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Descriptive Writing The art of painting a word picture. Small brush strokes of well chosen words, written slowly with an aged hand. The wrinkles on that hand stand out like folds in freshly washed sheets. The words flow out letter by letter like a stream over a rocky riverbed, painting a beautiful picture that we can all see in our minds.
What I read that was descriptive today. • Once again advancing, the trio emerged into the sunny, blood-splattered main cavern – which stank worse than before, owing to the noxious fumes that drifted from the body of the Lethrblaka. (Here are some images and smells that I can see and my mind has to fill in some of the blanks. I don’t know what the cavern looks like but I create one in my mind. I don’t know the smell but I know it stank, I create one in my mind, maybe something like a skunk.)
Description can be simple • Eragon slumped, tired from the magic and fighting. Something like this isn’t complex, but it says enough to make me see someone tired and it makes me draw on past experience. I remember times that I have flopped onto the couch, exhausted and just don’t want to move.
Another example • It doesn’t have to always be describing an orange. What do I mean? An orange can be described so that you can taste it: The sweet sugar, combined with the sour tang and citrus smell the floats through the air when some one is pealing it. Description can sometimes rely on your mind to make the picture: • “Then, his heart heavy as lead, he squared his shoulders and turned away from the sun and all things bright and living and once more descended into the tunnels of shadow.”
IS THIS DESCRIPTIVE One Sunday, me and Sherry and Becca went on a trip. We drove to maine and got on a boat. We went out to see to do some fishing. The captain said, “it might be a rough day out. the weather network said there might be a storm.” But we didn’t care, we just wanted to fish. So we went out to sea and started fishing. Sherry caught a big dog shark. Then the winds started to blow. It was bad. We had to get in soon. The waves were getting big.
Or is this descriptive We all piled into the car, Sherry, Becca and I. We started the car and it roared to life. It was an old car and it chugged a little as the engine turned over, like an old man coughing. We drove to Maine to go fishing. None of us had ever been on a boat before and even though the captain warned us about the weather, we weren’t going to stop for anything. After floating on the water for nearly an hour Sherry caught a fish. She had to fight hard, pulling and reeling, laughing and yelling. The fish didn’t want to be brought in, but with one final haul of the rod, back toward the boat and a groan as she did it, Sherry landed the fish. It was a huge fish that I had never seen before.
An Example It was sunrise in Punta Cana. The sand was like silk, smooth and shining as the first few rays of sun peaked above the horizon. The sky was beginning to blush, turning from that beautiful deep purple held only in the moments just before dawn, to a mix of reds, oranges and blues. The wind told me to hush as it blew in my ear with its soft sweet voice, “Shhhhh.” And I did. Watching the waves crash on the shore with a rush of white surf. It was like you could hear the ocean breathing with each waves ebb and flow. Looking out at the ocean, it looked like a range of mountains; just mountains of water.
Now you try: write a descriptive paragraph of the picture below. Since it is black and white, imagine the colour.
Now go back and grab one of the colorful books. • Read the back and make notes on the description. • Remember that descriptive writing makes you see, feel, taste, smell or hear something in your mind. - If you are reading my passage about the sea and it makes you think of the sound the sea makes, then it is a good description of the sea.
Now prepare a presentation • With your notes about the descriptive back of your book. Prepare to read the back of the book to the class (practice reading it to yourself a couple of times). Then prepare your notes on what senses were affected with the description. • Tell us all about it.
