In your opinion, should authors be descriptive when they are teeling a story? Why or why not?

Question

telling not teeling sorry :)

Answer 1

Yes - authors should be descriptive when they are telling a story. Basically, they are painting a picture for the reader. By adding details such as a physical description of the person in the story (hair color, height, what the person is wearing), the reader can use the details to imagine what the person looks like. Same thing with setting details - helps the reader picture what the setting looks like. Don't use too many, though, or the reader will get bored with too many words and skip the details.

Answer 2

Likewise, I agree with the first two answers.

The classic advice is show, don't tell. "He looked really angry." Tells.

You can simply describe, or combine the two.

"As I watched, his eyes narrowed, his hand clenched, leaning towards me his body seemed to vibrate with hatred."

The key is will it help the flow of the story. Can the reader identify what you are saying in relation to their own life and experiences.

Often a writer will use words that stick out- an incredibly good description, but if it makes the reader stop, lose the flow of the book and think, "WOW, is that a neat way to say that." Is it effective if the reader loses their place in the story and thinks outside the story?

Depends on you intent and the effect you are after.

It is often most effective at the end of a chapter, as a place mark so the reader can sit back and take a few seconds break before turning the page, or as a natural break point in the flow.

Think of your writing as a musical score with flow and rhythm. It's why varying sentence length is effective and really long page length paragraphs rarely are.

Description helps when you need to emphasize a point, or to describe something unusual. It underlines a scene.

Answer 3

I am going to take to opposing view...just for fun. Writers should avoid lengthy descriptions. The story should tell you everything. For example, it is better to say "the door creaked and groaned..." then to say "the building is old". It is better to have a character do something that shows she is angry than to write, "She was very angry".