12 Tips for Improving Your Description

As part of my query and synopsis critique services, I sometimes look at the first five pages of a writer’s manuscript, looking for red flags and other problems that may result in a quick rejection. Invariably, I find problems with the level of description—the balance is off, and usually there’s too much time spent trying to evoke the setting in flowery terms or describe the protagonist’s physical features.

In the latest Glimmer Train bulletin, novelist Abby Geni offers 12 tips to help achieve the right balance and write good description in your work. She says:

Think in terms of “telling details”: details that let the reader see your characters while also revealing something about their minds. In this way, your descriptions can do double duty: giving the reader a physical picture while also showing an inner, mental trait.

She also recommends that you avoid a description of a character’s hair and eye color, as well as height and weight. Read the full post.

Also in this month’s Glimmer Train:

On Revising by Cary Groner
Advice from Antonya Nelson for young writers

Jane Friedman

Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.

Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.