>try to write >realise I can't describe a town because

>Try to write.
>Realise I can't write.
>Realise I can't read.
>Wonder why I was even trying in the first place.

>>8293426
i see a paradox here

>>8293418
You don't have to study architecture to describe what a building looks like lmao

>>8293418
This is where research comes into play, OP. Sometimes you have to actually learn about things

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>>8293433
You do if you want the description to have any sort of detail. If you don't know what houses built in different eras look like or the name for the kind of roof it has or what a fascia and a baluster are, then you're just talking about size and colour which may as well be a child's drawing of a house.

How would you describe pic related with zero knowledge of architecture?

>>8293484
How would you understand such a description as a reader with 0 knowledge of architecture?

>>8293489
I could look up anything I don't understand, and people more knowledgeable than me wouldn't have to.

>>8293493
I think you need to read more bro.

>>8293484
The house was half-brick-half-Beetlejuice.

>>8293484
looks like a house on top of a different house

>>8293418

> I can't write about women because I don't know the first thing about psychosis

>>8293418

> I can't write about opie because I don't know the first thing about autism

>>8293418

> I can't describe black folks becuase I don't know the first thing about primatology

>>8293484
A two-story house. Its archaic look is created by an arc before the door and vines on the bare bricks of the ground floor. The other floor is white, but striped with black planks.

Wow, that was difficult. And you don't even have to do all this shit, just saying "a two-story house" is perfectly enough if you're not Tolstoy or Balzac.

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>>8293608

>>8293627
Whoa no windows

ITT: OP realizes he simply cant write

Must you describe the house? You can expend your energy on instead focusing on characters or plot. Many writers are pretty slim on environmental descriptions but they make up for it on other things.

>>8293501
underfuckingrated

In Double Indemnity, Chandler describes a house as having been built "cock-eyed." Grow an imagination, people.

>>8293627
The reader is supposed to fill in the blanks. Detailed description is only necessary if you need the subject to be absolutely clear and when the reader's unique sense of imagination could fuck up the things you want to convey.

>>8293627
Congrats you have a shitty imagination.

Am I the only one who barely pays attention to descriptions of buildings? They're usually boring as fuck

>>8293418
Get some reference then. What do you think a draftsman, someone who is much more in need to describe something accurately going to do? Do you think every good draftsman is well educated in all kind of sciences? No, they just get reference. The more reference the more freedom you gain describing the things you want to describe.

There is also never a need to be completely accurate as it would become very static to read. You know, the way an actual expert would write is to be very specific without any need to have a certain flow in the writing. A writer is the opposite way, writing texts to be lively and artistic.

>>8293627
Are you autistic?

How about you just write what you know instead of trying to write what you don't know? If you obsess over research you'll never write anything.

>>8293418
Research. It takes a long time and that's why writing is a job not a hobby.

>>8293627
Hey, that guy didn't say anything about a smiling sun

>>8293752
Time is literally of no relevance to determine what is job and what is hobby.

>>8293769
amen, brother

>>8293484
The house looked old, but not too old. Its a sort of blend of the 1800s and the 1950s. It had a European look with large windows on both floors. It's moderately large, with the bottom half being brick, and the top half being wooden, with black vertical planks. Two trees stand by the entryway, which is covered to form a tiny tiny porch, just barely large enough for two men to have a conversation on. A chimney protrudes from the top, although from the look of it, it's not used anymore.

The point is it doesn't actually matter exactly what the house looks like unless that's the actual setting of your story. If it's a place only visited once just briefly describe it and let the readers imagination fill it in, like many others have suggested here.

>>8293832
>mixing tenses

>>8293685
I bet you thought Invisible Cities was shit.

>>8293484

The house was very very interesting and unique looking, I think it was an old house in a different country.

>>8294049
If you want your reader to know that you're an uncultivated american.

>>8293997
Morelike Invisible Shitties, am I right?

>>8293966
Never said I was a good writer. I spent maybe 45 seconds on that description and I'm typing from a smartphone at work. Cut me a break, or dont, I don't care. But yeah mixing tenses is extremely amature I agree.

