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Poets avoid abstractions like they’re on fire. But each person will see “perfection” or “beauty”-and even “good”-very differently. Think of words like “perfection” or “good” or “beautiful.” Sure, you can use these words and the audience will understand what you mean in a general sense.

An “abstraction” is any word that is open-ended in its interpretation, and therefore lacking in concrete detail. Piggybacking off #1 in the list, avoiding abstractions is another easy way to write better description. How do you stop this thing? Et cetera.Ĭompare that to describing the subject as a “Zombie”-a light term, a funhouse idea, something you see in movies. Am I sure they’re even dead? Are they diseased? I can see splintered bone through a hole in its skin. They’ll get it.)Īnother way to think of it: How do your characters experience the situation? How about: Here is a dead, rotting human being that is somehow impossibly moving around me.

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Instead, we can describe what the zombie looks like (pale skin rife with infected sores), how our senses perceive the zombie (a wave of sickeningly sweet stench assaults my nose, triggering my gag reflex), or what it does (stumbling forward like a baby deer, unsteady on its legs)-all without having to use the literal word “zombie.” (Don’t worry, audiences are smart. “Zombie” is a great example because in naming the subject a “zombie,” you automatically conjure a one-dimensional abstract idea in the mind of the audience, which both cheapens its impact and forces you to work harder to overcome biases or preconceived ideas about what a zombie is, does, and should be like. Instead, you will say anything and everything but naming what it is (this is also an excellent-and fun!-writing exercise). The idea here is to not name the subject being described. It’s also a very simple trick to write more engaging, more interesting (and more artistic) prose descriptions. Seems obvious, right? It’s less obvious than it sounds. Here are five simple tricks anyone can use to level up their writing game and become a more effective storyteller: 1. That said, you don’t have to be a Hemingway or a Melville to write good description. Compare that to another classic, Moby Dick by Herman Melville, where the author goes on for page after page just to describe a painting. In The Sun Also Rises, considered one of the great works of 20th-century literature, Ernest Hemingway wrote his description simply, sparingly, and unadorned. Think of it more like writing what’s appropriate for the tone, voice, genre, and action of the story. There is no tried-and-true formula for writing “good” descriptions.

And yet writing good description can also be tenaciously challenging. This is understandable since description is the bread and butter of storytelling. One area where many writers struggle is with writing prose descriptions.