I tend to write too much detail the first time, so I end up cutting things to keep the pacing smooth. Like Breaker mentioned, blocks of setting are usually just roadbumps for pacing. I think the way description is included is more important than what description is included, or what amount of it.


Quote Originally Posted by My Kingdom For An Adjective
I feel like Althanas's big problem is that the rubric is forcing us to write these big, sweeping paragraphs about what kind of lighting and wall decorations are in this new tavern our characters have stepped foot in, just so we can bump our Setting up from a 6 to a 7 at the expense of the story's flow.

I don't know if I'd agree with the 'forcing' part, but you're not wrong that it incentivizes that. I think that's because most people seem to take 'Setting' as literal, and only applying to environments. At least, that's usually what criticism in that category is limited to. It might not hurt to change the name of that category to 'Description,' to more obviously include character descriptions as well.


...it hinders our development as writers and prevents us from finding and honing our individual, unique writing voices.

Description is part of the process. Just because some styles work better with less description doesn't mean the category itself is a hinderance, just that criticism of it needs to take style into account.