Descriptive Writing! What is it?

Warmup: Share your picture. In your writing group, share and explain your picture. What do you remember about that moment? Group members should each ask a question about the picture. Jot down any ideas as they come to you.

Read the following quotes and paraphrase two that stand out to you (in your own words). Write your responses in your spiral notebook.

Isaac Bashevis Singer “When I was a boy, they called me a liar. Now that I’m all grown up, they call me a writer.”

George Simeon “I’m a bit like a sponge. When I’m not writing I absorb life like water. When I write, I squeeze the sponge a little- and out it comes, not water, but ink.”

John Keats “I should write for the mere yearning and fondness I have for the beautiful, even if my night’s labors should be burnt every morning and no eye shine upon them.”

Ernest Hemingway “The first draft of anything is ____ _____ _____ _____.”

Rachel Carson “The discipline of the writer is to learn to be still and listen to what his subject has to tell him.”

Homer Simpson “English? Who needs that? I’m never going to England. Let’s go get a smoke.”

Free-writing Writing in a way that allows you to turn off your internal editor Writing that seeks to get at what you think or remember on a subconscious level Strive to write like you dream with complete freedom and abandon.

The human memory… Memory... is the diary that we all carry about with us. Oscar Wilde Oscar Wilde Memory is deceptive because it is colored by today's events. Albert Einstein Albert Einstein No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar. Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln

Descriptive Purpose To capture a moment in time in a way that is sincere and specific To connect with the experience of the reader by bringing the reader into a moment that has meaning for the writer To slow down the pace of life and pay attention to the details

What if I don’t have a purpose? A writer of description often finds the purpose as he/she writes This is not the type of writing that is thesis driven and follows a rigid five paragraph structure. In many ways, descriptive writing is more like poetry. It is poetic prose.

Descriptive Methods Pay attention to the details Use your senses- ALL FIVE- listen, feel, smell, touch, taste in your minds eye Nothing is a “bad” idea in the initial draft.

Let’s practice Free-write for 4-5 minutes. You are at the beach… What do you see, hear, smell, taste, and touch. Picture yourself in a setting by the water- real or imaginary and describe what your senses experience.

Tapping into memory Start with what you remember about that place. Imagine you are there - moving about in that space of the past. Pay attention to the little details around you- the air movement, the sound under your feet, the birds, the voices in the distance.

Remember… Memory is far from perfect. Allow you mind to piece together the fragmented pieces of memory in whatever way it wants. Allow yourself to add in details that seem true to the moment even if you are not certain that they are true.

Homework Complete one additional page of free- writing in your journal about any of the items from the list that you brought to class today (or any other moment in your life). Time yourself for ten minutes and write about it until your hand hurts. Do not self- censor! Please obtain a spiral or bound journal by the end of the week.

Read: Fly Fishing for Doctors By Ethan Canin Pay attention in this piece how the writer pulls together descriptive elements from two different contrasting settings and the purpose comes through the connects and contrasts between these settings.