Descriptions in your Novel

[KuroXue]

Hey guys! Since the title is self-explanatory, let's directly begin with a simple question, do you draw the imagery of your novel? If so, how often and how detailed do you do it?

I myself draw anything that I need to IF my descriptions are lacking, or I need more details to picture people or places properly.
These drawings range from mere stick figures and sketchy planes to become more detailed overtime ^^

That being said, let's add a little more depth to this. How do you "fit" descriptions in your novel? Are you more into dynamic descriptions or shopping-list like ones? Maybe a mix of them like me?

I myself adapt with the changes happening in scenes, with the mood, the POV and my 3rd person spectator (the narrator) plus the possible shifts between 3rd person and first. This is all talking with regards to my current project. The two previous ones had become drafts for their future form and were done in a more ignorant way I would say, so they represent more my experience than actual style.

[ZoeBlessing]

Are we talking graphic novels? Because I write novels but don't do any illustrating at all. My art is basically stick figures, haha. I think written descriptions need to be enough for the reader to visualize the scene they are in, but not so detailed that it gets boring because the story has stopped moving forward. The details should be related to the scene at hand, so unless the intricate wallpaper is relevant to the plot (like the pattern represents something, or is a clue) then there's no need to describe the wallpaper pattern. No one cares. They just want the story to keep moving forward.

[KuroXue]

Just description in general, anything is good!

[ZoeBlessing]

Back in the the day of classic literature, they'd write pages and pages describing the way dirt floated on the streets like a living thing, and how light filtered through stained glass in rainbows of colors, and how dark shadows overtook the corners of the town. On and on and on. There's a certain artistry to it. But I personally found it extremely boring. Some people still enjoy that kind of thing, but I think the majority of people have much shorter attentions spans now. We want things to be happening. We want to get to know the characters, not the environment. I think minimal descriptions are enough to paint a picture, because readers have really great imaginations. You say the sky was clear and they can immediately picture the bright blue cloudless sky, maybe a bird soaring overhead. Readers can fill in the blanks if you just provide a skeletal description as a base.

It's also good to break up the descriptions. Instead of a huge block describing everything, intersperse it with action. So a character can enter a room and notice the carpet, then sit on the couch and notice how worn out it is, then they start talking and maybe somewhere along the way they notice the scent of vanilla. When it's broken up like this, the story moves forward while still providing ample descriptions.

[LordLacroix]

Usually i go to Pinterest to look for ideas, specially for places, about characters i normally imagine them in my mind or i do a draft. But, the true is i normally end drawing them completely different from what i imagined. And i only draw after i described then in the novel. Since Grotheske is my first work here i think maybe this will change. For my next novel i started to plan the characteristics before writting.

[naito_official]

I try to draw out important locations and characters for my illustrator to draw in case she needs them. But for the most part, I describe things in the 3rd person and try my best to convey through text what my vision entails.