Desiderius Price

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A bit of extra description can definitely be fun, and certainly draw the line where you’re still having fun writing! Now, if you need to delve into a two chapter description on the manufacturing of that top button securing that blouse, I’d likely skip reading that bit, unless it was super-important (like smithed in the mines of Moria and has a minature family tree spanning back a thousand generations or something like that, power to smite your enemies, or maybe even cursed to fail in front of your true love). One trick I read about years ago, and still use today, is to get very specific to one detail of an item, and let it carry the reader’s imagination. Such as the ornate carving on the switch to the green lamp sitting on the sofa’s end-table, the one the flying black hockey puck smashed while the boys were using a baseball bat. A blood soaked athletic sock left footprints in the shag carpet as the culprits tried to evade their mother’s wrath. Of course, other times, a bit of repetition is useful too. ie. Describing Jarred’s bedroom’s walls as the dirt brown and grass green of the Albuquerque Outlaws, with matching sheets lining his twin sized bed, emphasizing that he’s a fan of that team.

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Suppose the best question is how much detail do you want? Need to know it’s 60% cotton / 40% polyester? A chapter, a paragraph, a sentence, or a few words? Gender (identity) matters too. For boys, “green T-shirt” is likely sufficient to get an image. For girls, lace, frills, buttons, beads, zippers? I tend to view it from the perspective of another character, what’s the first couple of things that are noticed? Outer garments, shirts & jeans being the biggest targets. For younger characters, the shirts might often be promotional, so an orange Safari World T-shirt, for instance. Underwear matters for lesser dressed characters. Of course, if the character is wearing their “LUCKY” socks/underwear, describe that! Or, simply dress a 4-year old in a Batman T-shirt and they’ll be unafraid! Another source of ideas, catalogs, if you can find them.

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Still good advice for anybody who doesn’t want the two tied together. (Especially if they’re on a work screen-share zoom call.)

If you’re googling that, might I suggest a separate PROFILE in your favorite browser? Keep those results out of your normal web-browsing ads?

While I tend to opt for nudists in my stories (thus, clothes aren’t an issue), might suggest browsing around fashion sites/shows or the like?

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Well, if you’re unsure how to proceed, a slow cook, a good sauce, and baste frequently, are usually good rules of thumb.

Might make it more complicated, so the friends aren’t in the first place he checks… like, maybe he thinks its the trolls at first? (Or whatever monsters you settle on.)

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