Day 3
Conveying a Vivid Picture
Words are a very powerful tool when it comes to the world of writing. They can make a piece of writing pop through descriptive language or fizzle out if you choose mundane words to describe your fictional world and characters. Watch the video above to learn how to bring excitement to your narrative paper by using descriptive language. Now read the passage below to see some descriptive language from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.There were a hundred and forty-two staircases at Hogwarts: wide, sweeping ones; narrow, rickety ones; some that led somewhere different on a Friday; some with a vanishing step halfway up that you had to remember to jump. Then there were doors that wouldn't open unless you asked politely, or tickled them in exactly the right place, and doors that weren't really doors at all, but solid walls just pretending. (107)
How boring would it have been if Rowling had just said, " there are lots of staircases at Hogwarts and many doors, some that go no where." Descriptive language paints a world that the reader can imagine. Cannot you see the staircase that has a vanishing step, that is what descriptive language does it makes worlds come alive.
In the comment bubble below write a descriptive paragraph about one of the pictures below. Remember you are trying to convey a vivid picture of the world shown, so imagine your reader cannot see these pictures how would you describe them.
This page has paths:
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Jesse Myers
