Grammaropolis
The Writing Company · with the Mayor

Write to Describe

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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 is what your picture needs.

  1. Your thing
    Name what you are 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, do not tell

Could we be more specific? Do not tell me you were happy. Show me the big smile, and I will feel it too.

I was happy. I smiled so big my cheeks hurt.

Nelson portrait

Nelson · Specific nouns

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

I made some food. I made a bowl of cereal.

Vinny portrait

Vinny · Strong verbs

Some verbs sit still. Action verbs move! "Went" sits. "Raced" zooms. Pick the verb that moves.

I went to the kitchen. I raced to the kitchen.

Connie portrait

Connie · Long and short sentences

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

I got up and I got the bowl and I got the milk and I ate. I got up. Then I got the bowl, the milk, and my spoon.

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 is the one.

Pour it on. When I write it, I do not 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 →