PROJECT PEN [SEASON II]

DESCRIPTIVE WRITING

Guest Wattnaija Celeb: Dheenmah

Wattpad username: deewrote

Her books: Golden series trilogy.

Lecture topic: Descriptive Writing

Descriptive writing

The primary purpose of descriptive writing is to describe a person, place, or thing (or even a situation, emotions, etc.) in such a way that it paints a vivid picture in the reader’s mind.

The primary aim of descriptive writing is to Show, not Tell.

You want your readers to get sucked in, to feel through your words as if they're your characters. And not just to be told how your characters feel. Your book is meant to be an experience, not a narration.

Things to describe in your writing:

People
Places
Things (clothing, food, etc)
Situations
Emotions
Weather
Events
Battle/fight scenes
Basically everything really.

I'll be taking you on describing people and emotions because this is what I'm most familiar with.

People:

If you want your character description to pack more of a punch and feel more than cardboard cutouts, you have to go beyond their height, eye colour, and hair colour.

What's something different that sets your character apart from basically every other damn character in your book before the person even opens their mouth to start a conversation? Your reader should be able to get an idea of the kind of person your character is from just their description.

Hair and eye colours are good, but what else? How do you use them to create more of an effect?

Hair:
Dry, choppy, tousled, silky, fluffy, messy, close-cropped, cascading, long, waist length, chin length.

Eyes:
Cruel, kind, mischievous, disdainful, wicked, malicious, snobby, warm, sunken, livid, etc

Clothing:

You can usually tell a lot of things from a person's clothing. Rich, lazy, classy, adventurous, daredevil etc
Rich people are basic dressed to the nines and accentuate with a wristwatch, sunshades, some brand names for shoes and clothes, jewelry, etc

Sultry: shows a lot of skin, provocative, etc

Lazy: sloppy, rumpled, flip flops, mismatched shoes (or socks)

Poor: torn, stained clothes, worn shoes with falling soles.

Actions:
How your characters walk, talk, stand act. Do they slouch- Lazy, nonchalant? Rigid spine?- uptight. Hooded eyes?- dangerous. Bowed head- shy, meek. Shaking hands- nervous or anxious.

Special tips on describing characters over the course of your book.

Space it out: slowly drop details or enunciate more on a particular detail over the course of the novel. Don't halt a story and info dump in one paragraph. Weave it into the character's actions the deeper you go.

Convey their personalities through their features: A round face and big eyes portrays childlikeness or innocence. A sharp face and cold eyes could show your character is just not a nice person in general. Smooth, manicured hands could show that your character is more sheltered or takes special care of herself.

Similes and metaphors: To avoid just listing off physical traits, switch things up by using similes and metaphors. His eyes were blue so deep, I dive. Her face is the first ray of sunlight I've seen all day.

Describe by contrasting: Describe them by naturally contrasting them to someone else: a taller character to contrast height, a prettier character to contrast beauty. This gives you a chance to let your character's character shine through in their internal monologues.

Other things to describe that make a character ❤️ unique❤️

Bushy eyebrows, chipped tooth, birthmark, chin mole, noticeable tattoo, full beard, scars, unique piercing, bow legs, thick thighs, huge muscles… basically distinctive features that make your character feel more like an actual person.

Emotions:

This is where the Show not tell principle should take full effect.

Your writing can go from zero to a hundred just by describing your emotions.

Fear:
Racing thoughts. Stammering. Unable to string speech together. Lightheaded, chattering teeth, trembling all over, knots in your stomach. Weak legs, clammy hands. Racing heart. Sweating.

Anger:
Shaking fists. Cutting someone off. Grinding their teeth. Snapping at a loved one. Hands closing into fists. Forcing a laugh. Swearing.

Panic:

Unable to stay still. Trying to calm themselves down. Choppy breathing. Pleading for someone to contradict what's happening. Voice rises in peach and volume.

Excitement:
Smiling. Lightheadedness (the good kind.). Butterflies in your stomach. Knots in your guts (also the good kind), bouncing, breathing hard, racing heartbeats, sunlight on your fingertips. Giggling excitedly. Moving with a spring in your steps.

Frustration:
Furrowed brows. Clenched teeth. Pacing back and forth. Tapping/drumming fingers restlessly. Throwing hands up in the air. Exasperated sounds. Slamming hand down on the table.

Shock:
Wide eyes, paleness or blanching of face and lips (mostly for lighter skinned people), stammering, hands fly to mouth. Grabbing something or someone for support. Breathlessness.

A/N: That's it Cribbers! I hope you all enjoyed and learned something during this lecture. Until next time!😁💕