Descriptive Writing 101

Descriptive writing explains, describes or defines the author’s subject to the reader in such a way that a picture is formed in the reader’s mind. 

Good descriptive writing uses sensory details to paint a picture of a person, place, scene, object or convey emotion.

Writing descriptively will make your writing more interesting and engaging to read. It also helps persuade your readers.

The reality is that there is no particular way to teach descriptive writing. Teachers can only help improve their students’ skills by encouraging them to read, read and read.

Below are a Few Guidelines to Writing Good Descriptive Essays

To write a good descriptive essay:

1.   Start by deciding on a method of organisation. Good descriptive writing is organised. Some ways to organise descriptive writing include: chronological (time), spatial (location), and order of importance.

a.   Spatial organisation works very well if your details are mainly visual. You can describe a scene using this method by:

                                     i.        Beginning from right to left or vice versa

                                    ii.        Top to bottom or vice versa

                                  iii.        Inside out or vice versa

                                  iv.        Around in a circle, starting and ending at the same place.

b.   Chronological Order presents details and events in time-order, from first to last or from the end to the beginning. When describing an event, it is best to use chronological order.

c.   Order of Importance enables you draw attention to key ideas by placing them first and placing the least important details last.

Note: When describing a person, you might begin with a physical description, followed by how that person thinks, feels and acts.

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