DESCRIPTIVE WRITING - final

8/7/2019 DESCRIPTIVE WRITING - final

1/15

DESCRIPTIVE WRITING


2/15

WHAT IS DESCRIPTIVE WRITING?

The moon with its wisps of white light hung suspended in the frosty air

over the still, quiet countryside. He could see in all directions, from the

majestic outcrop of mountains to the vast ocean on the other.

The reader can certainly SEE the moon and the countryside.

Notice the images of colour and shape.

Descriptive writing focuses on observation, is static,and paints pictures with words.


3/15

HERES ANOTHER EXAMPLE:

In a large box out in thegarage, surrounded bygumboots, shovels and oldpaint tins, is a scene of joy. Thehappy mother lies on a tattyred and yellow blanket, her

litter at her belly. She licksthem, and looks up withwatchful brown eyes when webend over to see. The tinypuppies, blind and almosthairless, scramble over oneanother, searching for the teats,

or sucking hungrily. Aaaah,we say. We dont dare touchyet. But we cant help but stare.Its better than TV any day.

What brings this scene tolife?

Write down the words thathelp the reader visualise thisscene.


4/15

AN EXAMPLE OF HOW WE

OBSERVE PEOPLE AT THE DISCO.The girls stand in nervousclusters, wearing their namebrand gear Rip Curl, Esprit,Billabong, tight tops with stringstraps. Little black numbers.

The guys have on their bestLevis, T shirts, gelled hair. The

air is full of noise, booming soloud you cant hear a word.

Rainbow coloured spots cutthrough the haze of smoke like

searchlights, picking up thesilhouettes of dancing girls.

The boys lean against thewalls, sipping Coke, watching,

or moving across to chat

someone up. Later, in smallgroups, theyll pour out into the

night street, heading for

McDonalds and the scent of hotfries. A good night out.


5/15

Try it yourself

Write about people at thesupermarket, on the train, bus or at

the beach. (80 100 words). Make sure you use descriptive

language so that everyone can

visualise what youre writing, and get a

sense of the atmosphere.


6/15

Word Power

Descriptive writing is writing with flair. Itmeans using words so that they paint a

picture for the reader, but doing so inways that often surprise the reader.

Here are some of the tools available to

you:


7/15

Similes

Comparisons usingthe words like

or as ( simile) The surface of themoon is like crumpledsandpaper

I felt asnervous asafish out of water

Asclear as crystal


8/15

Metaphors

Comparisons minuscue words

My tears were a river

I died with embarrassment Her heart was on fire

He hit the wall of exhaustion


9/15

Adjectives

Words which describe or

modify nouns

The all, thin man

entered the spookyroom with measuredsteps. Inside the roomdeep shadowscrouched in wait for

him.


10/15

Adverbs

Words which describeor modify verbs

The jets dived steeply out of

the sky, tumbling rapidly asthey manoeuveredgracefully past each other.

USE ADVERBS TO DESCRIBE A

FIREWORKS DISPLAY. (1 2SENTENCES)


11/15

Interesting verbs

It is worthwhile taking the time to think about theverb 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.


12/15

The Senses

Good descriptive writing should also focus on thesenses to help the reader imagine the scene morevividly, so try to picture yourself in the scene and

describe what you can:

See

Hear

Smell Touch

Taste


13/15

TASK

Rewrite the followingpassage, changing eachverb to a more interestingone. You might like tocheck your thesaurus, butbe careful of your choice ofwords:

The teacher waved at thecoach to stop the game.However the coach wasinterested in the play and

didnt do as suggested.Surprised by this response,the teacher tooktheopportunity to yell out,STOP!


14/15

CHARACTER, PLACE AND ACTION

The best descriptions have a focus. They arent justlists of everything in the scene thrown together. Tryconcentrating on character bring it to life!


15/15

Their jeans brushed the polished floor, scuffed running shoessqueaking in unison as the two teenagers crossed thecrowded space from the music shop to the food court. One ofthem, her hair -jagged tufts of red and green, smirked at the

looks of disbelief the pointy stud in her bottom lip drew. Theother, eyes narrowed and searching, curled his lip in a silentsnarl, reached deep into the pockets of his black coat andpulled out a crumpled shopping list.The girl walked with a swagger that suggested she was not tobe crossed. Her eyes were pin-points, and her nostrils flaredwith disdain at what she saw around her: losers. Everyone

round her was a loser, and nothing would change that.

DESCRIPTIVE WRITING - final

Documents

Transcript of DESCRIPTIVE WRITING - final