THE ICE PICK

Description, by Monica Wood. (Elements of Fiction Writing series) Cincinnati: Writer’s Digest Books, 1999. 171 p. ISBN 0-89879-908-2 pbk. $12.00.

Made up of the details you select that engage the senses and help readers "see" your story, description "is the creation of mental images that allow readers to fully experience a story."

Beginning with a chapter that explains how to choose the "telling detail" that makes a story come alive and drive it forward without overwhelming it, Wood discusses how to write good description and use it to make your prose fresher and stronger and your story better and more memorable.

She says that "showing and telling are equally powerful and important descriptive techniques." She explains their differences, their uses, and when and how to apply them, depending on the effect you want to achieve. In describing "something wildly disappointing or moving or confounding," for example, "a scene almost always does the trick better than narrative."

Wood discusses how to use description to keep your story moving and how to create "context" for a complex story, or one that has lots of characters or extends over a long period of time.

Through many examples, Wood shows the interrelationship of description with dialogue and how description can improve your characters’ dialogue. For example, the use of setting and character actions during a conversation can make the dialogue come alive and also influence what the characters say.

She discusses the impact of point of view on description. Age, gender, education, ethnic background, socioeconomic status, and occupation will all affect how your viewpoint character sees things. And she addresses the problems of describing your viewpoint characters without resorting to clichéd mirrors and ponds or having friends gush over your characters’ appearance.

Wood analyzes description in relation to style and shows how the two are interdependent.

The chapter on setting may be especially important for science fiction and fantasy authors, who must create whole worlds without boring their readers with large blocks of description.

Her last two chapters address special descriptive problems (animals, weather, emotion, and sound) and give tips and tricks you can use in revisions or when you’re stuck.

Each chapter has a summary "wrap-up" section to give you an overview and more examples, and there is an excellent index.

Wood explains things clearly and simply and with humor, making the book an enjoyable one to read.

No matter what kind of fiction you write, you have to be able to handle description and do it well, for "description is not so much an element of fiction as its very essence."

If you do not already have the 1995 hardback edition, I highly recommend this paperback reprint.

{Published in SF and Fantasy Workshop Newsletter, July 2002.}