Writing Tips – Describe a Person and/or Place

One of the major players in the writer’s toolbox is the ability to describe something. With only words, a writer must be able to bring a subject to life for the reader through the simple but terribly difficult act of visualization.

For example, read the paragraphs below and let’s see how well we can bring an unseen image to life.

* * * * *

The room was sparse to the point of squalor. The walls were aged concrete with long carved lines to allow the electrical line to run across the room to the emergency button. That button led straight to the nurses’ watch station, but it was to be used only in the case of dire straits. Now, the world was silent, the button serving no purpose other than to decorate the barren wall. As Lissa sat on the edge of the solid mattress—the wrought iron bed was the only piece of furniture in the room—she stared out the window, her chin in her hand, wondering as always how she had arrived at this unusual juncture in her life.

The smell of the ammonia used to disinfect every surface in this horrid place permeated the air and nearly suffocated her. In her dreams she had been a forest-dweller, a hunter, a forager, self-sufficient and powerful in her own right. Even in the open air, she had felt warmth. Here, the chill in the air and the cold of the concrete floor against her bare feet sent a brief reflexive shiver over her body. Her thin nightgown offered little of that lost natural warmth. They had chopped most of her long luxurious hair off when she had been brought in to this sullen gray prison. Her only solace, her forest partner and friend, Duke. He was there with her, sitting watch, protecting her. The bear’s large furry palm rested gently on her shoulder, claws draped innocuously over her vulnerable flesh.

* * * * *

So, can you see the room? Can you picture the inhabitants? Click here to see how close your mind’s eye came to that actual image.

How would you describe that same scene? Feel free to share in the comments. We each see things differently, describe things differently, as it is all in how we see them that we are able to adequately describe them.

Practice your descriptive writing. Take a photo and then simply describe it on paper (or on your computer). Does it accurately reflect the scene?

~Peace