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Fictional Narrative Basics - Description
Unit Completion Date: End of Week 5
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As I said before, much of learning to effectively describe is trial and error, observation and imitation. There are however a few hands-on, simple revision tools which will allow you to improve the description in a first draft. One of the most obvious signs of weak description is the clichÈ, and one of the unfortunate things about clichÈs is that they usually leap to mind first. Your best description is invariably the one that comes to mind third or fourth, after you have thought of and rejected the clichÈ.
In writing a first draft, however, in can be a momentum-stopper to hunt for that perfect description, and very often you will find yourself settling for a description that isn't exactly what you wanted. Mark these as you draft or go back and find the weak descriptions later. For each one, write out five or ten alternate descriptions in a list. Then go back and work the best one into the story. This is something I usually do with later drafts, as many times I cull out whole sections and time spent on the descriptions within would have been wasted.
Pick three descriptions from your first draft material that seem weak to you, and give this technique a try. This exercise will not be posted to the class site, but should be placed in the "Description" section of your own craftbook.
Description Exercise 7 (Opt.) - Submit Response
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