*crashes through the wall* YEAHHHHHHH DESCRIPTIONNNNNNN! If you can't tell, I'm going to love going over this.

Description is basically the meat of your story. It goes hand-in-hand with pacing and it's something that can really make or break your story.

You see, a lot of stories struggle with the world building aspect. There are countless ways to include how you see the world you've created, but I'm going to focus on the descriptive aspect.

This is something I've been figuring out for a long time. I still am. However, I have a few tips and tricks on how to describe your setting, because a lot of times our brains will forget that the reader can't see anything if we don't tell them anything.

First, close your eyes and picture the scene in your mind. The example I use when helping people is a sunset. How high is the sun? Can you see the moon? What color is it? Is it yellowish orange or purplish yellow? Are there trees casting shadows? A river reflecting light? Perhaps the sky is a rainbow of colors with the ones nearest to the sun bright and warm and the ones far away cold and dark. Maybe you can see stars winking in and out. 

You're painting a picture for yourself. I write a lot of fantasy- in fact, I can't remember the last time I wrote a non-fiction story. What does that mean? It means I don't have a reference. My brain paints the picture and I have to have a strong painting to have strong descriptions. However, there are ample images, photographs, and paintings that can inspire and spark ideas. I let the world around me bleed into my work- but I still make it my own. That's the important part. It's fine to be inspired by something, but you have to make it your own original work (and/or give credits).

I try to think about writing a scene like this: I am sitting with the reader and they are blind. They just asked me to describe what was around us in detail. So, I'm going to pick apart the setting and tell them what's going on. 

It works because it's true. The reader is blind until you let them see. Then once they have their own painting, you don't need to keep harassing them about that detail (unless it's a symbol or a motif).

Dialogue is great and all, but it's nothing without a scene. Your reader will move too fast and it'll mess up the pacing. When I write, it takes me four-ish hours to get 2-3 thousand words done. You know how fast a reader will get through that? Five minutes tops. More likely three. 

Here's an example of how description fuels your story. Below are two excerpts of the exact same scene, one with description and one without.

Fre walked into the restaurant and sat down. He was the last one there and received nods of greeting from Sha, Vaca, and Do. 

"Always late," Vaca said, failing to hide a smile.

Sha nodded while Do poked Fre playfully.

"Yeah yeah, whatever," Fre muttered.

Fre walked into the restaurant, immediately greeted by the aroma of food sizzling on the flattops back in the kitchen. Brown, saggy booths lined the diner, resting against tall pillars. The pillars were a darker shade of brown with carvings engraved in them to imitate bark. Lights flickered, waving at Fre, beckoning him closer.

He navigated the maze of tables and sat down next to his friends Sha, Vaca, and Do, ignoring the crumbs that rested on top of the table. His friends nodded and began speaking, and although he could make out their words, he found it difficult from the clinking of drinks and loud waves of murmurs from voices in the background.

"Always late," Vaca said, failing to hide a smile. Her eyes sparked with mischief as she teased her friend.

Sha nodded in agreement while Do poked Fre playfully. 

"Yeah yeah, whatever," Fre muttered.

I could've gone more into detail. I could've talked about their clothes, how the booths felt when sitting on them, gone more into detail on the noise, etc. I think you get the point though.

I try to let my readers have their own imagination within the story, but I also like describing what I see when I imagine the scene.

Pacing goes along with this because taking the time to write the setting will slow everything down. I had huge problems with rushing through scenes (one time I wrote an entire war in half a page. Not kidding). As I became more descriptive, I found it easier to pace my story to more realistic standards. Plus, it made my chapters longer.

Some tricks for pacing, or at least what I do, is I know where chapter will start and where it will end. I don't try to find the solution. I let the characters do that. I'll start with some dialogue, perhaps, and see where it takes me. A lot of times I'll end where I wanted to or will have come up with a better idea.

Basically, you want to let the story flow. The characters know what they're doing, so let them do their work. Let them have some fun. Don't sacrifice character continuity for plot. Seriously- don't do it.

There's a difference between character growth/regression and scrapping the character's personality. Growth/regression happens after an event or interaction. If the character changes for no reason, there's a problem. But, if they change because of a plot point or something like that, then that's just writing a story.

Hopefully that made sense. If I come up with more tips on how to ✨describe✨ or ✨pace✨ things better, I'll make a part two. Bye y'all!