Good Descriptive Writing

Good descriptive writing creates an impression in the reader's mind of an event, a place, a
person, or a thing. The writing will be such that it will set a mood or describe something in such
detail that if the reader saw it, they would recognize it.

To be good, descriptive writing has to be ​concrete, evocative and plausible.

❖ To be ​concrete​, descriptive writing has to offer specifics the reader can envision. Rather
than "Her eyes were the color of blue rocks" (Light blue? Dark blue? Marble? Slate?), try
instead, "Her eyes sparkled like sapphires in the dark."

❖ To be ​evocative,​ descriptive writing has to unite the concrete image with phrasing that
evokes the impression the writer wants the reader to have. Consider "her eyes shone
like sapphires, warming my night" versus "the woman's eyes had a light like sapphires,
bright and hard." Each phrase uses the same concrete image, then employs evocative
language to create different impressions.

❖ To be ​plausible,​ the descriptive writer has to constrain the concrete, evocative image to
suit the reader's knowledge and attention span. "Her eyes were brighter than the
sapphires in the armrests of the Tipu Sultan's golden throne, yet sharper than the
tulwars of his cruelest executioners" will have the reader checking their phone halfway
through. "Her eyes were sapphires, bright and hard" creates the same effect in a fraction
of the reading time. As always in the craft of writing: when in doubt, write less.

Examples of Descriptive Writing

The following sentences provide examples of the concreteness, evocativeness and plausibility
of good descriptive writing.

❖ Her last smile to me wasn't a sunset. It was an eclipse, the last eclipse, noon dying away
to darkness where there would be no dawn.
❖ My Uber driver looked like a deflating airbag and sounded like talk radio on repeat.
❖ The old man was bent into a capital C, his head leaning so far forward that his beard
nearly touched his knobby knees.
❖ The painting was a field of flowers, blues and yellows atop deep green stems that
seemed to call the viewer in to play.
❖ My dog's fur felt like silk against my skin and her black coloring shone, absorbing the
sunlight and reflecting it back like a pure, dark mirror.
❖ The sunset filled the sky with a deep red flame, setting the clouds ablaze.
❖ The waves rolled along the shore in a graceful, gentle rhythm, as if dancing with the
land.

Examples of Descriptive Text in Literature

Because descriptive text is so powerful, many examples of it can be found in famous literature
and poetry.
Jamaica Inn
In this excerpt from Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier, notice the writer's ​choice of
adjectives, adverbs, and verbs.​ Granite. Mizzling. Du Maurier's choice of words allows the
reader to almost feel the weather occurring on the page.

"It was a cold grey day in late November. The weather had changed overnight, when a backing
wind brought a granite sky and a mizzling rain with it, and although it was now only a little after
two o'clock in the afternoon the pallor of a winter evening seemed to have closed upon the hills,
cloaking them in mist."

The Eagle
In Alfred Tennyson's "The Eagle," he conveys power and majesty in just a few lines:

"He clasps the crag with crooked hands;

Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring'd with the azure world, he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls."

Descriptive Text in Songs

Descriptive text examples can also be found in many songs, since songs are meant to capture
your emotions and to invoke a feeling.

Blank Space
In her hit song "Blank Space," Taylor Swift uses concrete, evocative descriptions to evoke two
very different impressions.

First:

"Cherry lips, crystal skies

I can show you incredible things
Stolen kisses, pretty lies
You're the king, baby, I'm your queen"

Then:

"Screaming, crying, perfect storm

I can make all the tables turn
Rose gardens filled with thorns
Keep you second guessing"

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