Some authors are better than others at description.  Some bring in loads of tedious details just to take up space, and others leave almost everything up to your imagination.  Back when I read Great Expectations in high school, I learned that it’s packed with unnecessary descriptions because Dickens was paid by the word – so he made darn sure he got his money’s worth!

But the best authors can tell you only exactly as much as you want to know.  I know that some people tend to skip the descriptive parts of a book, but I’ve always lingered over them, forming precise pictures in my mind.  I like to know what everyone looks like!

Laura Ingalls Wilder, for example (the Little House books), does a great job of describing clothing.  When it matters, she lets you form a really good picture of what Laura is wearing; sometimes her outfit (or another character’s) is actually a pretty important part of a scene or event.  Ok, you may have to look up words like “polonaise” and “fascinator,” but otherwise, it’s all there, down to the shape of the buttons on her dress.

A more current example would be The Devil Wears Prada, by Lauren Weisberger.  It’s the story of a not-particularly-stylish girl who winds up as the personal assistant to the editor of a fashion magazine.  Pretty much everything I know about the world of couture fashion, I learned from this book; basically, if its leather, cashmere, or stiletto-heeled, it’s probably good.

Good clothing descriptions manage to be more than just “she wore a red shirt, blue jeans, and ratty sneakers.”  They should be part of the narrative, they should have something to do with what is going on – or they might be a way to get to know a character better.  In the Babysitters’ Club books, there’s almost always a scene where the author sort of goes around the room and describes what everyone is wearing, but it’s usually done as she introduces the main characters: this one is wearing jeans and a t-shirt (tomboy!), this one is wearing a funky top and bizarre earrings (the artist!), this one is wearing a leotard and sweatpants (dancer!), and so on.  It gives you a sense of what each of them is like.

If you’re ever bored, go back and read some of those scenes: the ’80′s fashion will burn your eyeballs!