Description: Accuracy or Creativity?

Written by James

When you write alone, it’s easy to be descriptive and set up the scene for your characters. You tell readers what you see in your mind’s eye, and you do so from the beginning of your novel to the end.

Your description remains consistent throughout the novel. Each chapter reinforces what you visualize in your mind, and the only people affected by what you see are the characters that you create and control.

In a multi-author situation, though, description takes on a substantially different form – because what you see isn’t what other people see.

We each visualize in unique ways. A tree may be in a slightly different location from two people’s perspective, or the hole might be a little smaller for you than the other person.

Accurate description with attention to detail becomes important. There’s nothing more jarring to a player whose character has just tried to open a door than hearing another player say, “Hey, you can’t do that… The wall is there! The door is ten feet over.”

Really? If the player couldn’t see that in his imagination, then the door could almost be in two places at once.

As Accurate as Mud

Have you ever played the child’s game of having to guide a blindfolded person around an obstacle course without touching them? It’s challenging, and so is writing description for other players.

Turning into a construction engineer that whips out a measuring tape is one of the worst solutions.

“Forty feet ahead, there’s a door measuring three feet by 6 feet… the framing is two inches thick… oh, and there’s a gold handle… not a round one, though, it’s a flat handle with a keyhole…

I shouldn’t say gold. I mean gold-plated. Right. Now. Twenty-two inches to the left and exactly 57 and three-quarter inches up the wall…”

Ugh.

You would surely give an accurate description of room size and exact measurements involved, but the magic of the moment is completely lost.

Painting a Picture for the Blind

When you write description that affects others but at the same time, you write to contribute to a story, you have to walk the fine line between accuracy and creativity.

You have a mind. Use it.

The door stood before him, the distance enough to cover in a few good strides. The keyhole in the cheap gold handle was easily visible, a black scar on the long bar of metal.

He approached the door, examining its plainness. The thick frame that surrounded it spoke of importance, though… but what caught his eye was the small hole in the wall, an arm-span to the left of where he stood.

The hole was high enough that if he stood on the balls of his feet, he could look in… but what made him shiver was the flash of thought that ran through his mind. Maybe he didn’t want to see what might be tucked inside.

Are there exact measurements missing? Yes, of course. But are measurements there, enough to give an accurate visual description of what’s important? Absolutely. Everyone can stretch out an arm and know the distance. Anyone can take a few strides and figure it out.

One of the best techniques in painting is providing just enough detail that the eye and mind capture the portrait. The imagination easily fills in the rest and more accurate than we might believe.

When It Really Matters

Most of the time, exactitude doesn’t matter and players don’t have to get down to millimeters to describe items or distances. But there comes a time when something is very important, and in those moments, it’s all in the details.

She hesitated, and then slowly handed him the small box. Her reluctance to let it go showed how much she cared for the wooden artifact, and he was gentle with both her and with it.

It was a small box, perhaps six inches long and half as wide. Big enough for mementos but small enough to slip into a pocket. The wood was smooth and unmarked, the grain of it polished to a burnished shine. The edges were smoothed as well and the corners rounded by some craftsman’s tool.

The box seemed well loved, old and passed down through the ages. The small hinges were still gold, though, with no trace of rust or wear. They’d been rubbed with a soft cloth many a time, maintained and tended with affection.

When he opened the box, the lid rose and presented a crimson interior. Red padded velvet lined box, and it was soft to his fingertip’s touch. There was enough space to hold a few pieces of jewelry, or perhaps a love note or two, and the tokens would be cradled carefully.

“You cared for him very much,” he said softly, then looked up at the girl as he closed the box in his hand and handed it back to her. “You should keep it.”

In this example, the item carries importance and great attention went into the description of its exterior, interior, size and shape. Still, the measurements, appearance and accurate details were written in a storytelling fashion and avoided plain imagery completely.

Something more? The emotion in the words, the sense of love and caring of the moment described - and yet, it’s just a box.

There may always be slight differences of imagery and visualizations between multiple authors, minor shifts in perspective. So be prepared: If the tree is a little to the left of where you’d pictured it and someone pointed the error out to you, no big deal. Have your character bump into a branch for some impromptu humor.

Or just adjust and carry on, glossing over the faux-pas.

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