forum How much is too much detail?

Started May 15, 2018 by @Paperok

tune

When writing a scene how do you know when you are over describing?

When even you can't stand reading it.

What if I prefer that amount of detail but I know any reader would find it distracting, how do I know when to draw the line?

I find this helpful- https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/common-writing-mistakes-much-description/

No such thing. Pages upon pages of (interesting) description is the only way to do it!

But in all seriousness, it really all depends on what is being described and how you do it. If your story is introducing a whole new world to readers, then you will have to describe a lot, but make sure that you're not doing it in a way that invokes 'boring lecture professor' feels. Try to have your characters doing the describing. The best way to do it is to have an everyman character who is discovering everything right along with the readers so that when things do get described to them, it makes sense. In my humble opinion, I think that this is easier to do in third-person limited (think Harry Potter) rather than first-person because at least in third-person it doesn't read too much like everything is being ground to a halt just so that the reader can be lectured.