I was once asked by a teacher to write a short descriptive paper on what I experienced as a batter whenever a pitcher was throwing a baseball at me. By the time I finished the paper I had about six pages written and the teacher was very curious how I had come up with so much information. I remember her asking me when I turned the paper in if I had actually written up an experience or made something up. After she read the paper she told me while the paper was a little over done, she felt that she had truly experienced what I had whenever a pitcher had thrown a ball at me.
I’ve been asked this before, how do you write descriptions so well in a story?
The short answer is that you have to open yourself up to every possibility. If we were outside and I asked you to describe what you hear, and you said, “I hear a dog barking up the block, traffic noise in the street, and the wind blowing,” this might not be an effective description in a story. While you successfully conveyed what you heard, you’re not really sharing the experience with the reader. And by that I’m saying you’re not making what you hear relatable to the reader.
When you’re describing a dog barking up the street, it might be helpful to add the tone of the bark. Did the dog sound distressed? Excited? Mad? Was the dog growling? The same applies to the traffic noise in the street. What kind of traffic are you hearing? Perhaps you hear the backfire from a passing car or a loud horn booming from a semi truck. These are all things people have heard before and it connects them into the story because they can relate to what you’re describing.
The wind was blowing through the trees in mighty gusts, causing the leaves to sporadically fall to the ground and scrape against the pavement of the street. The sound of the wind was like an old man screaming into the depths of a deep well, a loud blast in the beginning that soon crashed against the dark and faded into its echo.
So how do you come up with these descriptions? Honestly, I usually try to experience them for myself. I might step outside, close my eyes and just casually and peacefully, even if for a minute, take in the experience. Before long, everything just clicks and makes sense.
For those things I can’t experience I sometimes might ask someone who has experienced that thing to give me their description, or read up on it somewhere and draw inspiration that way. The thing to remember is that while everyone experiences things differently, we all have the same senses. And these senses are what help us relate to another person’s experience. I hope this makes sense. Hit me up if you need some clarification.
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