>>8293418
Why do you feel like you have to be as descriptive as possible.

>>8293484
The house looked like the architect mixed-and-matched two seperate, different buildings and smashed them into one entity. It was peppered with windows, looking good individually, but giving off an uncanny feeling once zoomed out of the picture. The design of the house did little to diminish this effect. The upper-half had the look of a zebra, thick black lines running from the top to the middle, immediately transitioning into a rustic shade of red which took dominance over the lower-half of the building. The door was hidden beneath a large archway, a reclusive nature contrasting with the bombastic architecture of the house.

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>>8294112
Are you serious, my boy?

>>8294135
What did you dislike about it?

Thats why i love Dostoiesvski and Charles Bukowski, they dont waste much time with descriptions of objects and places.

But the ones who hve the knowledge (or the need) to do it like Tolstoy and Victor Hugo who takes description to a whole new level.

>>8294140
>>8294112
Including both "separate" and "different" is redundant. "Looking good individually" and everything that follows in that sentence is awkward. Don't talk about zooming out -- are you describing the house or a picture of the house on your computer? Get rid of "shade of," replace "took dominance" with dominated. Not sure you know what "bombastic" means.

>>8294140
>not using a synonym for house to point into the direction that it's an unusual non-generic house
>mentioning that the house has a lot of windows but not pointing out that almost every window has a different size
>not even mentioning the big ass eye catcher living room window that grows out of the wall
>smashed
>bombastic

You retards know that this is a completely typical Victorian house right? From red brick to bay windows to timber framing, it's literally a textbook example. You literally don't have to say anything else.

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>try to write people
>realize I can't write people because I'm fundamentally afraid of social contact

>>8294186
>an unusual non-generic house
It's literally a literally generic Victorian house.

>>8294206
You moved to the realms of context. Depending on the setting the house might be highly unusual or not even worth mentioning.

>>8294162
Nah man don't fool yourself
You love them because you're a pleb and don't know how to read

>>8294220
Unless it's literally on Mars, there's literally hundreds of them wherever this one is located.

>>8294225
Since it's fiction it can be literally in a million unusual places.

>>8293418
Try writing about what you feel, rather than what you know.

>>8294237
It doesn't mean it has to have a detailed unique description since Earthlings know what Victorian architecture looks like (unless they're from America where they literally don't have history).

>>8294172
>>8294186
Thanks guys, I do realize a problem with my writing in general is I tend to overload on the flavorful language, even if its unnecessary.

>>8294203
the whole point of the thread is how do you describe a Victorian house if you don't know that it's a Victorian house.

And it's an Edwardian house.

>>8293765
It was implied

>>8294290
Edwardian is a subset of Victorian, architecturally speaking (not literally).

>>8293418
you know what buildings, trees and people look like. just describe them as you see them and then work from there.

>>8293418
you can find all those things by sending half an hour on wikipedia

Joyce needed vast amount of knowledge for his latter works

just Cormac McCarthy it and say "house" and give the name of the town. let the reader do the work

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>want to write about love
>be literal 25 year old virgin

>>8294466
I was only once in love in grade school.

>>8293484
It looks like the kind of house you would imagine swiss boarding school girls living in. It's like German, but comfier.

>>8293418
Nobody cares about your autistic detailed descriptions, OP. Specially because your writing is shit.

>>8294062
What if the narrator is an uncultivated American? I mean, the only reason someone would give such a detailed description of a house is becuase the narrator is autistic, like OP.

>>8294162
>his reason for loving an author is because they half ass their writing and his inferior intellect can understand it
You are really mediocre.

>>8293418
when you're describing something, you're merely describing your reaction/interpretation of it, even if you think you aren't. you don't need a PhD to describe a forest. look inside yourself. how does the forest make you feel? what about the forest makes you feel that way? combine these two things: bam, quality description (inventive/creative prose doesn't hurt ofc)

>>8294204
writing with that mindset would create unique characters from your perspective due to how you percieve them

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>>8294204
I feel that. Writing already makes me feel so vulnerable.

