Pebblepup's Writing Den

Do you have a special place you like to be? Is there somewhere special you like to write? What is your ideal writing space? Picture it in your mind’s eye and then describe it. A lot of fiction writing that’s good fiction writing has description in it. Your reader should be able to picture it in their head. If you want your writing to come alive, your reader must be able to see the place you’re in. Ohh, your characters are in.

You can practice description by describing the room you’re in. Describe your house, your office, your neighborhood. You could also imagine yourself living in a castle and describe that. One of the easiest description exercises is to describe where you are. Describe yourself. That’s a little harder because we all see ourselves as something more than we are. For example, I see myself as thin, but I’m not. I’m not morbidly obese or anything, but I’m heavier than I should be. That’s not the point. I would describe myself as short and round. And I am working on that, but for now that’s how I would describe myself.

I would also describe myself as wearing blue jeans and a red sweater. My hair is white, my eyes are Hazel. My face is round. My skin is pinkish. I don’t know why we caucasions call ourselves white. We aren’t white, we’re pink. For the most part, beige. It doesn’t matter. Skin color is a trivial characteristic. It’s the amount of pigment in your skin. I also have freckles. Describe someone else, your teacher, your boss, your best friend. All these are all good ways of exercising your descriptive muscles.

If you can see something, describe it. As exercises go, it’s a simpleone. D describe something, anything. It is easier to describe something that’s real. It’s a little harder to describe something that’s real. To do that you have to visualize. Close your eyes and picture the place in your mind and describe it. I used this method to describe a cleaing in the woods. Surrounded by tall trees, with varying-colored leaves. This was because it was fall, the ground underneath was getting hard and firm. The grass was still green though. A stream bubbled through it and wandered on down into the wood trees and disappeared. You get the idea. You can also describe feelings.

Sarah opened her eyes. The light stabbed her head and pain flashed through her entire body. She couldn’t breathe. Her head felt too heavy for her neck to support. She tried to lift herself up onto her elbow and then flopped back onto her pillow. She could never call now she had something to do. People were depending on her. That’s a nice description of someone with a cold.

Dave felt heat wash up his face. He knew his face turned red as a beet. How could he have let this happen? He wanted to crawl into a hole somewhere and disappear. His mother used to say she wanted to crawl into a hole and pull it in after her. That’s what he wanted to do right then. That’s someone who’s embarrassed. You never want to say what the emotion is. You need to describe the emotion.

So go ahead and sit down and write down a scene that you visualize in your head. Describe the location. Describe the character. Describe how the character feels, either physical or emotional. It isn’t even anything you need to use in a story or anything like that, practice it. They say practice makes perfect. There’s a reason they say it. It’s because it’s true. Practice helps you improve anything from sports to writing. You need to practice, so get out there and practice.