speed, slow down and find more ways and a few telling words to make the reader see the character.