What's the most difficult thing to describe?

[Macarenaoftime]

As writers and artists, I believe we are constantly describing things in our own way.
After all images and words are just symbols we use to communicate aspects of what we feel or perceive.

At first, I thought for me the most difficult thing for me to describe were abstract concepts since I'm a pretty visual person, obsessed with very physical sensations like touch or hearing, but nope. Ironically enough, I think the most difficult thing for me to describe for me are smells. I discovered this while writing for my comic in which (if you haven't already guessed by the title) smells are a pretty big thing.

The unbearable smell of oranges | Tapas

I mean...there are words for describing the intensity of a smell like strong or faint, but I think the most common way to describe a smell is by comparing it to others. I don't know if this might be something to do with my general lack of vocabulary.

Anyways... what I did for compensating for this particular problem was to describe smells with words usually used to describe food like "warm" or "sweet" and I think it kinda helped to convey what I was going for.

So

What do you find most difficult to describe? What are the limitations of your media of choice in conveying what you want to convey? Do you have a particular way of perceiving certain things?

Haha, I know this might seem like a very specific topic but I really wanted to know your personal experiences.

[Kaydreamer]

Non-verbal sounds in a comic. Crying is one. You can put in the word 'sob', but if you overdo that, it just looks cartoony. Crying is so much more than just tears and sobbing. There's sniffing, moans, shaking breaths, the way your breath catches in your throat, and your words come out all strangled-sounding. All of that is so hard to communicate in a soundless medium, when you can't narrate the sounds.

[Pony_wearing_a_hat]

You know when you say something and someone repeats it back to you in a whiney mocking tone. That's pretty easy to describe, but what about when they don't actually say the words back and just make a a whiney sound in the same tone, in the cadence of the original statement or not?

[joannekwan]

That little exhale of breath that's hummed through the mouth and nose. It's not quite a "heh" and far from a chuckle. It's more like a content and amused "hm" without the questioning or ponderous tone. My husband does it and so I've assigned the habit to one of my characters, but it's so hard to describe.

[iHateFridays]

Honestly I think just describing how to do things. XD Like when I'm trying to show someone how to use a printer or some shit, find it hard how to describe how to do that

[Macarenaoftime]

I've never thought about it, but yes.

[polochon]

Same! A few onomatopoeias are okay, but too many would ruin it, but not describing it at all would just make it unclear… Finding a good balance or tricks to convey what's happening is a bit difficult.

Still for comics, when too many things happen at the same time, or quickly one after the other, I find it difficult to draw each action and still make it seem like it happened quickly. Too many panels will look like a slow action, but too little will cut some of the happenings. It's possible to use tricks like using smaller panels close to each other, or mix several actions in one panel, but that asks for more brainpower haha.

[Toastbuster]

For me it’s clothing. Trying to describe what someone is wearing when I have no idea what the article of clothing in question is called has me typing some of the weirdest shit into google trying to figure it out

[rajillustration]

For me it's reaction panels. So you'll have someone say something in one panel, and then you need a reaction that is silent--so the entire reaction has to be read from the face. If you don't nail that face it's like...you don't know exactly how they reacted, which is a pretty important part of the story.

[Quintessa]

For me, it's how to make a male lead HOT

Idk if he is though:

[Aleksei]

I got you on this one.
You can repeat it, but only with a vowel, like:

'One: You can't tell me what to do!'
'Two; Yii cin't till mi whit ti di!'

In spanish is a very common meme nowdays.