>>8293608
>striped

It's half timbered damn haha

>>8293484
It was the house in which they routinely found dead grandmas.

>>8294084
a mature in deed

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>>8293426
Same. Alhough I can read but I cant think.

>>8293484
In my many trips to the zoo, I never imagined this: a zebra mounting a red panda of equivalent breadth and not-dissimilar height--an 'exterior wildness' Father requested the architect design; with abundant shrubbery to give the 'botanical feel' Mother requested the landscaper provide--with plentiful windows so that the children within may see the land their eldest --or most-favourable-- may eventually inherit without ever stepping foot outside of their womb.

This is very rough, but you get the point.

Superficial information about the house's physical appearance is given, and the mood is given alongside character information.

What the house precisely looks like is irrelevant, instead WHY the house is the way it is, is what adds richness to the novel. I describe the resident's banality, wealth, and situation; as well as provide a beginning to the paragraph that at least provides an image of how tacky the house is.

>>8293484
The house was stunning, even beautiful. The sky above it hung blindingly white above the roof. It was a really nice house; my grandfather died in it. It was for that reason that I called him: Icevein.

>>8293769
Time isn't real.

Let's start with a question: Do you want to write, or do you want to say you have written?

There's a big difference, and that difference comes up more often than you might think.

Writers write. Poseurs want to say they've written something.

If you want to write, then do it. If you want to think of excuses about why you can't write, maybe you'd be better off playing video games.

>>8293418

I don't have a sociology degree but I can still tell that you're a gigantic fucking faggot

>>8293418
dude this is the fun part... yes, in order to be a director or a writer you need to know every single detail of the world you are describing. learn! research is fucking cool. its like customization.

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>>8294466
love's overrated desu

>>8296073
i cant learn
i just forget everything
except memes
JUST

>>8294225

There are no houses like that where I live and I live in Europe.

>>8296256
Disregard this, I didn't read the whole post.

>>8295182

It took like fifty posts to get to this, the correct answer. God, this board.

>>8293418
I fucking hate writers that talk about the kinds of trees and plants.
It's like, who the fuck cares? I don't even know what any of that stuff is. Just say tree.

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>>8293484
The offensive absolute whiteness of its upper story looked as though it might dissipate under the binding influence of its ramifying black gridwork. The lower story supported this atrocity with as much reserved dignity as could be expected.

Interesting writing excercise

I WILL NEVER MAKE IT

>>8293765
>implying a smug sun was not assumed by the readers contempt for the weak description

>>8294084
>i never said I was a good writer
>challenge was to describe a building without the use of architectural jargon as it might occur in a publishable work

WOW

>>8294203
This. Even if you avoid using architectural terminology you can still look like an idiot acting like the house was exceptional in some way

>>8296312
Its the best description in the thread so far. Not great but at least its something.

>>8296045
not OP but I get the suspsicion I have covert poseur tendencies. Sometimes I look at my journal entries and it seems like I just get carried away with doing something impressive and that I have no real authentic inner dialogue that isn't entirely prosaic.

>>8293484

The house was a quaint two story European cottage. It almost looked as if the top story was built upon the older foundation of the first floor, which was tinging with age. Slightly unkempt shrubbery laid around the steps leading to an arch, which preceded the front door. Vines slithered their way up parts of the building, giving it almost an ominous feeling.

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>>8293501
>>8293660
this.
>>8293672
and this.

Entertaining writing should give the reader freedom to partially construct and interpret the world you made, unless you're writing textbooks, law, cookbooks, non-allegorical philosophy, things need literal, thorough, and stringent definition. Go back to reading mango and muh comics if you can't use your imagination or do exercises to increase your imagination if you're unsatisfied.

>>8296387
see like here you look like a retard for not understanding what Edwardian tudor revival architecture looks like. There are n shortcuts faggots.

>>8296459

I will kick your shit in you fucking aspie!

>>8293832
>>8294084

Don't worry about it anon, you were clearly just showing how such a description would work. You made sense.

