How to describe scenes and not bore the reader while trying

The description of characters and settings turns out to be one of the hottest points in literature and one of the most common problems for writers.

How far should I describe scenes to correctly help the reader imagine the surroundings?

There are stories that due to their extension it is illogical that they carry too much description, such as: short stories or micro stories. However, the rest of the stories do not have difficulties to generate a good description of their characters, their settings, emotions, sensations and others.

The important thing is to know how to describe and when to do it without going to extremes, in which either it is not described at all or it is described too much and in a single instant. Today many authors adopt this form of description:

... Hello my name is Nathan, I am dark, tall of 1.80 meters, brown hair and blue eyes, neither very muscular nor very thin ...

Although the previous example does not have an error per se, for the reader that kind of mechanical description is quite shocking, take the time to develop the characteristics of your character at different times or in a more natural way

Fifteen years ago I was born and my parents had the idea to call me Nathan, no idea why that name, perhaps because my blue eyes reminded them of my grandfather, who had the same color of orbs and that name of wealthy man. However, only the eyes are similar, because where he was pale as snow, I am dark ...

The same happens with the scenarios, it is not the same to describe.

The sky is blue, the car that takes me to school is black, and the neighboring trees are green.

To describe:

When I left the house, the first thing I noticed was the totally cloudless sky, which made its blue look more vibrant than other days, while making the black car that was waiting for me to travel to school shine, the trees of the neighboring gardens absorbing in their green leaves the energy necessary for their splendor.

Now, we must also talk about the other side of the coin. At what point does the description become so extensive that I chase readers away from too much character or setting development?

Let's put the previous example of the blue sky and make a more extensive description:

When I left the house, closing the door behind me and going down the seven steps, the first thing I noticed in the sky was the totally cloudless sky, there were no cirrostratus, nor high-strata, much less cumulonimbus clouds that obstructed my view, which generated that his blue looked more vibrant than other days, at the same time that the car was shining, my father's black 2019 Porshe Gt Gembala, who had been waiting for me for fifteen minutes on the sidewalk of the house to travel to school, that boring place the one he hated to go to. Trees of all types and sizes, from neighboring gardens of which he did not know the names, were absorbing in their green leaves the energy necessary to generate their photosynthesis process.

Observe how the description made mainly in four lines, becomes a paragraph of nine lines that may hold the attention of some brave, but that in the majority of readers will create a fatigue for the extensive reading of an action as simple as leaving from home and take a car to school.

In conclusion, the description is a very important element in the story and the good handling of it can trap the reader, transport him to the exact place and make him feel the same way the protagonist feels in a specific scene. Everything will depend on the way the writer does his descriptive work.

Finding a middle point between lack and excess is preponderant, read aloud what you write and imagine the scene according to the words you have already put down on paper, so that you are the first to judge if you lack a little more detail or if on the contrary you are detailing too much.

The character and scenario cards will help you to have your ideas of how each element looks and it will be easier to then go to the description within the story, Manage your limits and find your ideal point of description, it will develop you as a writer and your readers will appreciate it.

Written by Janeth Velázquez. (@jancev)