Descriptive Writing
Descriptive Writing
Don’t tell me
SHOW me
Describe this Picture
Nouns/Verbs/Adjectives/Adverbs/
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Standing
Overlooking
Peering
Growing
Concrete
Darkness
Grey
Black
Dead
Eerie-eerily
Silent-silently
Isolated
Desolate
Scary- scarily
Uninviting
Hauntingly seductive
Creepy-creepily
Rotting wood
Start your description
• The house stood on concrete steps.
When I looked at it I felt scared…
OR
• Standing on a mass of cold, concrete
steps, the sight of the deserted mansion
sent chills through my spine…
Which example is more interesting?
Personification
• ‘The wind stood up and gave a shout’
(James Stephens, ‘The Wind’)
• ‘Grafton Street is yawning, waking limb
by limb…’ (Michael O Siadhail, ‘Morning
on Grafton Street’)
Personify it:
• Give it human persona:
– Windows are dark, staring black eyes…
– The door, large and wide, a preying mouth
waiting in silence to gobble you up…
Similes
• Her eyes were like beaming lights…
• His eyes were as black as coal…
• Life is like an onion: You peel it off one
layer at a time, and sometimes you
weep…
• As blind as a bat…
• They fought like cats and dogs
Describe the inside of the house:
Imagine you are entering the house:
Describe the inside of the house
Write 10 sentences about it
Remember your senses!
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flickering lights
murky darkness
decaying plaster
rust and rot
aged crates and chains
dark shadows
cold brick and cobblestones
dim graveyard
old and creepy
sensory overload
Creepy eyes
Thick cobwebs
Don’t tell me
SHOW me
Write your own Story
• Include a scary house.
• First person narrative…You are a character in the story
• Try to begin sentences with active verbs (e.g standing,
looking etc…).
• Avoid constantly using ‘I’.
• Plan your work:
– Plot (main points of what will happen in the story-beginning,
middle and end).
– Verbs/Adjectives/ Adverbs.
– Describe the scene.
– How did it make you feel?
– Don’t forget the senses- Sight/Smell/Sound/Taste/Touch.
– Be imaginative!
Bibliography
• Images used from:
– Clipart via powerpoint
– http://www.wpclipart.com/phps.php?q=smiley
+faces
• Poetry examples:
– James Stephens, ‘The Wind’
– Michael O Siadhail, ‘Morning on Grafton
Street’)