I am learning that I tend to add too much description to my
scenes. I love writers that can draw me
in with a rich tapestry of description. However, I have come to realize as I
edit my work that I am leaving nothing to the reader’s imagination. Is that important? I believe that it is.
I want to keep the reader engaged and if their minds fill in
the threads of the tapestry then they will connect to the scene. Is it okay to describe only the bustling
crowds in their drunken revelry with the smells of the cooking fires wafting
through the air without describing their colorful dress and what is cooking? Probably
not, but do we need to know that they were drinking ale brewed locally or
faraway? Is it important to know they
drank all day from silver flagons? I’d say no unless those things are somehow
important to the plot. Is it important
to know that they are celebrating freedom in the town square? Yes, but do they need to know the street is lined
with bales of straw? Does it matter?
That question has become my editing slogan.
To the reader the colorfully dressed revelers are
celebrating freedom in the town square.
Perhaps in their mind they are frolicking atop the wall of the towns
well while singing drinking songs and dancing until they fall down. Perhaps they are stumbling along on cobbled
streets afraid of the shadows of encroaching buildings. If you introduce your characters to a well
developed scene at the first encounter then you can allow yourself to ease up
on the minutia and concentrate only on those details that serve to make a point that is relevant
to the scene. The reader meanwhile is caught up in the setting and the mood and
their imaginations will act accordingly.
The reader has been served and your story does not suffer from allowing them to be participants.
So if it doesn't matter to the scene or the action within the scene try deleting that portion of your text. I believe you will find it makes your writing flow better without compromising the story. It has helped me.
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