HOW MUCH TIME DO YOU SPEND ON DESCRIBING THE SCENERY

[Marie Cash]

As a new writer to the genre, an editor recently commented "your first chapter is beginning to sound like a travelogue." I thought once I set the scene, I needed to spend some time describing the area so the reader could get a feel for it. Michael McGarrity spends a bit of time on describing Santa Fe and Albuquerque, and Sue Grafton not only describes the places she's driving by on the highway, but tells you what turnoff she takes. Is there a happy medium for this?

[John McFetridge]

You've never lived in Canada, have you ;)

[Thomas Grant Bruso]

A dildo room? I want my copy of MATING SEASON now.

[Jon Loomis]

It's modeled after the one in Shop Therapy in P'town. I'll send you an ARC: the hardcover comes out next week.

[Thomas Grant Bruso]

Besides the character of Frank Coffin, the main reason I like your books is because you take chances and write about zany situations. You come across as someone who doesn't give a flying you-know-what and your stories, in my opinion, are richer because of it. That said, I like the idea of a dildo room. Interesting.

[B.R.Stateham]

I agree with Jude. Whatever the scene dictates for descriptive purposes. But description creates mood. Creates tension. Good description gives the reader an inner vision of a film noir. That's when its best.

[Jack Getze]

Elmore Leonard's writing tip #9: Don't go into great detail describing places and things.
Unless you're Margaret Atwood and can paint scenes with language or write landscapes in the style of Jim Harrison. But even if you're good at it, you don't want descriptions that bring the action, the flow of the story, to a standstill.

[Thomas Grant Bruso]

I use description of characters and scenery in every chapter, but I limit myself on how much I tell the reader about the foibles of a character, or the scenery in which the character is living. In college, a few of my creative writing and English professors told me to never overload a chapter with descriptions of a character or the scenery. Instead, drop tidbits of information here and there about people, places, and things. I, too, would get tired of reading about lenghty descriptions of a character's wardrobe, for instance. It does start to sound like a plug for J. Crew or L.L. Bean. The same goes for scenery: I think if the author stretches the descriptions of a place too far, I find myself skimming over paragraphs of narrative. It does start to read like a travelogue.

I hope this helps.

[Jon Loomis]

But then you have the famous "shirt scene" in The Great Gatsby. Sometimes too much is just right.

[Thomas Grant Bruso]

I still have problems with "show, don't tell." And the use of adverbs and adjectives. How much is too much? What is the right balance? I say use them sparingly, but use them nonetheless.

[Bob]

The right balance is what you are comfortable with at this stage in your writing carrier. The more you write, the more right you will write. The right word, the right tone, the right pace, the right time for describing scenery, the right time to tell versus show all come with experience. Continue to read, write, review and write some more.

[I. J. Parker]

Not Elmore Leonard again. Please!

You learn by doing and you learn from reading.
I, too, started my first novel with travel description. I thought getting the protagonist from the 11th century capital of Japan to one of the distant provinces via the famous Tokaido highway might be informative and entertaining in itself. It took a couple of years (and some 6 or 8 rejections) for me to reorganize the beginning and introduce action and dialogue into the journey (i.e. highway men, fugitives, and a murder).
Having said that, my particular subgenre will always require some description, simply because readers don't know what the place looked like. This is less likely for the modern American landscape.

[Jack Getze]

Okay, I'm on a 90 day suspension from mentioning that particular writer.