My old writing group loved flowery descriptions but I think they're holding people back

I've been in this critique circle for about 18 months now, and at first everyone gushed over paragraphs of sunset descriptions and detailed character outfits. But after 6 months I started noticing readers would skip those blocks to get to the dialogue and action. I brought it up and got pushback, but then three people admitted they did the same thing. Has anyone else found that cutting 70% of your description makes scenes hit harder?

2 comments

2 Comments

nancy318h agoMost Upvoted

Honestly, I think the whole flowery vs. minimal thing misses a bigger point. It's not about cutting 70% of description. It's about knowing when description actually does work. Like have you ever read a book where a single sentence about a character's hands or the way light hits a window tells you more about the mood than a whole paragraph ever could? That's the real skill. People skip stuff because it's just decoration, not because description itself is bad. The problem is when description feels like a list, not a tool. So maybe instead of cutting everything, you just gotta make every word earn its spot.

lucas97214h ago

Nah, you're spot on. I've had to learn this the hard way. Back when I was trying to write more, I'd spend a whole page describing a room, thinking it set the scene. Then I'd read it back and realize I couldn't remember what the character was even feeling. Now I try to tie every detail to the mood or the character's headspace. Like instead of "the coffee cup was chipped and sat on a wooden table," I'll say "the chipped cup was the only clean thing on the table." You get the mood and the mess without the whole checklist. Does that make sense or am I overthinking it?