How to Write Descriptively

How to write descriptively - ookami-shojo style!



Okay, so I've been asked by a lot of people how I write the way I do, especially in such detail. 
Sorry guys, but I can only reply that it comes naturally. 
But that's not to discourage you! It took me quite a while to think of this, and now I have a solution.
I won't guarantee this will work for you, or that you'll find this the easiest method of all, but just give it a shot. 
So we start with this sentence:


She walked over to her father. 

Pretty boring, right? Well that's what we're here for. 


1. Okay, so here's the first step:
Ask yourself the critical questions. 
Don't just ask yourself the pointless ones. Remember, they have to be questions that relate directly to the sentence. 
So this is an action sentence. Its somebody doing something. We've figured that one out so far. It's a slow start, but it's important, trust me. Now we know that I can ask this:
Why is she walking? 
We've established that she is walking to her father. Good. But why is she walking to him? Where is she?
Let's pretend her father is angry. He is calling her over from the other side of the room.
Right. So we know why, and we know where, but how is this girl feeling?
The description of feelings really give the reader a general idea of the atmosphere, or feel of a situation. 
This girl is walking to her angry father. 
Now more questions: what would I feel if I was walking to my angry dad?
Surely not happy or composed. I personally would NOT want to go over there, and this is where the descriptive words come in. What this is called is RELUCTANCE. 
Feelings also give the character a more human feel, or a better picture. If you picture this in your head, would it look right? A fully composed person walking calmly over to a completely furious father? I don't think so. 
Now picture it as if she REALLY doesn't want to go over there. Close your eyes if you have to. 


Do you see it?


That's right, it looks way better. Just think about the action as if you were watching someone else do it. (Or yourself if you prefer first person writing.)
And FINALLY we have ONE last question: how is her father feeling?
So we already know he's angry, yes, but try and expand on the word. Bigger is better. 
If you need, grab a dictionary or thesaurus and have a look at some words. There is no shame in doing this, and you can greatly expand your vocabulary if you look for new words. 
So, angry. I have a good one that's even better than angry: furious. 
Say it out loud. Say it with anger or in a special way. 
For some reason, when I say furious, it ignites some sort of strong emotion inside me; passionate anger. 
To me this is the perfect word. 


Great! We've completed step one!


Aaaaand onto step two!
2. Make a list.
Okay, so we can basically make all of the above into a list.
First we'll put the sentence at the top. Then we'll list all of the things we want to describe just below it. 


She walked over to her father. 
Dad FURIOUS, reluctance, across a room. 


So you see how we've only put the keywords down? This will make it easier to eliminate content. 


That was simple, you say? Wicked. The next part should be a little harder. 


3. Sentence structure. 
This is awesome! We've got our questions, our list, and now we're going to use them to complete the sentence upgrade. 
The hardest part about this step is the way the words form together. If you're not sure about the way you've put the words together, then say it aloud. You'll know if it sound weird. It won't be quite right. Here's an example:
Reluctantly she walked towards her furious father across the room. 
Okay, so we've got the essential elements of the sentence, but the structure is absolutely atrocious. It just doesn't sound right. We know that by now. 
But that can be fixed. 
So we've used our list to address all of the points there, but we've put it in all wrong. The end part seems like it's been forgotten and then added on the end. 
Don't forget that we're either on the computer or writing and that you can just start again. Nothing is set in stone. Keep trying at it until it sounds amazing. 
Another great idea I'd to keep previous attempts so you can see how the whole thing pulls together. You can see where you go wrong, pick your weak spot, and target that. It's much more efficient. 


Right, so the sentence is alright so far. 
We don't need to change any of the wording: we just need to change the way it's arranged. 
First thing's first, we know we hate the end. 'across the room' is just not in the right place. Let's just move that...
Reluctantly she walked across the room towards her furious father. 
Good. It's sounding better, but not the best we can get it. It's really easy to pick this one. 
That's right; it's the first word: reluctantly. 
If we just fiddle with that...
She walked reluctantly across the room towards her furious father. 
Awesome! The sentence is looking very spiffy with it's new upgrade and sounding great too. 
If you want to be extra sure, just ask a friend about it: read them the original and then the one you made over. Remember that it's not only you that has to like it; if you ever want people to read your story, it's got to be likeable by them. 


{If needed, add any punctuation. I find that I love commas, but that doesn't matter }
She walked reluctantly across the room, towards her father. 


And finally let's show off all this work.
Your working process will look like this:

She walked over to her father.
Dad FURIOUS, reluctance, across a room. 
Reluctantly she walked towards her furious father across the room. 
Reluctantly she walked across the room towards her furious father. 
She walked reluctantly across the room towards her furious father. 
She walked reluctantly across the room, towards her furious father. 



Your finished product will look like this:


She walked over to her father. 
She walked reluctantly across the room, towards her furious father. 

Wow! It looks great! See how much depth the change has made? It gives the sentence and the character LIFE; emotions, different movements, a setting. 
A little hard work can pay off. 

I do have to say, this system would not work in the case of writing a story: trust me. 
But if needed you could just write it straight down. You'll already know the characters, action and feel, and have the setting planned as well as everything else; so no questions need asking. It is a lot simpler for the writer: you. 
You can just bypass everything in between and jot down the original sentence, then add descriptive words. It should work a treat. 
This process will also work great for poems, as it can really help the poet get a more vivid picture across. 

But before you use this knowledge to go make an awesome story, PRACTICE. I can't stress this enough. Unless it comes to you naturally, you're not going to learn it overnight. Make sure to practice the steps over and over. 
If you want to make it fun, get your friends involved! Have a competition at who can write the most descriptively and the fastest. So you all start with the same sentence then you branch off and do your own work before coming together to share your work. With luck, you should all have different sentences within the original, and it should make for interesting entertainment. 


So yeah. I hope you really liked this step-by-step guide, and that it helped at least some of you that read it. 
I know I love helping people to get better at this and I'd like you to help me. 
If you have any feedback on how to improve or what you want me to do next, I'd be extremely grateful and will get onto it as soon as possible. 
Anyway, thanks for reading and have fun practicing!