I know that people are busy with their every day lives and sometimes do not have time to visit this thread. But, I am going to do what I can to see this thread stays visible and useful.
So, ping to the top.
As I struggle with my descriptive narrative, I find it interesting that I just finished reading a Patricia Cornwall novel (I think it is my 2nd) and she uses not descriptive narrative at all. I can't tell you what the main character of her book looks like. I am sure that she has described her in previous books, but her stark style and the popularity of her books make me think that maybe the "descriptive" part of the narrative is not all that important as long as you spin a pretty good yarn.
One line in the book reads, "the window was stubborn, but not as stubborn as Marino." It is stark, but conveys a image that leaves it up to the reader to imagine.
It is the like paintings of George Seurat, who didn't mix his paints on the pallet, but painted separate dots of color on his canvas because the human eye could mix the colors more powerfully than he could.
I would like to open the discussion on how others write descriptive narrative, or the role of descriptive narrative, and perhaps I will learn something that I can employ in my own writing.