>>8295195

Absolutely. A lot of anons in this thread don't seem to realise that their weaknesses can become strengths. These things aren't necessarily weaknesses, they're unique aspects and views that can strengthen your work. Someone being an optimist doesn't mean their writing will "suffer from a lack of pessimism", it just means that their worldview will inform their writing. Don't fight it, use it.

Surely I'm not the only writer here that just flat-out doesn't describe stuff like this. The interesting thing in stories for me are the characters, emotions, theme, and story. None of that requires intense detailed description of physical elements. How the house specifically looks isn't as important as what it means to the protagonist, or how it makes them feel. Depends on your style of writing though, of course - Robert Jordan would spend a page describing the house, Martin a paragraph, Sanderson maybe a sentence.

>>8293418
>posts random nondescript picture of a boy

Is that you Art Admirer?

>>8296477
Again everyone needs to read more. Unless it's somehow important to the view you're trying to create, describing architecture in detail is over the top, even somewhat autismo. Rand even didn't dwell on it that much (and she dwells on it a fair bit).

I suspect this is people who've read more picture books/comic books or seen more film than read books. They're imagining an establishing frame or shot and then trying to translate that into a written medium.

>>8296477
>emotions are interesting

How to spot an Austenfag

>>8293484
a two-story Neo-Tudor house that ultimately failed to even haphazardly capture the charm of it's still-standing ancestors

>>8296502
Writing for an architecture review magazine.

>>8296509
I just hate tudor revival architecture so much

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>>8296514
I know what you mean tho I do quite like Arts and Crafts (when it's done well)

>>8296539
go sit on a cactus. That looks like a schnitzel hut.

>>8296539
yeah, that's actually rather nice
I'm more of a Jacobean man at the end of the day, though, and actual Tudor

I can't say what it is about neo-tudor that sets me off...

>>8296559
I think there's something about neo-Tudor that just looks off/screams pastiche. Plus it's like the kind of people that live in them usually that probably have like a concrete lion on the front. People overreaching for style or class iykwim.

The only thing about real Tudor is they're less comfy with all the drafts and that. There's ways to improve it but you know.

Oh and doorways. But I get you, they do look nicer.

>>8293484
>or the name for the kind of roof it has or what a fascia and a baluster are
How will this details help me as a reader? Nobody gives a flying shit about how the shit in your shitty novel looks like, all you have to do is transfer the feeling and you don't do that by telling me about the material of the fucking fascia.


>>8293832
Decent.

>>8294112
Eh, parts are decent, parts are meh.

>>8294790
>>8295879
Pretty gud.

>>8296312
Decent.

>>8296387
Decent too but bit boring.

>>8296502
... and we have a winner.

>>8296677
> ... And we have a winner

>describe pic related with zero knowledge of architecture
>Neo-Tudor house

Yeah, nah.

>>8296689
Doesn't that count as general knowledge? It wasn't exactly "describe pic related to a 4 year old"

>don't know things
>live insulated life
>can't think
>can't feel
>write senescences like a /lit/ poster showing off needless punctuation and words that don't really fit their usage but sound intelligent

I feel you anon

>>8294466
Wtf is this dude on a really bad trip or is he fucking crazy? Why isn't anyone else watching him, they're all just pretending like it's not happening.

>>8293426
>>8293432
There's an app for that

>>8293418
Find novel ways to describe those things.
>implying your readers are well versed in architecture, dendrology, or cultural anthropology

OP here, I've decided to write exclusively in 1st person and have all my protagonists be at least as ignorant as me.

>>8293484
An old brick house with a zebra-striped second story and a protrusion above the porch. The lawn has a globe of grass in a stone flowerpot.

>>8296480
Don't tell me you dont have Melancholy Children folder.

>>8293484

A house that looks like a church, but without bells, and the second floor rented by Satan

>>8297531
In case you don't recognize this hotel, it was the first Tumblr convention, also known as “the scamcon” so I don't think this was remotely outstanding in context.

