1. Improving Descriptive Writing
Painting an Original Picture

2. Purpose of Descriptive Writing
Describe something in an original and unique so that it appeals to the five senses
Touch it
Taste it
Hear it
See it
Smell it

3. Keys of Being Descriptive
Be original
Be creative
Stretch your imagination
For example, instead of this:
Try this:
The sun cut itself on a sharp peak and bled into the valley.—John Steinbeck
The hot, yellow sun went behind the mountain and covered the valley in red.

4. How’s This?
She was super hero beautiful. Her hair was as black as coal, her lips red as blood.
Is it original and creative?

5. Clichés: The Descriptive Killer
1 : a trite phrase or expression; Also : the idea expressed by it
2 : something (as a menu item) that has become overly familiar or commonplace

6. Finding Clichés Through Experience
If you have seen it
Or heard it
It’s probably a cliché

7. Finding Clichés Through Others
Ask someone really old
(You know, anyone over 21)

8. Finding Clichés On-line
Choose a keyword to look up
Go to a cliché website and look up the keyword
Cliché finder is one of the best places to look:
You may have to try more than one keyword

9. Fixing Clichés Identify the clichés
Replace them with more descriptive writing
Think of a new comparison
Look up words in a thesaurus

10. A Little Practice Each of you will be given a poem
Identify ALL the clichés
Replace half of them (you can choose the easiest ones if you’d like)
Don’t worry about making it rhyme
We’ll do the first stanza together

11. Which of the following do think are clichés?
She’s as pure as the driven snow,
She’s as pure as the driven snow,
Her face is as white as a sheet,
Her hands are as smooth as silk,
Her nails as red as a beet.
Her face is as white as a sheet,
Her hands are as smooth as silk,
Her nails as red as a beet.

12. Same Old New Girl
She’s as pure as the driven snow,
Her face is as white as a sheet,
Her hands are as smooth as silk,
Her nails as red as a beet.
Her hair is like the golden sun,
Her eyes blue like the sky,
She’s as beautiful as an angel,
and as hot as a firecracker on the 4th of July.
Her temper is as quick as lightning,
Her hatred cold as ice,
Her laughter is loud and clear,
But her crying is as quiet as mice.
Her beauty may be skin deep,
But her mind is as sharp as a knife.
I’m just small potatoes,
And she seems larger than life
They say she’s one in a million,
But I don’t believe what they say.
If she’s all that and a bag of chips,
Why say it with a cliché?
Assignments turned in tomorrow at the beginning of class will be eligible for full credit