: Re: What's wrong with impersonal and lifeless descriptions in a novel? It feels like there is something wrong with using impersonal descriptions in fiction. But what is it? As an example, I'm

@Kevin153

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You don't necessarily need for your descriptions to be attached to a person or to an action, but you generally do want them to be attached to a point of view, either the character's or the narrator's. "The people sat staring like zombies" is a more intrinsically interesting statement than "The people sat with their eyes wide open" because it carries a point of view.

Sometimes you do want your descriptions to be very flat and depersonalized, but only in pursuit of a particular effect. For instance, Hemingway's descriptions often read very flatly, but it tends to be because his characters are in an emotionally distanced state.

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