A lot of truth in this. My goal with description is to write in the rhythm of the thing I'm trying to convey. And to convey only what I see - AS I see it - and NOTHING MORE. Writers often get bogged down in excessive facts, or details, or (gag me) shots - especially new writers.
Here's an exercise that helped me enormously: Take a film in a genre or style similar to the one you're writing. Run it (w the ability to pause). Now, TRANSCRIBE it, word for word. All the dialogue, all the action - EXACTLY AS YOU SEE IT. Here's what you will learn:
1. You need FAR FAR FAR less dialogue than you think;
2. Your descriptions want to be WAY less flowery and WAY simpler;
3. Scenes are shorter than you think - & begin deeper into themselves than you imagined - & exist not as discrete entities but WITHIN SEQUENCES.
2. Your descriptions want to be WAY less flowery and WAY simpler;
3. Scenes are shorter than you think - & begin deeper into themselves than you imagined - & exist not as discrete entities but WITHIN SEQUENCES.
Furthermore: A micromanaged script is harder to act, and harder to direct. Also, when you over-describe, you knee-cap the actors - and the director - all of whose work will be diminished because of you. You are writing in a collaborative medium that is PERFORMANCE-BASED.
You are NOT creating a document to be manifested precisely as written. (You may THINK you want that, but you actually don't. Trust me.) No, you're creating a template for other artists to interpret, to be inspired by, & to add to. Because here's the thing with the best movies:
They're NOT ones where actors & other artists bend over to precisely realize the "writer's vision." They happen when those others are inspired to give 100% of themselves - IN SUPPORT of what you create. And guess what happens then? The writing actually comes off way better.
