Guns Shoot.

All right. I promised I'd talk about this, and I've no idea how long it's been since then.

So without further adieu: how to avoid over-description.


Essentially, what you want to do is describe as much as you, the writer, need to know to move the story forward. There's a saying that goes "don't put the gun on the shelf unless someone's going to shoot it" (or something along those lines), and it's actually the basis for this blog.

Over describers, keep in mind that your readers don't need to know what everything looks like at every possible moment. 

So, if you're going to use it, if a character is going to stand beside it or fiddle with it or even look at it, you'll need to describe it. If it's a setting you're describing, you can get less and less with details as time goes on, because your readers should remember everything.

The point here is to not get too repetitive.

Don't describe the same things over and over again, because it gets very boring. Describe enough that your readers can fill in the blanks and decide for themselves what everything looks like.

Yes, I'll admit, this is difficult to do your first time around. But the beauty is that you have the lesser of two evils.

All you have to do is go back through and cut cut cut while you're editing! (but save your original draft, to avoid too much heartbreak)

I'm like you: I'm an overdescriber. All I do is go back in and cut as much as I possibly can while still maintaining the essence of the story. After all, the story is the important part. Settings get stronger the more you write in them. :)


Still having trouble? Try reading anything by Tolkien, and removing about a third of his descriptive sentences. He's very well known as an overwriter.


But if you're an under describer, that probably doesn't help you.

So next week (I promise I'll actually do it this time) I'll discuss the troubles with under-description, and how best to solve your the issue.

{RD}