How to Describe Vehicles
If you're character is crossing a street, driving to work, waiting for a visitor, you'll devote a few words to the vehicle that's making this activity happen. It might be a car, a train, plane–whatever. My collection is brief, but rich. As usual, they are from the books I read, so use them for inspiration, not verbatim. I hope you add some of your own ideas in the comments:
Cars
How would you describe this car?
After too short a ride
Spotless red Jeep glittering in the fluorescent light
Could drive across the entire continent never seeing farther than the beams of your headlights.
Listened to the engine tick
Three-year-old Camaro, a rally-red Z28
Joe weaved between cars
Flash-flooded highway—cars got stranded in foot-deep lakes
The Honda juddered up and over the obstruction.
A dark green Land Rover, the Defender model, all kitted out in brush bars, searchlights, and a siren mounted on the bonnet.
the car behind him honked once more. He would go take the driver out, but then his wallet was back…
Drew a bead on the car
An older low-slung Impala came toward him
Older white panel van
Pimped black Escalade
Two Accords with fat tires and stingers
Pulled off and found a place to park and wait awhile for the radiator to cool before he put in some fresh fluid from the trunk
The rain came steady and cold against the windshield and rattled on the roof of the car
Car with a funny bumper sticker
Unfurled from her car like a boxer entering the ring
Expensive cars: Maybach Landaulets, Bulgatti Veyrons, SSC Ultimate Aero, Leblanc Mirabeau, Pagani Zonda Cinque Roadster, Lamborghini Reventon, Koenigsegg CCXR
Bikes
Junking his bike from side to side
Trucks
Does your POV character drive this truck?
As it churned slowly past
Huge tires howled
The scream of stressed rubber dying away, thin drifts of moving blue smoke following it
Nothing to hear but the Malibu's patient idle. Nothing to see but four high beams stabbing the far shoulder. The air was full of the smell of burned rubber and hot brakes and gas and oil.
Big rigs thundered down the highway and he could feel their vibrations in his chest
Sticky-smell of burned transmission fluid, spoiled fruit and bubble gum.
Traffic
white cones of headlamps
the headlights made the wet highway shimmer
traffic was faintly visible thru the door
battered 67 Ford Fairlane
Headlights flicked a couple of times
Windshield wipers barely keeping up with the cold, hard rain.
Kept the car at a steady sixty. Power line poles flashed past, the tires sang, the motor hummed.
throttled around the corner
Rainswept morning rush hour, bumper to bumper
Streets glistened and the cars had their lights on even though it was well after sunrise.
cut a few blocks inland
Airborne
Nothing like a chopper to spark up a plot
Bird (for helo)
Trotted through the gale of the blades, overcoat lifting, tie flapping back across his shoulder
Miscellaneous
sheet metal buckling around him
Boats
fouled her rails
one of the water shuttle boats from Rowe's Wharf was trudging toward the airport
Jacqui Murray is the editor of a technology curriculum for K-fifth grade and author of two technology training books for middle school. She wrote Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter's journey from high school to United States Naval Academy midshipman. She is webmaster for five blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com , and a weekly contributor to Write Anything and Technology in Education . Currently, she's working on a techno-thriller that should be ready this summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office, WordDreams , or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: descriptors, plot, setting, writers resources Tagged: cars, descriptors, trucks, vehicles, writing resources
