Description by Monica Wood

I highly recommend Description for anyone wanting to delve deeper into writing description. The most important thing that Wood discussed among these pages is showing vs. telling, putting that debate to rest once and for all. She shows the reader several different ways in which the same passage can be written in full narrative, full dialogue, and a blend of both. There are a number of writers who have a showing or telling style that they employ that is their own, and the trick is to figure out your own balance as it relates to the story you’re trying to tell.

This book is packed with several examples of how to write better description – including how to use more relevant description and to edit out the slower, less relevant writing. I found the contents of Description to be useful in constructing unique people, environments, and actions.