Elaborate, Please

Details are important. They help your readers paint a picture in their minds of the scene you have written, it's like the meat to the bone. Though, you have to be careful sometimes because if you add too much detail, your story will only become redundant and just boring.

Painting the Picture

He stood there.

Now, that's just boring, isn't it. For all we know, the picture in the reader's mind is just a stickman in the middle of a blank canvas. 

I know some people struggle to add detail, I use to stand in those shoes. I really didn't quite realise either, I'm not too sure why. One thing that really helped me, though, was asking myself questions, such as the 5 W's and that one H. Except the H is almost never used.

• Why is he standing there?
• What is he feeling? Facial expressions?
• What is he doing/What was he doing?
• Did he have an objective before he stood there or no

I understand that 'He stood there' is a rather broad example, especially when there's no context used before it. We can say that 'he' is a new student standing infront of his new classmates, or say that he walked in on something he wasn't suppposed to and is standing there in shock. Perhaps he's waiting in line of something or maybe he's in the middle of a street, waiting for a friend?

Ask yourself questions and and onto the sentence instead of giving something very broad to the readers where they can let their mind wander off. Let's say that 'he' walked in on something he wasn't suppose to-- to give a less broad example, because obviously your story isn't going to just be one sentence like that.

"Hey, Daehyun," Himchan knocked on the door of the other, before pushing it open. He found Daehyun in the middle of taking off his shirt. The younger stopped midway and turned to attempt to glance at the older, having the shirt covering his face. Himchain stood there, staring at the exposure of skin that Daehyun gave.

So, we pretty much just answered our first question of 'why is he standing there', as well as the last one 'Did he have an objective'. Here are some more questions now that we have more to work with:

• Feelings/Facial Expressions
• What were they doing?
• What is Daehyun wearing?
• Can Daehyun's action be better explained?
• What is Himchan's objective, is that going to change?
• What is the atmosphere now?
• Where are they?
• What is considered as 'in the middle of taking off his shirt'
• How is Himchan's behaviour going to change if at all
• How about Daehyun's?

Let's just leave it at that for now. Of course, you don't always have to answer every question, but you can keep them in mind if you ever find yourself lacking in detail. Now, let's try answering these questions.

"Hey, Daehyun," Himchan briefly knocked on the door to Daehyun's room before pushing it open without further warning. He stopped in his tracks from entering further into Daehyun's room as he noticed the other was in the middle of changing. Daehyun didn't seem to notice until the hem of his shirt was already over his head. He stopped what he was doing.

"Hyung?" The boy asks, turning around in attempt to locate the older, though the shirt covering his view made it rather difficult. "Hyung, where are you?" Himchan said nothing as he stood there. His lips pursed into the thin line as his gaze slowly lowered to Daehyun's abdominal. "Hyuuung!" Daehyun's voice softly whining snapped Himchan out of his daze.

"Ah, yes!" Himchan cleared his throat, straightening out his own shirt. "Daehyun, can I borrow your sweats?" The older walked into the room to the waredobe, passing Daehyun. The older didn't even bother saying anything as he leisurely opened the drawers and pulled out Daehyun's sweatpants before heading back to the door. "Thanks," Himchan grinned, shutting the door behind him as he left.

"W-wait, what? Hyung!"

Yay for details. Now, we obviously didn't answer all the questions(I'm not actually sure if we even answered any of them), but we most definately gave details, didn't we? Be wary about the details you add, though. If you added alot of detail that didn't contribute to the main story or the scene at all, then it would be rather redundant as I said, and boring.

For example, if I were to decribe all of Himchan's features, such as the colour of his hair, all his clothes that he was wearing, or every little thing that was in Daehyun's room, or even what type of door he had. Not too important that the readers would be left awefully confused if they were left out. Though sometimes, they would be nice to be included to help the reader paint the image, but don't slather it all into one paragraph as though you're trying to explain a picture book to someone.

Personally, I find it better when the description is fitted in with verbs/actions. Such as:

Himchan brushed a hand through his raven hair before he knocked on the mahogany door.

Continuation to Dialogues

Yeah. In the last lesson, I really wanted to go on about details, because I've pretty much been giving tips here and there about details, such as when I was talking about settings. However, I decided to give it it's own section, because I've noticed that quite a handful of people on AFF lack detail.

Especially. when. it comes down. to dialogues.

People tend to just add 'said' right around the words and just conclude it at that, but it's not like people are always standing in the middle of the room face to face just talking. What about their facial expressions and their emotions at the moment? They contribute to the little actions and detail to your story.

"Are you feeling alright?" Zico furrowed his brow in worry, a hand placed onto one of Zin's shoulder. The girl blinked, tilting her head slightly as she stared up at the tall male.

"Why wouldn't I be?" She blinked again. "Did something happen?"

Just like showing and not telling, we expressed the fact that Zin is confused and didn't straight up tell the reader that she is. Remember to ask yourself questions to contribute to the details.

Details Are Difficult, Man.

i know they are. So practice. Nowadays, I really like looking at my old stories, reading them and cringing then going back to fix them up.

"Miyuki-chan~" A voice called from a far. I opened my eyes, but imidetly closed my eyes, from the brightness. I squinted my eyes, and waited for them to adjsut to the light.