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I’m currently reading Sentence of Marriage by Shayne Parkinson and as I sat on the commuter train with my Kindle, it suddenly struck me that my own writing lacks sufficient description of details.

In the novel, Amy shows a nurse into a bedroom for her to have a lie-down, and she folds back the covers for her. My own recent writing wouldn’t have included that detail, it would probably have gone something like “…showed the nurse to the bedroom and left her to have a rest.”

But folding back the covers brings the whole scene to life. I could see her in my mind, folding the covers back. It wasn’t too detailed either. I don’t know whether the bedspread is green or red or patterned, or whether the bed is standing under the window or not. But it’s an offhand detail that makes the whole thing seem more real.

I definitely need to work on that. I tend to describe either too much (where the bed stands and what colour the blanket is), or too little (no mention of the bed at all).

On a different note:

I’m really enjoying this novel. Check it out on Amazon!