Weekly Description

I'm going to start posting a description from things I've written. I will post it once a week. The description could be short or long...one paragraph or several. Hopefully, this will help me stay a bit more motivated to actually write (yes, I admit I've not been the best at my writing time lately) and try to come up with a good mental picture for things. When I went to the One Year Adventure Novel  Summer Workshop, there were several speakers who talked about description. It's really important that you describe things in your novel so that your reader has a clear mental picture of what you're thinking of. If you neglect this, then either they'll come up with their own idea or the story won't feel real to them. Another thing could happen (especially so with character descriptions). If you don't show how a character looks until the end of Chapter 1 or beginning of Chapter 2, the reader has already formed their own idea of what they want the character to look like. When you finally do get around to describing that, it makes it harder for the reader to switch to what you pictured in your mind.

Anyways, moving on with the post now. Here is description number 1:

The lights that still worked flickered. All of the fixtures were dusty and covered with spider webs and dead bugs. Mildew stained the floors and the walls certainly looked like they’d seen better days. Graffiti covered most of them, proclaiming profane statements and some things I couldn’t even read. Remnants from the spray paint accented the floor. A cold, musty smell filled the air.

--Excerpt from Chapter 2 of a futuristic/sci-fi/dystopian/young adult collective novel.