Adjectives

[Dobby]

Just a quick question - all through elementary school and middle school, at least in my town, its been ingrained in our heads to use descriptive nouns and adjectives as much as possible in creative writing. However, as I've been reading more and more stories, I've been noticing what I think is an obnoxious and unnecessary amount of descriptive nouns and adjectives.

My question is, how much do you think descriptive words can successfully be used in a pice before it becomes excessive, and a little pretentious sounding?

[Umbvix]

Just use them when it feels right, that's how I go by it. If it feels right to be very descriptive, than do it. Sometimes, emphasis is good. If it feels awkward to you on a second read or something, then you can edit at your discretion. But I've found that excess is very subjective. I find Tolkien's descriptions excessive often, but other people find it perfectly fine and are actually bothered by what they consider to be a lack of description. It's a part of your writing style, in my opinion.

[moosethemoose]

I agree with Umbvix. [/usefulcontribution]

[cyanea]

I try to stay very...utilitarian when I write. If a character's sigh isn't important, she just sighs. If I'm trying to draw attention to it in a way to highlight her mood/reaction, she'd "sigh exasperatedly".

I do the same when it comes to environment. If it's a desk, he just sits behind the desk. If I'm trying to highlight the character's social status or something, "he sat behind the large wooden desk, the shiny surface of which was covered in papers and folders stamped "Confidential".

I tend to prefer writers that do the same, though I've picked up a kind of talent for identifying and skipping over unnecessary description.

[Fuck Yeah Dion]

Don't use them if they're not useful. Like, you don't have to say "Bill ran quickly" or something like that, because your reader should know that running is quickly. Also, you can probably eliminate a lot of adjectives by trying to show things instead of telling them, if that makes sense.

[Dodger Thirteen]

The English language is very rich in nouns and adjectives, but very poor in verbs.

Use verbs. They're better.

[pjthefey]

I have a slightly different perspective on this due to my fairly unique writing process and learning style. Unlike others who have contributed to this thread, I do enjoy the use of adjectives and tend to pile on many of them, but many, and in some cases most, do not survive my final draft.

Ultimately me decision of whether or not to include them is determined by sentence balance and the tone that is generated to color the paragraph with subtle meaning. This process is based on the phonetic quality of the interaction between ALL words that are being utilized including adjectives. If I need a satisfying "juh" sound and an adjective provides it, then it stays, if the presence of too many "sss" or "vvv" sounds is mucking up the tone I'm shooting for, they get dropped or changed depending on the need for balance within the sentence.

[alyoshka]

They can be obnoxious and I am careful not to use too many of them.