Razor's Fourth Level Three Assignment

[H Dean]

I'm having trouble balancing description with succinctness. All of the reviews for my stories on the Library side say "I wish it had more description." I don't know how much credence I should give the reviewers, since I'm aiming to improve my writing skills beyond erotica, which normally is physical description heavy.

First off, the reviewers are not going to offer the sort of critiques we do here. They are going to offer their quick opinion, offering a few tid bits that may be helpful and with little real technical assistance. I suggest you review the reviewers by looking over the stories they review. There are a few who routinely review trainwrecks positively and who disliked well thought out and well-written tales. Take those things into consideration when you think on what they have to say and you will do all right.

As far as balancing description with succinctness goes: You don't have to sacrafice either. Succinctness has little to do with writing compact sentences so much as writing sentences with little waste. Descriptions of the night, temperature, the sounds and smells of a place all add to your story. On the other hand, simplistic sentences with wasted verbiage make a tale drag.