Here's a quote from the latest review I got on Authonomy:
"Damn! This is a good read. Fast-paced, interesting characters and a rich setting that is both fantastic and believable."
Another recent one:
"This is science fiction the way I like it. I would have read chapter one in the bookstore and bought it on the spot."
You can't complain about that!
One reviewer perplexed me, though. He said I used 'far too many descriptors' in a paragraph. I understand that overuse of adjectives is supposed to be a bad thing, but I just don't see it. Perhaps you can help me to understand? Here is the offending paragraph:
Fuzzy white poplar seeds floated on the summer breeze. Zoya stepped carefully over broken sections of concrete. Trash and shattered glass littered the yellowed grass and weeds that lined the sidewalk. A sound from the abandoned building to her right brought Zoya to a halt. There was a crash of metal followed by a yelp. A wild dog, she thought. Perhaps a pack. Why did I let Georgy talk me into this?
Yes, I see how many adjectives I use, but to me it detracts from the building of the world to remove any of them. I can't see removing 'fuzzy' or 'white' from the description of the poplar seeds. 'Pukh', as these seeds are called, is a weird happening in Moscow each summer, where a veritable blizzard of the stuff floats all over, almost like snow. I want the reader to know early on that it is summer, thus 'summer breeze' and 'yellowed grass'. And the trash and broken things are to let the reader know she is walking in a run-down part of the city.
What are your experiences with description?