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Mastering Descriptive Writing Techniques

The document provides guidelines for descriptive writing, emphasizing the use of sensory details and figurative language to create vivid imagery. It outlines a structured approach to planning a descriptive piece, including steps for focusing on different aspects of the scene. Additionally, it highlights the importance of avoiding dialogue and varying sentence lengths to enhance the writing.

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11 views11 pages

Mastering Descriptive Writing Techniques

The document provides guidelines for descriptive writing, emphasizing the use of sensory details and figurative language to create vivid imagery. It outlines a structured approach to planning a descriptive piece, including steps for focusing on different aspects of the scene. Additionally, it highlights the importance of avoiding dialogue and varying sentence lengths to enhance the writing.

Uploaded by

dxanamq
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Descriptive Writing

SAMPLE QUESTIONS

Personal Imaginative Conceptual


Describe your Describe what it Describe the
favourite piece might be like to live feeling of envy.
of furniture. on another planet.
use five senses
Provide sensory details to help the readers conjure up the image in their head

Sight Sound Smell Touch Taste


What something Wind swirled the baking cake I feel the juicy tartness
looks like around our house filled the bonfire’s heat of orange
The sky was a whistling loudly to a kitchen with on my face.
terrible tune. aroma of vanilla
bright blue, like
the color of blue
raspberry slushy.
FIGURATIVE Figurative language helps to create
vivid imagery and express the idea, as

LANGUAGE
well as making the description
memorable to the readers.

Metaphor Simile
A metaphor is a figure of speech that implicitly
compares two unrelated things, typically by stating A simile is a rhetorical device used to compare
that one thing is another. two things using the words “like,” “as,” or “than.”

You’re a monster! The child moved through the room like a


Her smile lit up the room. [implied that her smile tornado.
was as bright as the sun] His tongue is sharper than a sword.
Life is a rollercoaster—you need to take it one The package is as light as a feather.
step at a time.
other figurative language
Choose the right word
Using thesaurus to search for synonyms and vocabulary that fit your perspective better than
the usual, conventional words

❌ My cat runs across the garden quickly and jumps onto the fence to watch it from above.
✅ My cat crosses the garden nimbly and leaps onto the fence to survey it from above.
Planning
Step 1: Panoramic Step 2: Zoom
Describe the scene and atmosphere. Use
Focus on one thing you want to discuss.
literary techniques (e.g. similes, metaphors)
Provide smaller, less obvious details.
and contrast (e.g. light/darkness)

Step 3: Single Line Step 4: Shift


Focus on another part of the image. Move
Emphasise the key feelings in one line. from the foreground to the background.

Step 5: Another Shift Step 6: Panoramic


Move to the final aspect of the image you Zoom out to look at the scene with a new
want to discuss or something off camera. perspective. Compare your thought and
emotions with the first paragraph.
Example
Example
Remember!
You are not writing a story What to include:
Sensory language
Think of describing a scene as though from Shifts in perspective, movement
behind the lens of a camera Figurative language
Contrasts

What NOT to include Length


Dialogue Vary your sentence and paragraph lengths

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