Descriptive Writing Take any best selling author from any period of time or from any genre, and you’ll find a finely balanced use of description in every case.This page on descriptive writing is part of my, ‘Creative writing’, section.I recently read a novel by one of my favorite authors, who in this case will remain nameless, as it was Naff. An obvious money-spinner, a mediocre three hundred-page story line applied thinly over seven hundred and forty nine pages of pure descriptive waffle. Overkill! Needless to say, I felt robbed, abused, let down, and my $5.99 was lost forever. So, what is descriptive writing? Now your average egghead reveling in his own superiority complex would probably answer by saying… ‘Descriptive essay writing, is a process whereby one constructively manipulates one’s audience by the appropriate and timely use of adjectives and adverbs to produce the pleasing or dramatic desired effect, picture or emotion required’… And, they’d be absolutely right. But, being me, and to sum it up in layman’s terms; it’s simply a play on words to emphasize what it is that we’re actually talking about. When do we use it? Every day, in everything we say or write. Imagine you’ve just returned from a tropical vacation. Notice my use of the word, ‘tropical’, in that sentence. Why, so that you’d form a mental picture in your mind. Had I only said, ‘vacation’, I would have left you wondering what kind of vacation it was. But because I said tropical, you were instantly transported to a sun kissed paradise. Okay, your best friend enthusiastically asks. “Yo! Where’d ya’ get the tan man? Do you reply by saying? A. I’ve been on vacation.
B. I just got back from Bermuda dude. Boy was it hot! Obvious isn’t it. Where do we use it? Forming mental pictures and stimulating the senses The same rule applies to descriptive writing. As you’re sitting merrily pumping away at your laptop, giving it heart and soul. You, have the very good fortune of perfect imagery. Whereas; your reader on the other hand, doesn’t. He’s just seeing words and spaces. Therefore, in the immortal words of Captain Kirk… ‘Beam ‘em up Scotty’!  Making comparisons “Shall I compare thee to a summers day.” A little dated perhaps, but nonetheless a perfect example of visualization through words. The writer is talking of his love. In one short sentence he is able to convey her warmth, her brilliance and her dazzling beauty. Leading us in turn towards our own personal vision of female physical perfection. Amplifying a scene Conveying the level of imagery or intensity in any given situation can be easily achieved by the use of descriptive writing and the relevant choice of words. The following example is a basic sentence, followed by a further example depicting the changes in imagery and intensity. A. The man crossed the room and switched off the television. B. The ‘huge’ man crossed the room ‘angrily’, and switched off the television. With the use of only two additional words and a comer, we were able change a normal mundane scene into a scene depicting intimidation and hostility. Appropriate vocabulary Arthur, feeling extremely amorous arrives back at Camelot from his latest crusade. Armed only with Terry’s Moonlight Selection, he rushes to the bed chamber only to find Gwenyver propping up the pillows in the arms of another. What does he say? “I say Lance, that’s awfully thoughtful of you, keeping the home fires burning while one was off annihilating the barbarian horde. Me thinks not! You’re choice of vocabulary must always be appropriate to your target audience. If it’s not credible, you’ll lose the impact of what’s being said, and ultimately your reader. Using descriptive writing with humor Writing a comic scene is probably one of the biggest challenges any writer could face, and as most everything I’ve ever written has had a comedy theme in some way, I can’t stress strongly enough the use of descriptive writing for successful imagery. Not only does what’s being written need to be interesting, relevant, and appropriate to the character speaking or the situation at hand, it also has to be funny. The use of dialect, comparisons and carefully timed punctuation can be your best friends here, especially when emphasizing speech, mood or environment. Here’s an example using comparisons, punctuation and Scottish dialect to stress the point. Plain. It was a dark night, my wife had thrown me out, and as I wandered along the dimly lit street kicking a can, I was totally unaware of the black BMW slowly approaching from behind. I jumped with fright as my friend Paul poked his head through the passenger side window and called… “Need a lift John? “Golly, you startled me! I replied. Using humor. The night wis as black as yer grannies handbag. The wife had just tossed me oot, again, and a wis wanderin’ doon the road kickin the crap out of a battered old coke can thinkin’ aboot all the things a should o’ said, if only I’d had the bottle. A did’nae even notice the black Beemer sneakin’ up from behind until ma pal Noddy shot his big potato like heed through the windy screamin’… “Freeze ya’ scumbag!” “Christ man, a nearly pappered ma rhymies!” Screams I even louder, checkin’ oot the back o’ ma troosers fir a telltale lump. With the use of the above-mentioned techniques, we were able to change that scene completely gaving it geographical location, as well as giving our character personality. Well there you have it, descriptive writing by the numbers. I hope I’ve been able to shed a little light on what I feel is a fascinating subject. And in conclusion, good descriptive writing is the ability to know, when, where, why, how, how much, and when to stop. 
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