Let me be absolutely honest: this is usually where a lot of writers get totally, hopelessly lost.

Picking what to describe is a difficult task. The writer knows exactly what his or her world looks like. But how to tell the readers?

Not only how to tell them, but how MUCH? The truth is, it's entirely up to you. There are works out there which seem to do nothing but describe the setting, actions and reactions from a sideline view. Just as there are works which can be completely dialogue driven. I digress, the former tends to be found in the Classics section of Wattpad, while the latter composes a heaping majority of this decade's authors. In this day and age, you need to find the happy medium to immerse readers.

"I'm really just not good at description," is the most common defense in my PM box when I mention that the work needs more details. But how is coming up with excuses as to why your character is floating in blank white space appropriate?

If there's a problem with the plumbing, and the toilet is leaking yesterday's excreted chimichangas, you BETTER not tell me you'd leave it to overflow the bathroom just because you aren't that good at cleaning up messes.

If your description is stinky, clean it up!

Of course, not all of us know the right steps to clean up bubbling crap in the can. It's really daunting when you realize there's a big mess. You might just put down a few towels to control the flooding and please the recently cleaned carpet nearby, but that is a weak attempt.

I want to help you get the job done right, so here's your foolproof plan for the most minimal of minimalists:

Meet the Main Three --Sight, Sound, and Smell. They're basic senses that belong to all humans, and you can trigger them through writing.

Take any scene lacking of proper description, and apply these to your writing. I don't want to sound like I'm nitpicking for no reason, so I'll give you an example, and you can tell me if you see what I see.

I'm going to take a sentence from a very basic description, and turn it into a living, breathing place. All I've got to do is use the Main Three. No joke.

Example: "I took a walk at sunset on the beach."

Now, this is --as stated above-- a very basic description of a place that may be the setting for a whole chapter. What a waste of opportunity for beautiful, breathtaking imagery to entice the audience into a trance of wonder!

Now I'm going to take the idea of a sunset walk on the beach and expand it in three sentences. One for Sight, one for Sound, and one for Smell.

SIGHT: The red-gold glimmer of sunset, setting the sea on fire.

SOUND: Waves lapping steadily on hard-pack sand.

SMELL: A putrid stench of rotting fish, only palatable with the addition of sea spray which hangs in the air.

For this chapter, the character taking a walk on the beach was probably barefoot, so adding in the extra sensations, Touch and Feeling, can also apply. I don't include either as part of the Main Senses, because more often than not, this tends to be where writers can get carried away and linger on unimportant points.

TOUCH: Frigid, waterlogged sand which hurt the toes as they left sinking impressions.

FEELING: Shuddering as the sun's heat gave way to breezy nighttime.

As you can tell, these are only five meager sentences, but already they give you an incredible feeling for the setting. Put together, that's an itsy-bitsy paragraph of solid detail!

If it worries you to go further, those five sentences can usually suffice as a minimum.
Give your readers that, and they'll be okay if the rest of the chapter is nothing but talking or internal monologue.

But, you can also go much, much further. If you're ready to make a jab at real, hardcore description, great!

Heed my only warning: if your description turns in to pausing the action so you can take a detailed look at a salt and pepper shaker on a writing desk while your character is trying to solve a murder mystery in the dining room, scrap it! (Unless the murderer put poison in the pepper, but enough externalities ;)

*Note: This can be taken as an exercise or used to spruce up entire novels. If further instructions are needed, I recommend you begin reading a book, and carefully follow how descriptive the writer can be. For good examples of excellent description, pick up a Stephen King novel the next time you're at a bookstore, or read a sample chapter online.

I hope you take this advice. If all Wattpadders could read this, it would take writing standards to a whole new level.

For more information on how to write descriptions that leave readers in awe, or one on one advice for personal improvement, please contact @X_marks_the_0 through PM, or leave your comments on this chapter.