Take a few minutes and look around you. What do you notice right away? Your notebook and pen are next to your computer. Maybe you have the newspaper nearby, a mug of tea? Now look again, look for more detail. What do you see now? Maybe you see that the objects in the room make funny shadows on the wall. The light in the room reflects off you window. Do you notice any smells? Fresh baked cookies? Sweet smelling flowers? These are the kind of things that writers notice. You can write a book with no describing words at all, but will you keep the readers attention? Maybe, but you want them to be able to see exactly what you see.
Here is an example:
“I’m sitting in the family room typing away on my computer.”
Okay, that’s not very descriptive, how about this?
“Shari now sat on a stool at the kitchen counter typing away on her computer, her long dark brown hair pulled back in a bun. She tried to update her blog as often as possible, at least once a week. As she paused to think, she rearranged her right foot on the next stool’s rung, her left toes holding their place on her stool. Shari had just finished a long workday at the office and had changed into more comfortable clothes when she reached home. Now she wore her blue corduroy jeans, a t-shirt and zip-up sweatshirt, fuzzy brown slippers kept her feet warm.
Which would you rather read?
1 comment:
You're right! The second example is so much more interesting! I think I'll be noticing more details now. :-)
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