>>8293484
Zebra laying on a pile of bricks

>>8294790
Nah, the girl's dorms were in pretty average looking buildings.

>>8293484
The house had two stories and this story had one house.

>>8293418
what movie is that from again?

>>8293484
It's almost 3 am here but meh...


Nisha saw the house like a cross section of her mother’s Matcha-Goma mousse cake. Melted black chocolate streaks on white icing. Resting atop homemade brown toffee and bittersweet green-tea pastry. Layered top to bottom on a cloudy plate. An odd and inviting sweet slice. From a neighborly glance, a collage. To her, a definite emblem. A flag. A robe of bricks, sticks, flowers and grass wrapped around her family inside.

>>8297531
it's from this years summer games done quick, the guy has legit autism and didn't want to walk in front of the projector

>>8293484
A Germano-British abomination. The kind of place that might have a sex dungeon beneath it.

>try to write
>realize everything your writing is a parody of all the great works that came before

>>8298538
Is that ivans childhood? Been a while but reminded me of him

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>>8293418
>tfw know all these feels
>tfw can't take it anymore
>tfw the only thing keeping me from killing myself is the writer’s block getting in the way of my suicide note
What a time to be alive.

>>8293765
Try drawing literally anything in ms paint without adding a smirking sun. It's just not possible.

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>>8299864

>>8293418
m8
Deconstruct that aggregate
Find a beautiful way of reconstructing it again
Be rebellious towards established conventions
And write instead of posting on /lit/

Much love

Let your characters do the describing. That way it's not you who doesn't know things, it's them. Take your cues from Jane Austen.

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>try to write about a battle
>realise that due to my extensive interest in the subject I can create detailed maps including where fortifications should be, where the characters are, the tactics of the attack/defence, the progression of the battle, and all other sorts of pointless random shit like the equipment used and even the ToE for each force (pic related, though it's a highly unrealistic ToE)
>don't bother doing any of this because 99% of readers don't know, 0.9% don't care, and 0.1% will just nitpick.

>>8301022
You just need to sum up this information in a form that is actually interesting, which needs a good writer and not an expert in military science, but the latter will always be a benefit.

Think of ... vasectomy. Just because you're a doctor, doesn't mean you should describe the details of an interest to other doctors.

Also you underestimate the number of nitpickers, people don't need know shit to do that.

>>8293484
The countryhouse still preserved its glory days flaire, as in perpetual reverence of the past.

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>>8301054
>You just need to sum up this information in a form that is actually interesting
It can't be done.

>>8293832
Utter shit

>>8301068
The second example is actually more simple, focus on the emotional aspect, there is a story about humans hidden behind each of the points; some poppy field worker, the daughter of a corrupt diplomat, some faggot working for a news station, etc etc
Exploring their stories allows you to push some facts under the table that won't feel like in a textbook.
Every single book writing about times from conflict x did it, some writers like Hugo weren't exactly subtle about it either.

Obviously you won't be able to include all the info but that's not the point when writing a novel.

>>8293484
"Is that the house?"
"You mean that one? The Mansion on the Hill, two stories high and sticking out with brick red and striped black and white, bushes dying and withering holding onto dear life to the first brick story, always wanting but never reaching the other part, with windows sticking out, one two time one the other one time two."
"Yeah."
"Nah, the one over. :^)"

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>>8293418
I think this book will help.

>I don't read books
>I can't describe things very well
>English is my second language

And I'm still writing about

>>8296677

I am a boring person I guess, but at least you thought it was decent, I am a beginner.

>>8302819
You're on the right way, anon. The description of the things you see was solid, all that's left is the part you want the reader to see/feel.

>>8302779
>I can't describe things very well
>English is my second language
The combination of these makes writing anything beyond dialogue in English such a pain for me. How do you work around it?

>>8293484

The house she lived with her aunt looked like shit. At least her ass tasted good.

>>8296397
This anon is correct.

>>8296498
>how to spot someone who doesn't understand literature

The best descriptions are the ones which allow immediate sensuality, and most settings will fill in the blanks for the reader based on their personal interpretation of the setting.