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Writing descriptions can either make your reader fall in love with your world… or just fall asleep. There’s a fine line between painting a vivid picture and dumping a paragraph of slow, boring detail. So how do you write descriptions that actually hit?

1. Pick the vibe, not every detail You don’t need to describe every single thing in a room. Just choose the details that match the mood.

Instead of: “The room had a wooden desk, three chairs, a dusty rug, and a cracked window.” Try: “The cracked window leaked in the cold, and dust danced in the stale air—like the room forgot what ‘welcome’ felt like.”

The second one feels like something, right? Pick details that match the emotion.

2. Use the 5 senses You don’t need to force all five senses into every scene, but using more than just sight makes a huge difference. Think smell, texture, even temperature.

“Her sweater smelled like fresh rain and cheap soap. Not bad, just… honest.”

Now your reader feels it, not just sees it.

3. Less is more If you need three paragraphs to describe a hallway, you’re doing too much. Keep it tight. Quick, vivid phrases are much better than long boring blocks.

“The hallway narrowed like it didn’t want us there.” <— that’s way better than a full architectural report.

4. ✨Metaphors✨ Good metaphors or similes can describe and tell us about the character’s worldview.

“The night wrapped around him like a lie.” “Her laugh bubbled up like soda—sharp and fast.”

They add flavor without word count bloat.

5. Use character perspective How your character notices things says a lot. Two people won’t describe the same room the same way. A rich kid might say: “Faded curtains, cheap silverware.” A runaway might say: “Warm curtains, and real silverware.”

Descriptions are key to communicating a character's perspective to a reader, and when done right it adds so much strength to your writing. Hope these help! 🍒

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💥 Small Writing Habits That Genuinely Changed How I Write 💥

listen. i’m not here to sell you a productivity system or convince you that waking up at 5am will make you a novelist. i am deeply Not That Girl. HOWEVER, here are 5 chaotic little writing habits that quietly rearranged my brain chemistry:

✏️ typing BEFORE i know what happens i used to think i had to outline everything before writing. wrong. i get more done when i let the scene surprise me. just start with vibes and a line of dialogue. the rest shows up once you start moving.

🗣️ saying the scene out loud like a play no joke. talking my scenes out like a script?? life-changing. the pacing, the emotion, the rhythm of it all makes more sense when i act like i’m gossiping about my blorbos in a voice memo.

⌛ 20-minute timers (not for productivity, just to start) i tell myself “just 20 minutes.” sometimes i stop. sometimes i blink and it’s 2 hours later and someone’s been emotionally eviscerated in chapter 12. this one’s black magic. use wisely.

🕯️ re-reading my WIP like a book no editing, no judging, just reading through with snacks like it’s already published. changes how i see the pacing and emotional arcs. also reminds me it doesn’t completely suck.

🧂 leaving in the messy parts i used to delete scenes that felt “off.” now i just write a little comment like “THIS IS BAD BUT KEEP GOING.” turns out momentum matters more than vibes. shocking, i know.

anyway. tiny habits. huge mental rewiring. 10/10. highly recommend.

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I think I need this carved into my bones please.

Joy Sullivan, “Even If”, Instructions for Traveling West

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There’s a ton of advice out there in how to avoid exposition dumps, but I think a super under-rated reason for withholding information and justifying “why didn’t you say this earlier” is with a self-deprecating narrator who doesn’t think anyone cares.

I have one, and he never breaks the fourth wall or anything, but basic elements of his backstory aren’t being revealed until the final chapters of the second book, things like, hey, how come we’ve never heard about Elias’s father?

And he just did not think that it was something anyone wanted to hear, so he said nothing, but also he comes from an insulated place where this is the norm, so why point out that the sky is blue to the audience?

The point of giving this information so late isn’t for the sake of informing, it’s to make the reader go “hey wait we’re just hearing about this now???” You’re supposed to think it’s weird and jarring.

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Joy Sullivan, from “Culpable”, Instructions for Traveling West

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I have a deep fear of being known BUT I have a slightly larger fear of being forgotten. the best solution I can come up with is making art every once in a while

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i'm genuinely having so much fun writing a jock protagonist. can't believe i never tried this before. all these years i've been limiting myself needlessly

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I drew this in a fugue state last night

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Source: Writing About Writing Facebook page.

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For the record, inspired by this post: https://www.tumblr.com/prettydumbloverboy/635405123372417024/when-you-sneeze-in-public-strangers-will-say?source=share and others like it that promote the idea that actually most of the time people will be kind when given the chance.

Line for a character I have yet to write:

"Sometimes the world says 'I love you' even if my family doesn't."

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Line for a character I have yet to write:

"Sometimes the world says 'I love you' even if my family doesn't."

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Found a repost on Pinterest and then immediately searched og out on this app

Scooby Doo idea: Daphne Blake as the weird rich kid whose parents signed her up for a shit-ton of rich-kid extracurriculars like polo, fencing, and all of this other shit so they wouldn’t have to deal with her/bolster her college resume. She puts a lot of effort into actually being good at all these extra-curriculars bc she’s competing with all of her ~super successful and talented~ sisters for attention and ends up athletic as hell and socially stunted and like…really aggressive and competitive and never quite satisfied with anything she’s doing. The only other ‘High Society’ kid who can put up with her is Norville “Shaggy” Rogers —an anxious stoner with freaky strict parents whose only friend prior to Daphne was his equally anxious rescue dog—Daphne’s been beating up Shaggy’s bullies for years. Then there’s student council dweeb Fred Jones who’s always been groomed to be this ‘leader’ by his parents and is always pressured to go to these youth leadership things and stuff and yeah he’s pretty good at directing group projects, but really Fred’s kind of shy and more interested in engineering, forensics and maybe criminal justice and he’s been friends with this chick Velma Dinkley in engineering club who’s brilliant but she’s also tactless, awkward and very bitterly sarcastic to cover up for the fact that her book smarts far outweigh her social skills.

 So then there’s this mystery downtown and all five of them show up and there’s a mutual, “Oh hey it’s you: The weird kid from my school. What are you doing here?” and everyone goes around. Fred’s like, “Oh I knew the owners of this place and they said they might have to close down because of this ghost and I told Velma about it and Velma thinks we can get to the bottom of this.” And Shaggy’s like, “Scoob and I didn’t want to be home right now and we honestly didn’t know about the ghost but hey Daphne’s here so we feel safe enough to hang out and maybe Scoob can sniff out some clues or something.” And then everyone turns and looks at Daphne and Daphne’s just like, “I want to fight a fucking ghost.” 

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I made this, please feel free to use

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Klimt + The Addams Family

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when I was younger I didn’t understand why “may you live in interesting times” was considered a curse in ancient greece.

I get it now.

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🐭🍎❤ Inspired by this video from simon_dell_tog