Oddly enough many students feel under confident about the descriptive writing component of the GCSE English curriculum. I say oddly enough as my personal taste always veers strongly in the direction of any opportunity to describe any event, character or emotion. And if students are given time to consider WHY they feel slightly ‘under powered ‘ when faced by a descriptive writing question, it invariably seems to originate in a fundamental MISSING from their writing.
What then is MISSING from their writing is a SENSORY PRESENCE.
Their writing is simply NOT THERE. Whatever they have been told to describe has become a CHORE and a chore in which NO REAL PRESENCE is EXPRESSED.
How can students resolve this MISSING PRESENCE?
1) They can place their feet firmly on the floor. TRUE-THIS WORKS! TRY IT!
2) They CLOSE their eyes and TAKE A BREATH, IMAGINING THE SITUATION AS COMPLETELY AS THEY CAN. THEY ENTER AND EXPERIENCE THE EVENT.
3) So, if they are in a supermarket for example. I ask them to SMELL which aisle they are on. I ask them to SEE what they can see and FEEL what they are experiencing. HEAR too what they may be hearing and even TASTE the air!
4) Of course, sometimes several of the senses may be absent and their absence may be very important to the description. Think of Miss Havisham’s room in Dickens’ Great Expectations. Pip describes EVERYTHING he can see( for he is in shock and probably remains so for YEARS) yet he SMELLS nothing, rather unusually in a room where nothing has been moved or changed for twenty years!
5) IF an emotion is expressed, like sadness. I always ask HOW do you know this person is SAD. WHERE are they sad. HOW ARE THEY SAD? This prevents the fundamental writing mistake of TELLING rather than SHOWING!
These simple yet fundamental shifts in writing technique and perspective DRAMATICALLLY improve the QUALITY of descriptive writing.
In my next blog I will show an example from Sarah Waters -very much of the moment, as I will take a descriptive extract from her televised novel, The NightWatch.
Janet Lewison, English Tutor, Bolton, Bury, Manchester