Mastering Descriptive Writing: Techniques and Features

Description in Writing

Describing is like painting with words. A good description should evoke an experience in the reader that closely resembles the author's contemplation of the described object.

Linguistic Features

• Predominance of the verbal noun.
• Prevalence of static denotation of verbs in the action.
• Syntax Structures: Sentences are often dominated by attributive predicates. Coordination and juxtaposition tend to predominate over subordination.
• Literary Resources: An abundance of resources to describe the object by adding perceptible plasticity.

Structural Characteristics

• Linear Structure: Described objects or components are presented successively. This was very common in the Renaissance.
• Deductive Structure: It goes from general to particular.
• Inductive Structure: From the particular to the general.
• Circular Structure: Some elements appear at the beginning and at the end, usually near the lyrical poetry.
• Appellant Structure: Some elements or motives are repeated throughout the text.

Types of Description

• Topography: The description of a landscape, often projecting the author's feelings onto the landscape.
• Chronography: Description of an age or culture from material elements, customs, or social uses.
• Character Description:
  • Prosopography: Focuses only on physical characteristics.
  • Ethopoeia: Focuses only on moral or spiritual characteristics.
  • Portrait: Contains both physical and spiritual characteristics.
  The author's attitude toward the character also plays a role. The cartoon is a type of description in which the author's refusal of the character translates into a distorted portrait.

Specifications

When talking about technical features, we refer to the steps comprising the creation of a narrative.

• Observation of the reality that we describe.
• Selection: A very important phase where the author must choose traits or shades that seem most interesting to describe, according to their communicative intention.
• Expression: The sender uses language according to their communicative intentions. Communicative power is essential to the literary resources they have if used properly.