Descriptive Writing
Definition: Providing detailed information about a person, a thing
or an experience
Features and conventions of
effective description
An effective description will:
Vividly convey what a specific person, setting or experience is like,
rather than tell a story
Use a variety of sensory detail (i.e. sight, sound, smell, taste)
Use language to ‘zoom in’ (for a detailed close up) or ‘zoom out’ (for a
wide angle) as you would use a camera
Use sentence or paragraph structure and organization to convey
different elements of a description
Use well-chosen lexis/vocabulary to be precise or expansive as the text
requires
Use linguistic devices such as imagery or sound effects e.g. alliteration,
assonance to convey mood or atmosphere
Descriptive writing based on
personal experience
Task 1: Describe a person who was important to you in early childhood. Try to make the
mood nostalgic.
Organising your response
Select the person you will write about and put down some ideas on the following:
What build/ stature was she/ he?
What kind of things did she/he say to you?
What kind of voice did she/ he have?
What kind of feelings did you have when you heard her/ his voice?
What kind of clothes did she/he wear?
Can you describe a single favourite or typical outfit she / he wore?
Are there any special smells associated with her/ him?
What are the most memorable activities you associate with her/ him?
You will share some of your ideas with the class.
Personal experience (cont)
Task 2: Describe a place you know well. Try to make the mood humorous.
Organising your response
Select the place and use some of the following ideas:
What kind of place is it?
What kind of person/ people spend their time there?
What does the place say about the personalities of those who spend
their time their?
What colours do you associate with the place?
What feelings does the place evoke in you?
You will share your ideas with the class.
Main principals that descriptive
writing should use
Selected detail
Carefully chosen language
Selected detail
Before starting to write, link the topic for description to the tone or
mood you intend to create. Sometimes that tone or mood will be
established by the question set. At other times, it will be up to you to
decide what tone or mood you intend to create. You might need to
work out the tone by thinking about the genre you have been asked
to write. Once you are clear about the tone or mood, select the
details which you wish to include in your writing and jot them down.
These should then be developed through carefully chosen language.
Carefully chosen language
One useful strategy for selecting appropriate language is that of word banks. A
word bank is a group of words linked around, and evocative of a particular mood
or tone or topic. For example, consider the topic ’A night in the city’ on which the
requirement is to create the threatening nature of city life at night. A word
bank for this topic might include: menacing, humid, neon lights, music, taxis,
alley, gun, oppressive, threatening, claustrophobic, etc
Copy out the given topic and the suggested word bank.
Working with a partner, create a word bank for the same topic which asks that
you create the party atmosphere of city life at night
Make up words banks for the following descriptive topics:
A familiar, friendly house and a forbidding, unfriendly house
A favourite teacher from your younger school days and a teacher of whom you
were afraid
You will share some of your ideas with the class.
Description based on your
imagination
Our imagination is often coloured by and affected by our personal
experience. For such topics, begin by thinking of the characteristics of
something you already know. The principals of selected careful detail
and carefully chosen language also apply in this type of descriptive
writing. The added dimension might be the overlaying of personal
experience onto the imaginary place, person, event or whatever you
have been asked to describe. For topics where personal experience
cannot apply, think about pictures, paintings or scenes that you have
seen or even novels that you have read, from which your imagination
can draw. These experiences can assist you in forming a picture in
your mind, which can then lead to a word bank.
Task: Describe a town after an earthquake
Work with a partner to create a word bank on that topic
Descriptive writing tools
Person, tense and openings can all be useful tools for improving your
descriptive writing.
Person
The nature of descriptive writing topics mean that in general, it will be
possible to choose between writing in the first person (using I) and
writing in the third person (using he, she, they).
Tense
The nature of descriptive writing topics means that it will often be
possible to write in either present or past tense. You should be directed
by the nature of the question set, for instance, in describing an
experience you underwent, you should use past tense, but in describing
a place or landscape, present tense should be used.
Openings
As with narrative writing, it is important to engage the interest of the
reader by establishing an interesting or eye-catching opening to your
descriptive writing. Some examples of effective openings are:
A single word e.g. ‘Silence’ ‘Granddad’ ‘Finally’
Slightly longer but nevertheless short opening e.g. ‘We had reached
the summit!’ ‘Total desolation lies before my eyes.’
A question might also be an effective way of beginning a piece of
descriptive writing e.g. ‘Where were all the people?’ What was so
special about Granddad?’
Exam tip
Be aware of your own experience in descriptive writing even if it can
only be applied in a indirect or abstract way.
Be selective with detail in descriptive writing. Include only detail which
evokes the mood called for by the examination question.
