online tutorial on being descriptive in writing?

http://www.knowledgehound.com/topics/writing.htm

Not sure if any of this will help, but here is a link that provides a bunch of writing tips.

Forgive me if I answer your question in a way you didn't intend, but you might find helpful hints in the books on your shelves. Pick up one that grabbed you when you read it, or, better, one that grabs you every time you read it. Take a look at the descriptive passages, a close look, and try to analyze why they work for you. Venture outside your favorite genre, if you can, and don't ignore the dusty classics. I learned a lot about writing description by reading writers like Dickens, George Eliot, James Joyce, and Somerset Maugham. Probably few writers would imitate them today with much hope of publication, and in their day, most readers expected to encounter longer descriptive passages, but these authors were all terrific storytellers.

Novelhistorian's dead right. Read the book's on your shelves. Remember that the reason you can't remember the good descriptions in those was because they worked, and therefore did their job and didn't actively catch your attention.

John Steinback, in particular, does a great job, if we're talking classics.

Description

To go along, read novels by writers you enjoy, pay close attention to how they use and write description, and do likewise.

The trouble with tutorials is that they do not work for everyone. Writing isn't one size fits all, and you're much better off studying how writers you like use description, rather than relying on a tutorial by someone whose writing you may hate.

Eric, you might also try posting a SHORT excerpt in one of the SYW forums and specifically ask for suggested rewrites to eliminate telling in favour of showing.

It is essential to make it short. I took a couple of paragraphs of rather drab telling in my own draft and converted it into a couple of pages of showing.

eric11210 said:

Hi all,

I've had a few people comment that they feel like I'm telling them what happens instead of describing what happens in my novel. And I admit, when I read, I tend to visualize on my own without a great deal of description being needed. Then again, if several people have said it, it's something I want to look at. So, is there any online tutorial that helps you learn how to be more descriptive? I've seen some examples, but I'm looking more like a tutorial than just a quick example.

Any help would be appreciated.

Eric

Click to expand...

This is one of the more nettling issues, because the tendency is to
assume by narration that it is showing. Then we look at Hemingway,
who won a Nobel Prize in large measure as a tribute to the depth of his narrations, and the difference between showing and telling can
become quite muddled. Isn't he telling? How is he showing? It looks
the same!

Since there aren't too many Hemingway's running around, here is what
I've found that can help (and it usually quiets the dissidents):

1) Substitute dialogue, wherever possible, for narration. (Automatically
gets that segment into a active medium). Easiest "fix" there is.

2) Check for passive voice, as this is often the culprit.
(Are there a lot of present perfect passive voice "have been"
whatevers lurking within your material?) Changing from passive to
active voice is truly a big deal, and if you find this to be an issue--
and modify this--then you'll be showing in an active manner and not
telling what happened in a passive manner. Does this make any sense?

Also, if you want a tutorial, you can do this yourself with any paragraph you like from any book you like. Write it in reverse, and by this I mean, take an active voice paragraph and write it in a passive voice. Then compare the two. Which is more lucid and crisp? Then give it the ultimate test: Read both paragraphs out loud. Then if you do this with your own work, you will spot the snags and see the difference direction makes. (Reading your work out loud can head off a lot of bad things at the pass, not just this stuff.)

Rob B