Grammaropolis
The Writing Company · with the Mayor

Write to Describe

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  2. 2 Assess Take the quiz
  3. 3 Practice Try it out
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Write to Describe

When you describe, you draw a picture with words. Your reader sees what you see.

When you describe, you draw a picture with words. Here's what your picture needs.

  1. Your thing
    Name what you're describing. One sentence.
  2. What your senses find
    What do you see? What do you hear, smell, or feel? Tell it.
  3. A describing word that fits
    Cold. Crunchy. Shiny. Pick the exact one.
  4. Your best detail last
    End on the detail you love most.

Spend your tools

Your craft moves still help. Here they are, pointed at describing.

Jake portrait

Jake · Show, don't tell

Could we be more specific? Don't tell me breakfast was nice. Show me the crunch and the cold milk, and I'll see the picture myself.

Breakfast was nice. The cereal crunched, and the milk was cold.

Nelson portrait

Nelson · Specific nouns

Listen up. A noun names a person, a place, a thing, or an idea. "Food" is fuzzy. "Cereal" is the real thing. Name the real thing.

Food sits in the white bowl. Cereal sits in the white bowl.

Vinny portrait

Vinny · Strong verbs

Fear not! All action verbs move. Some just walk. Some zoom! "Went" walks. "Splashed" zooms. Pick the verb that zooms.

The milk went on the table. The milk splashed on the table.

Connie portrait

Connie · Long and short sentences

Come on in! A short sentence is quick. A long sentence takes its time. Try one of each, and let them take turns.

The bowl is white, and the cereal is gold, and the milk is cold, and the spoon clinks. The bowl is white. The golden cereal crunches, and the spoon clinks in the cold milk.

The Describe Plan

Same three moves as always. When you describe, the plan is the Close Look.

The Mayor's Power Plan

  • Pick it. Choose one thing you know well.
  • Plan it. Look close before you write.
  • Pour it on. Write, and add what your senses found.

The Close Look

Look close, and your reader will see it too.

  1. Pick your thing. What are you describing?
  2. What do you see?
  3. What do you hear, smell, or feel?
  4. Pick your best describing word.
Watch the Mayor plan it

Watch me describe a place you know: the kitchen table, the morning of the cereal splash.

Pick it. The kitchen table at breakfast. I know it well. My reader will see it too.

Plan it.

  • My thing The kitchen table at breakfast.
  • What I see A white bowl, round golden cereal, and one milk splash shaped like a star.
  • What I hear, smell, or feel The cereal crunches. The milk is cold. The spoon clinks.
  • My best describing word Crunchy. That's the one.

Pour it on. When I write it, I don't say breakfast was nice. I show the crunch and the cold milk, and I save the star-shaped splash for last. The reader sees the picture all by themselves.

Start the quiz →