Transcript Descriptive Writing - Ms Christie's Blog

Descriptive Writing
What is descriptive writing?
Good
descriptive writing includes
many vivid details that paint a picture
and appeal to all of the reader's
senses: sight, hearing, touch, smell
and taste when appropriate.
How do we make our writing more
descriptive?

Good descriptive writing uses precise language.
Use specific adjectives and nouns and strong
action verbs to give life to the picture you are
painting in the reader's mind.
SHOW, DON’T TELL.
what's the difference between the
“Telling” and “Showing”?
Telling: Mary was an old woman.
Showing: Mary moved slowly across the
room, her hunched form supported by a
polished wooden cane gripped in a gnarled,
swollen-jointed hand that was covered by
translucent, liver-spotted skin.
 Telling:
Alex was an uneducated man.
 Showing:
Alex.
"I ain't goin' nowhere," said
Word Power
 Descriptive
writing is writing with flair. It
means using words so that they paint a
picture for the reader, but doing so in ways
that often surprise the reader. Here are
some of the tools available to you:
Adjectives
Words which describe or
modify nouns
 The tall, thin man
entered the spooky
room with measured
steps. Inside the
room deep shadows
crouched in wait for
him.
Adverbs
Words which describe or
modify verbs

The jets dived
steeply out of the
sky, tumbling rapidly
as they maneuvered
gracefully past each
other.
Interesting verbs

It is worthwhile taking the time to think about the verb
for the situation you are trying to bring to life. Often a
carefully chosen verb can transform a so-so passage into
something quite different.

He ran.

He jogged.

He fled.

He sprinted away.

He stormed off.
CHARACTER, PLACE AND
ACTION

The best descriptions have a focus. They aren’t
just lists of everything in the scene thrown
together. Try concentrating on character – bring
it to life!
Their jeans brushed the polished floor, scuffed
running shoes squeaking in unison as the two teenagers
crossed the crowded space from the music shop to the
food court. One of them, her hair -jagged tufts of red and
green, smirked at the looks of disbelief the pointy stud in
her bottom lip drew. The other, eyes narrowed and
searching, curled his lip in a silent snarl, reached deep
into the pockets of his black coat and pulled out a
crumpled shopping list.
The girl walked with a swagger that suggested she
was not to be crossed. Her eyes were pin-points, and her
nostrils flared with disdain at what she saw around her:
losers. Everyone round her was a loser, and nothing would
change that.
Here are some examples of
good descriptive paragraphs:
Behind one door, Tom Skelton, aged thirteen, stopped
and listened. The wind outside nested in each tree,
prowled the sidewalks in invisible treads like unseen cats.
Tom Skelton shivered. Anyone could see that the wind
was a special wind this night, and the darkness took on a
special feel because it was All Hallows' Eve. Everything
seemed cut from soft black velvet or gold or orange
velvet. Smoke panted up out of a thousand chimneys like
the plumes of funeral parades. From kitchen windows
drifted two pumpkin smells: gourds being cut, pies being
baked.
from The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury
In a large box out in the garage,
surrounded by gumboots, shovels and old
paint tins, is a scene of joy. The happy
mother lies on a tatty red and yellow
blanket, her litter at her belly. She licks
them, and looks up with watchful brown
eyes when we bend over to see. The tiny
puppies, blind and almost hairless, scramble
over one another, searching for their
mother.
Show, Don’t Tell
Choose one of the “telling” sentences below and re-write it as a descriptive
paragraph in your writing duotang, being sure to SHOW what you want to say,
rather than TELLING your reader what you mean.

The forest was quiet.

It was a hot day.

I woke up with a bad headache.

I was scared.

He was nice.

The room was crowded.

My room is messy.

The waterfall was pretty.

I am not a morning person.

The room was crowded.

Her hairstyle is wild.
Author’s circle assignment

For next week, you are to find a picture that appeals to
you and write a descriptive paragraph about that picture.
It could be an interesting person, an event of some kind, a
landscape, a picture of a meal – whatever you think you
can write about in a way that brings the picture to life for
us. You will bring the picture with your paragraph for
author’s circle next Tuesday.

When we do our author’s circle activity next week, you
will be trying to match each descriptive paragraphs with
the picture it goes with, as well as commenting on the
author’s descriptive writing powers.