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Last week I talked about detailed descriptions; this time I want to talk about descriptors. Here's the Reader's Digest version: description is good. Descriptors, not so much.
Description is a phrase or block of prose that describes something (or many things). Descriptors are words that summarize description. The most common descriptors are adjectives and adverbs. Again, the biggest reason for being conscious of overusing descriptors goes back to showing vs telling. Well done description and detail will show your story, where using descriptors is a shortcut to tell your reader what you want to convey. Take dialogue for starters:
“You never listen to me,” she said angrily.
Adverbs are often recognizable by their ‘ly’ endings - “angrily” in this case. This statement tells the reader the speaker is angry, but it’s shortcut writing for showing what’s really going on here.
“You never listen to me,” she said, striding around to the front of the couch and standing, hands on hips, blocking the TV, daring him to tell her to move.
Now, technically, “striding” is a descriptor the way the verb is used here. It describes how she is moving, which in turn describes how she is feeling, but it’s being used in a larger frame of description. As I said in week 2 when talking about eliminating weak words (Writing Tips 101.02), beware of stripping too much out of your prose as it can leave it sterile and unnatural sounding. Prose needs to flow. Ideally, if done well, it will be largely invisible, replaced by sounds, smells, and images in the reader’s mind. What you don’t want is for shortcut words, weak words, long narrative, and other crutches to pull your reader out of the story.
Just as adverbs modify verbs, adjectives modify or describe nouns, and in the same way, they can be redundant, unnecessary, and telling. Don't tell your readers that the "scary ghost reached for the last student running from the old mansion." It's a ghost. It's reaching for someone. They're running. We don't need the adverb "scary" to modify the ghost.
A quick search will turn up many, many articles on the pitfall of adverbs and adjectives - here's one from Writer's Digest if you'd like to see more examples: Don’t Use Adverbs and Adjectives to Prettify Your Prose
Description is a phrase or block of prose that describes something (or many things). Descriptors are words that summarize description. The most common descriptors are adjectives and adverbs. Again, the biggest reason for being conscious of overusing descriptors goes back to showing vs telling. Well done description and detail will show your story, where using descriptors is a shortcut to tell your reader what you want to convey. Take dialogue for starters:
“You never listen to me,” she said angrily.
Adverbs are often recognizable by their ‘ly’ endings - “angrily” in this case. This statement tells the reader the speaker is angry, but it’s shortcut writing for showing what’s really going on here.
“You never listen to me,” she said, striding around to the front of the couch and standing, hands on hips, blocking the TV, daring him to tell her to move.
Now, technically, “striding” is a descriptor the way the verb is used here. It describes how she is moving, which in turn describes how she is feeling, but it’s being used in a larger frame of description. As I said in week 2 when talking about eliminating weak words (Writing Tips 101.02), beware of stripping too much out of your prose as it can leave it sterile and unnatural sounding. Prose needs to flow. Ideally, if done well, it will be largely invisible, replaced by sounds, smells, and images in the reader’s mind. What you don’t want is for shortcut words, weak words, long narrative, and other crutches to pull your reader out of the story.
Just as adverbs modify verbs, adjectives modify or describe nouns, and in the same way, they can be redundant, unnecessary, and telling. Don't tell your readers that the "scary ghost reached for the last student running from the old mansion." It's a ghost. It's reaching for someone. They're running. We don't need the adverb "scary" to modify the ghost.
A quick search will turn up many, many articles on the pitfall of adverbs and adjectives - here's one from Writer's Digest if you'd like to see more examples: Don’t Use Adverbs and Adjectives to Prettify Your Prose
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