Stirring Imagination and Evoking Senses with a Descriptive Essay
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009Writing from observation might seem an easy task to many students as it doesn’t demand concrete research, analysis, comparison and contrast, common to informative and comparative essays. Such an approach towards personal essay writing of any from, reflective or descriptive, makes students neglect skills essential in writing a good descriptive essay.
A descriptive essay aims to describe a person, event, thing, place or an object. It is subjective, personal and creative in form. A good essay evokes the reader’s senses and imagination by providing a detailed and vivid representation of the thing described. The description can be faithful to the original or can also be the writer’s perception of it. It is essential to know how to develop the skill of essay writing from observation and reflection.
How to develop Skills essential in writing a Descriptive essay.
Igniting your senses: Evoking the reader’s senses is the vital aspect of a descriptive essay. To be able to achieve this the writer must first ignite his/her own senses. The most productive way is to think and feel about the thing you aim to describe. To stir your senses you can take aid of photos, music, or any other creative writing propmpt.
Spatial Descriptions: A gripping descriptive essay gives the reader the feeling of being in the moment. This can be achieved with detailed description of objects other than one under description. A clear and vivid description of the surroundings can be achieved with observation and intense imagination. Special attention should be paid to things essential and obvious to the place.
The Power of Suggestion: Once you have triggered your senses you are enlivened with the feelings that should now be communicated. The language you use for your description should be faithful to your feelings. Your words should be able to paint images which lets the reader feel. Do not state a fact but show it. Consider this example: The sentence ‘I love drinking coffee’. can be written descriptively as ‘My nose tickles as i breathe in the thick vapors of burnt aromatic coffee.”
Grooming your approach and vision: Descriptive essays are about perception and opinions. Applying prior knowledge and experience to the existing vision gives a new perspective to the thing described. Opinion and perspective can be developed with creative reading, observation and experience.
Words of Senses: Appropriate word usage is essential in communicating the exact feeling. Literary devices, particularly metaphors, imagery, onomatopoeia among others should be employed skillfully. For example the sentence “my heart was thumping (example of onomatopoeia, evokes the sense of sound) with excitement” will be a better choice than “my heart was beating with excitement.”
Writing a descriptive essay is a creative exercise. The above mentioned ways helps writer to enhance creativity by varied creative writing prompts. Many College entrance essays are written in the form of descriptive essays as it provides ample space for delineation of one’s personality. If you have successfully transferred your senses to your words you have accomplished the task of essay writing. Editing services are essential in personal essays as there are prone to becoming more personal than required.
