Description
Descriptive writing answers the question, “What is it like?” Description underlies all effective writing and is, inevitably, embedded in most other types of writing. Through description the writer helps the reader to better understand the object, the process, place or event about which they are writing.
Description is not a list of details; it’s not the passive experience of sitting back and looking at a scene. It’s the story of a character’s encounter with a person, place or thing.
Observation: Careful observation of details answers the question
WHAT IS IT LIKE?
Word Choice: One precise adjective will serve better than four carelessly chosen.
Words must show as well as tell.
Element of Surprise: Challenge the reader to see something in a new way or context.
Make an impression: Concentrate on one dominant impression that you wish to leave the reader with.
- what it looked like
- how it felt
- what it meant
- what it was worth
- what people do with it
- distinctive markings or
Precision: Be as precise as possible in the description.
- there are five senses: touch, smell, taste, sound, sight. Appeal to your reader’s senses by making him/her feel, smell, taste and hear as well as see what you are describing.
- There are two other senses: thermal [temperature] and kinetic [movement]
Organized: organize information in a way most appropriate to the subject i.e.
- SPACE [inside to outside, front to back, etc.]
- ASPECT [focus on one aspect, such as colour, then move on to another characteristic, like texture]
- PERSPECTIVE [multiple perspectives paint a more complete picture of that subject; when describing wars, you could include the perspective of more experienced soldiers vs. fresh new recruits; the enemy and the allies = comparative descriptions]
- Arrange your details in some kind of logical order that is significant
o Inner-outer
o Outer-inner
o Top-bottom
o Bottom-top
o Edge-centre
o Centre-edge
o Present-past
o Past
Literary Devices: Use devices such as similes, metaphors, personification etc. to make abstract concepts or unfamiliar subjects more concrete, more visual to your reader.
WATCH OUT!
Avoid clichés: This is part of being specific. Clichés are tired and hurt your writing’s originality and precision.
“He ran like a madman, she was as pretty as a summer’s day, Bob fought like a tiger…” Find some other way to visualize the scene or appeal to a different sense. If you can’t picture it, how will you enable your reader to do so?
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