Writing with your senses

Just like narration, we use description ALL the time Don’t we describe someone we’ve met to someone else? What was she wearing, how did he smell? How about a place you’ve been? Your vacation spot? Description reports the “testimony of your senses”: it invites your reader to imagine that they, too, not only see but perhaps hear, taste, smell, and touch the subject you describe.

To convey information without bias or emotion To convey it with feeling

Writing without emotion or bias is called an…..objective narration? Remember that? Of course you do! This is also called an “impartial”, “public”, or “functional” description You describe your subject so clearly that your reader will understand it. Leave emotions out of it!

Description in academic writing is usually objective: Biology report? How about giving your friend directions to a party? You don’t need to convey your feelings in these descriptions!

Also called “emotional”, “personal” or “impressionistic” Magazine advertisement for a new car s to friends telling them how your life at HCC is. Are you pleased or displeased? In this kind of description, it is essential to use biases and personal feelings.

“Imagine the ship herself, with every pulse and artery of her huge body swollen and bursting…sworn to go on or die. Imagine the wind howling, the sea roaring, the rain beating; all in furious array against her. Picture the sky both dark and wild, and the clouds in fearful sympathy with the waves, making another ocean in the air. Add to all this the clattering on deck and down below; the tread of hurried feet; the loud hoarse shouts of seamen; the gurgling in and out of water through the scuppers; with every now and then the striking of a heavy sea upon the planks above, with the deep, dead, heavy sound of thunder heard within a vault; and there is the head wind of that January morning. I say nothing of what may be called the domestic noises of the ship; such as the breaking of glass and crockery, the tumbling down of stewards, the gambols, overhead, of loose casks and truant dozens of bottled porter, and the very remarkable and far from exhilarating sounds raised in their various staterooms by the seventy passengers who were too ill to get up to breakfast.”

Description is usually found in the company of other methods of writing. You will use this in your narrative to enliven it. - Makes the people and the setting unmistakably clear.

Purpose & Audience: Why are you writing about your subject? What kind of description does it call for? Is it appropriate to perceive and report without emotion or bias? Is it appropriate to express your personal feeligns as well as your perceptions?

Think about your audience: What do your readers need to be told? If they are to share the perceptions you would have them share, are they to think the way you want them to? E.g. explaining Houston to Houstonians compared to foreigners Before you write a description, go look at your subject. If it’s not possible, imagine! After you have your subject in mind, ask yourself what features you’ll need to report to your audience, for whatever purpose you have. Ask: “What am I out to accomplish?”

What is your aim in describing? Then you can see what impression you intend your subject to make on readers. Let your description convey this DOMINANT IMPRESSION This is like the thesis of your description: the main idea about your subject that you want readers to take away with them. When you use description to explain or argue, it’s a good strategy to state this impression outright, tying it to the essay’s thesis. When you use this for its own sake (or in a narrative), just to show the reader a place or a person or to evoke feelings, this does not need to be tied into a thesis, as long as the impression is there dictating the details

Organization: Charles Dickens? Sounds were lumped into 2 categories: those of sea and sailors, and the “domestic noises” of the ship’s passengers (smashing dishes & rolling bottles” Point of view? Physical angle from which the narrator is perceiving and describing As we said how essential it is for a story to have a narrator, it is also essential for a story to have a consistent point of view The observer stays put and observes steadily What impression do you want to convey?

Details: You can write about your family as effectively as you write about a tornado The secret is the vividness, the evocativeness of the details Use images, figures of speech Metaphors & similes Specific vs. concrete language: “Beautiful, scented wildflowers were in the field.” “Backlighted by the sun and smelling faintly sweet, an acre of tiny lavender flowers spread away from me.” Be wary of vague, boring words! No “handsome”, “loud” or “short” for your essays. BORING! Why delicious? Why handsome? It doesn’t need to be fancy language – just use plenty of description!

Given your purpose and audience, is your description appropriately subjective or objective? What is the dominant impression of your subject? Do your point of view and organization work together to make your subject clear to readers? Are they consistent? Have you provided all the details needed to convey your dominant impression? Have you used words that pin down your meaning exactly and appeal to the 5 senses?