Descriptive Writing

Descriptive Writing

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Describe this Picture

Nouns/Verbs/Adjectives/Adverbs/• 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:

• 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

Imagine you are entering the house:Describe the inside of the house

Write 10 sentences about itRemember your senses!

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’)