Descriptive Writing:

1. Descriptive Writing: Painting A Picture With Words

2. Descriptive Writing • A descriptive essay tells what something looks like or what it feels like, sounds like, smells like or tastes like. You can use language to create a vivid impression for your readers. • Your descriptions help to create a dominant impression - mood or quality – for your writing.

3. An effective written description is one that presents a clear picture to your reader. • A successful description uses vivid vocabulary, including colorful adjectives and figurative language. • An interesting description attracts the reader’s attention.

4. Imagery Imagery is the use of words to create images, or mental pictures. Imagery helps you picture how something: * looks * sounds * smells * tastes * feels

5. Read this descriptive introduction from an informational text: “Dark shapes glide through the night sky on silent wings, their sinister shadows outlined against the light of a full moon. Swooping down to the earth, they hover near houses and deserted buildings, breaking the peace of the night with their disturbing presence. Carriers of disease, drinkers of blood, companions of witches and demons, bats – the very word brings a shiver of fear to most people.” ~ Sylvia A. Johnson, Bats

6. Description of the Wind “Anybody could see how cold it got. The wind already had glass edges to it, stiffening muscles and practically cutting through the stitches of our clothes. When it blew, the chill stabbed our teeth like icicles, and our voices jiggled every time we talked.” From Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vidaby Victor Martinez

7. Things to Remember About Descriptive Writing • Be specific, not vague. • Elaborate (add more details and expand your ideas). • Use vivid vocabulary (strong nouns, verbs, and adjectives). • Include details that relate to your five senses.

8. Description: • Conveys your personal emotions and response to your subject • Not expressed necessarily directly, but through your word choices and selection of details. • Should indicate the significance of the subject. • Use subjective language: connotations (emotional associations of words) • Use figures of speech to compare dissimilar things: Simile (something is like something else) • Metaphor (something is something else). • Personification: giving human characteristics to objects or animals. • Allusion: reference to a person, place, event or quotation that you assume the reader understands.

9. Selecting Details: In both objective and subjective writing, select specific details to describe. You might say, “He looked angry.” Or, you might say, “His face flushed, and one corner of his mouth twitched as he tried to control his anger.” Imagery: describe using details that appeal to the five senses.

10. It was a time of quiet and waiting. The air was cold and tender. A light wind blew up from the southwest so that the farmers were mildly hopeful of a good rain before long; but fog and rain do not go together.