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self-awareness (think fighting trees in Lord of the Rings)

* Abstract ideas, people, or animals represented as a physical thing (think soldiers standing as a stone wall)

These techniques are sometimes described by somewhat overlapping terms such as anthropomorphism, personification, or objectification. To borrow a term from science fiction, these techniques could be called transmorphic description.

CLICHES VS. FRESH LANUGUAGE

In general, fresh language is preferred to cliches.

"Cliches are born when someone, somewhere, comes up with a truly original bit of language, probably to describe something," according to Les Edgerton.

As stated by Ann Hood in Creating Character Emotion, "Cliches . . . are a kind of emotional shorthand . . . ." And "When we read a writer who relies on such emotional shorthand, we don't trust what that writer is trying to say."

"Triteness can move an acceptable phrase into the realm of the untouchable," notes Michael Kurland in The Writer (March 2008). And "Remember: Avoid hackneyed expressions, well, like the plague."

Les Edgerton states "You're a writer-use original language. Be the kind of writer who comes up with such inventive phrases that others will eventually transform into cliches."

OBTRUSIVENESS

How much should description jump out at the reader? How noticeable or prominent should description be?

"You don't want the reader to notice your descriptions . . . ," advises Janet Evanovich in How I Write.

As stated by David Madden, "Words, phrases and other material that call attention to themselves-or don't add to the story-destroy immediacy by putting distance between the reader and your fictional world."

"It often falls to the writer to make a description absolutely transparent so it doesn't intrude between the reader and the action. And if the writer achieves that, the reader never notices the words," according to Michael Kurland (The Writer, March 2008).

DISGUISED DESCRIPTION

Should any particular bit of description stand on its own, presented directly from the narrator (as narrated description)? Or should it be disguised by mixing it in with other fiction-writing modes (such as action, dialogue, introspection, recollection, sensation)?

Les Edgerton, in Hooked, states that "Today, static (or passive) description is eschewed in favor of active description, description incorporated within the action of the scene itself, so the bit of description doesn't stop the scene or even slow it down noticeably."

"You want your description to exist as part

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