Shoutout to the writing prompt that finally made me stop over-describing everything

I used to write 3 paragraphs describing a single room in my stories. Trees, wallpaper, dust motes, you name it. Then I tried a prompt that said 'write a scene using only 5 sensory details total.' It was for a short piece set in a diner at 2 AM. I picked the coffee smell, the flickering neon sign, a sticky counter, the waitress's tired eyes, and one cracked plate. My beta readers said it felt more alive than anything else I wrote that month. Has anyone else tried cutting way back on description and found it worked better?

2 comments

2 Comments

wyatt_mitchell261mo ago

That sticky counter carried the whole scene. Less is way more.

victor_robinson1mo ago

That sticky counter detail probably did more work than three pages of description.