Re: Descriptive Writing

**"* C* <d*@chilitech.net>**

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sheri Ann Richerson" <SheriAnnRicherson@exoticgardening.com>

> Does anyone else on the list find that they struggle with descriptive
> writing?

I hadn't really thought about it, but I suppose I am more of a descriptive 
writer than a dusty how-to writer. And a couple of years ago I did a writing 
seminar for a Master Gardener conference, which was very interesting for me 
because it caused me to think about what I was doing, an eye-opening 
experience. Anyway, I'll pass on a few suggestions.

-- First, the old line: Avoid cliches like the plague. If it is tired, look 
for another way to say it. Readers do the same thing that Google does --  
type a few letters and Google will project what it expects you are headed 
for. So look hard for a unique way to express it and surprise them. Avoid 
cliches like an uncle with poor hygiene, like a suitor with three ex-wives, 
like ... well, you get the idea. If you don't say what they expect you to 
say, they will actually pay attention to your words.

-- On my monitor is posted Mark Twain's words: The difference between the 
right word and almost the right word is like the difference between the 
lightening and the lightening bug. Get a good thesaurus and use it 
frequently. I have several, but probably the best is The Synonym Finder. 
Read the entry on the word you want to improve, chew on your options, and if 
one is close but not quite right, go to the entry for that "almost" word and 
see what else presents itself. WORK at it.

-- Don't describe, evoke. Try to find words and images that will elicit some 
feeling in the reader. Is the flower red or flaming, bright orange or 
glowing orange (or as I just used recently, "an orange that glows with its 
own light").

-- Make lists of words that leap out at you when you read. Pin them up in 
your line of sight and use them in your writing.

-- Make every word count. Every word! More words do not necessarily make 
better description. As my last act before hitting Send on a column, I go 
through and see what I can cut without losing information. I do this with 
people who ask me to read what they've written and can commonly reduce a 
newby MS by a third to a half without losing anything. Without losing 
anything but friends, that is. (NOTE: I just went back to the last paragraph 
where I had written "an orange that glows as if with its own light" and 
struck "as if".)

-- Read writers who describe and evoke well. Joan Didion comes to mind, or 
at quite the other end of the spectrum, Stephen King. Arthur Conan Doyle. 
Yes, especially him; a bit dated but he has the concept nailed. (I could 
have said "down" but "nailed" is more descriptive.)

-- Near the final draft, read your piece aloud, or at least aloud in your 
mind. But if you are a fast reader, do it actually out loud. You'll hear how 
it flows. I'll bet you cash money if you read a finished article out loud, 
you'll find changes you'll wish you had made.

This is a snap reply. If I can locate my notes for the three hour seminar I 
did, I'll swamp you with some more thoughts.

D 

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