Writing Tips for Fixing Overwritten and Underwritten Prose

Writers must strike the right balance between rich details that will immerse readers in the story and excessive descriptions that will put the audience to sleep. Overwritten prose can weigh readers down with too much verbiage. Underwritten prose might not allow the reader to fully visualize and experience the story.

Most writers lean more one way than the other, but your style might vary depending on the type of information you’re trying to convey or your intentions for a particular project. You might tend to overwrite setting descriptions and underwrite dialogue, or vice versa. The key is being able to identify when you have too little or too much.

Fixing problems with underwriting and overwriting isn’t about stifling your voice to make you sound prepackaged; it’s about letting readers know they’re in the hands of a capable storyteller.

Underwritten Prose

Say that a story opens with a scene of a daughter confronting her father about a letter she found. Here’s an underwritten version of that scene:

Fiona stormed into the room. Hector looked up at his daughter from his desk.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“You never told me about the letter.”