C is for Collect

This year for the A-Z Challenge, I'm attempting to act like I know what I'm talking about and offering advice about writing.  Let's see how I do!

Also, don't forget to stop by the Parallels blog to see more posts about the upcoming anthology, which will be available on May 3rd!

Learning to create vivid descriptions is essential for a fiction writer.  It’s also important to do so with brevity.  The long, flowing descriptions of yesteryear, while a part of many classics, are something that many modern readers admit to skipping.  It’s a shame, but it’s a reality that we must acknowledge.  So what do we do?  Readers still want to be transported to another world, or into someone else’s shoes, and it’s our job to take them there.  We just have to be smart about how we do it.

How do we learn?  Practice.  Yeah, there’s no magic formula for doing this.  You just need to do it over and over again until you figure it out.

I’d recommend spending a few minutes each day describing the things around you.  If you see something interesting or unusual, describe it to yourself.  Collect those descriptions and find ways to refine them.  You never know when you’ll get a chance to use one of them in one of your stories!