Techniques for descriptive writing

Describing things effectively is an important way to directly involve your readers

the more convincing your descriptions, the more likely you are to draw your
readers into your writing. It’s important that you make your descriptions as clear
as possible and you can do this by focusing on specific details of the person or
place that you are describing.

Appealing to the senses

Writers often use descriptive language that appeals to the five senses when they
describe a setting.

The five senses:

1. what a reader might see

2. what a reader might hear
3. what a reader might smell
4. what a reader might feel
5. what a reader might taste

Obviously, you may not want to include references to all the senses in every
description – if you’re describing your favourite pet it’s unlikely that you will want
to describe its taste!

Effective choice of verbs:

Most importantly, good descriptive writing depends on choosing exactly the right
word to communicate what is in your mind. It’s usually better to present your
description in a dynamic way through an effective choice of verbs and adverbs,
rather than slowing down your description with too many adjectives and similes.
Consider the following sentences.

● The teacher came into the classroom and sat on his chair behind the desk.

● The teacher drifted into the classroom and slumped into his chair behind the desk.
● The teacher stormed into the classroom and positioned himself on the chair
behind his desk.

Each of these sentences conveys the same basic information (a teacher entered a
classroom and sat at his desk). However, the different choice of verbs (underlined)
in each sentence suggests a completely different account of events. The first one
is neutral in what it tells us; the other two sentences are much more vivid and give
a much clearer indication of the mood and character of the teacher.

 Adjectives - describing words that describe a noun. Used to help create a more
vivid picture in our minds about the named object.
 Adverbs - words used to describe verbs. They help to create a more vivid picture
in our minds about how something is being done.
 Alliteration - repetition of connected words beginning with the same letter. Used
to highlight the feeling of sound and movement, or to intensify feeling or to bind
words together.
 Connotations - an idea or feeling that a word invokes for a person as well as its
literal meaning. Connotations evoke reactions in the reader based on their
experience of certain words. For example, words like ghost and death can evoke
strong negative connotations.
 Pathetic fallacy - where the weather in the story mirrors the emotion of the scene
or the people in it. For example, when it is very hot the characters are agitated or
when it is foggy, mystery is evoked. This adds atmosphere to the writing and gives
clues to the reader as to what is to come, especially if the weather is described
before the event.
 Personification - the technique of presenting things which are not human as if
they were. This can make in-animate things seem as if they are alive and able to
do the things that a person can.
 Repetition - the action of repeating something. This will either add emphasis to
the words being repeated or create a rhythm within the writing.
 Onomatopoeia - use of words which echo their meaning in sound. For example,
'whoosh' or 'bang'. This technique can give the reader a real sense of the noise
that is happening within the writing.
 Simile - a comparison based on a similarity between two things, which suggests
one object shares features with another but is not identical. This technique helps
 to create an image in the mind of the reader so that the reader can identify with
how things appear or may be happening. Hint - 'like' or 'as' are key words to spot.
 Symbolism - when a word, phrase or image stands for or evokes a complex set of
ideas. For example, a red rose can symbolise romantic love. Writers will
sometimes use symbols in their writing so that they can suggest things without
actually explaining them.

This extract is taken from a ghost story called The Red Room by HG Wells: