DESCRIPTIVEWRITING
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DESCRIPTIVEWRITING:
•Vividly portrays a person,place, or thing in such a waythat the reader can visualizethe topic.
•Creates a vivid experiencefor the reader.
CHARACTERISTICS
•Elaborate use of sensorylanguage
•Rich, vivid, and lively detail
•Figurative language such assimile, hyperbole,metaphor, symbolism andpersonification
•Showing, rather than tellingthrough the use of active verbsand interesting modifiers
SHOW DON’T TELL
•”I felt tired at work today.”
•‘As the day wore on at work, I felt acramp beginning to form at the nape ofmy neck, my eyes began to feel droopy,and the computer screen in front of mebegan blurring.”
–While the first sentence merely tells your readerdirectly that you felt tired at work today, thesecond one shows the reader how you grewtired.
–Effective descriptive writing is full of such‘showing sentences’ because they allow readersto experience or imagine what the writer felt forhimself or herself.
STEPS
•Identify exactly what you are setting outto describe.
–a place, a person, a pet, an object, anexperience, or a memory.
•Identify the specific reason for writingwhatever you have set out to describe.
–Tapping into this reason can help you tokeep the description focused and infuseyour language with a particular emotion orperspective.
STEP 2
•Brainstorm, beforeyou actually beginwriting.
•For instance, if you are going to be writing about a flowerarrangement, you could jot down a few ideas before you startdescribing it, like: vase, color, types of flowers, leaves, stem,style, shape, fresh, etc. Once you have the basic words, youcould start writing descriptive sentences for each one.
SENSORY DETAILS
•Use the five senses:
–smell, sight,sound, taste, andtouch.
–When the descriptions are focused on the senses,you provide specific and vivid details in such a waythat it shows your reader what you are describing.
MAKE THE LANGUAGEAS DESCRIPTIVE ASYOU CAN!
•instead of using merely‘horse’, why not choose touse ‘mare’, ‘foal’ or ‘stallion’?Instead of bland ‘happy’, whynot ‘joyous’, ‘glad’, or‘delighted’?
FOR EXAMPLE
•Pretend you are writing a descriptive essay aboutyour pet dog.
•You may have chosen to write about how your doglooks and the way he interacts with you. Instead ofmerely giving a general description of thesefeatures, you could convey how you love your dog’sintelligence and lovingness. In order to achieve this,one of your paragraphs could focus on describinghow your dog’s eyes light up in pure joy wheneverhe sees you after an absence. You could also tellabout how he will nuzzle up close to you, nudgingyou gently with his cold nose, thumping his tail onthe floor, when you don’t pay attention to himbecause of being occupied with something else.
BEWARE
•Don’t just use descriptivewords merely for the sake offilling the page up.
•The writing must be able todraw in the reader, so thewriter should say things thatthe reader can relate to.
TRY IT!
•Observe, and then describean event.
•Think of a person or objectthat stands out in yourmemory. Write a descriptionof that subject.
•Find an example ofdescriptive writing; explainthe elements that make this agood example.
INTERNET SITES
•Descriptive Writing withVirginia Hamilton Maintainedon Scholastic's website, thisonline tutorial includes ateacher's guide and studentresources for teaching thisgenre. Descriptive WritingResources Visit this list foradditional resourcesgathered by the Web EnglishTeacher.
WRITING PROMPTS
•A Magical Photograph (6-8 suggested grade level) You are holdinga family photograph. As you look at the photograph you aresuddenly transported back into the time and setting of the picture.Describe the picture and explain the interesting things thathappened on the day the picture was taken. Far and Away (6-8suggested grade level) You have just arrived in a distant place faraway, and everyone "back home" can't wait to hear what it is like!Write a clear description of this place--whether real or imaginary---togive your readers a vivid picture of what it is like in this far-awayland. In Science (6-8 suggested grade level) Encourage students towrite a complete description of the parts of a cell, the water cycle orother scientific process as a quiz to check their understanding of atopic presented in a recent lesson. The Perfect Vacation Place (6-8suggested grade level) You are on a family vacation. In your writing,describe your surroundings: what you see, hear, smell, taste, andtouch. Where are you? Who is with you? What do you feel?Successful People (6-8 suggested grade level) Think aboutsomeone you know who is successful. In what ways is this personsuccessful? How much of this person's success is due to luck, andhow much is due to hard work? Write an essay to present to yourclass in which you describe a successful person. This person couldbe someone you know or may have never met. It could be a personwho may or may not be famous. Explain whether you think luck,talent, or hard work is most important to success. Use details thatsupport your ideas.