When I re-read my second manuscript, I noticed that all the descriptions of my characters were not descriptions of them–I only described their hair.  No strands were left uncovered.  (Believe me I fixed this in my re-writes.)

So who’s hair am I feeling now?  It would have to be Monica.  The only word to describe her hair is FIERCE!

Next would be Taraji P. Henson.  She is rocking that cut!

I feel like I have hair-tinted glasses on all the time.  Whenever I describe someone in real life I always start with their hair. 

“Did you see the girl with the angled bob cut?” 

“No, not her, the one with all the split ends.”

Annoying?

Yes.

Will I do something about it?

 Absolutely not!

Until I had one of my favorite clients beg me to do her hair for her wedding.  “Please, Katrina.  You have to do it.  It’s my wedding day!”  And as I looked down at the dreaded photo she brought with her, my hands shook.  It was an up-do.  And not just a simple bun, it was an intricate style that would require at least a hundred bobby pins.  “Um…I don’t think so.  Why can’t you let–”

“No,” she said emphatically.  “I want you to do it.  The wedding is six weeks away and you’re my stylist, so style!”

I blew out a nervous breath and began.  I practiced day and night on this hairstyle–even pulling out my mannequin from beauty school.  And by the time her wedding came, I watched her walk down the aisle with pride because her hair was beautiful.  Not just okay, but exquisite.  Doing her hair pushed me to start doing up-do’s with my other clients.  I never grew to like them, but I knew as a hairstylist they were part of the skills I needed to be competent.

I say this because I love writing dialogue.  I’ve caught the subtle nuances of how people talk and I stick that in my writing.  But I’m not good at describing a scene.  Most of the time I ignore the problem until my re-write, but it made my re-writes more extensive–and painful than they needed to be.  I couldn’t ignore this problem anymore, I had to face it dead on.  Like an up-do.

I hate writing description because it’s hard for me to get the reader into the scene.  It feels forced, like I’m trying to hard.   So when I’m doing my re-writes, I make myself  add the necessary scenes that will make my book complete.   I give description the attention it deserves. I’m getting better at it too.  It’ll never be as natural to me as writing dialogue but I don’t hate it anymore either.  But I know I need this skill to be competent as a writer.  So I ask, what’s your up-do?