creative writing describing a room

Inspirations

March 23, 2013

Writing: how to describe a room.

Keep it simple.
Talk about colors, patterns, decor, and unique architectural details, if they're relevant.
Talk about furnishings and props, especially if characters use them.
Talk about anything in the room if it reveals something about the characters within.
Talk about space.
Talk about unique details that readers may not usually associate with a given place (especially for sci-fi and fantasy works, where the settings are purposefully different anyway).
Describe it naturally with your own personal writing style and sensibilities.
Get technical or overly-explicit.
Divulge in unnecessary details.
Tell about room's atmosphere or impression; show it instead.
Overthink or overdo things.
Dump details in one long paragraph.
Describe things in a dull, dry, choppy, or uninteresting manner; use your natural narrative voice.
Describe things that the reader will already assume for a given place, especially if such things don't contribute to the story.

16 comments:

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

i like ur writing style....

You are a great writer. I'll uses some of your examples in the future.

Brilliant, brilliant writer you are!

Thanks for this write up. Very well done.

Thank you. I came from Doug Walker's review of the second episode of Avatar: the Last Airbender where he talked about how the show makes you feel like you're in a room, and so I was wondering how one might do that in writing.

Thanks the writer

really helpfull thank you

Thanks, this has really been helpful.

This was really helpful thank you very much.

How to Describe a Room in English

You might have to describe a room in English.

The most likely situation for doing this would be in the speaking part of the IELTS test. But it could also be in any other speaking or writing test too.

But it is also just a great exercise for you to improve your general English. Being able to describe anything in English shows you have a good command of the English language.

But where to begin?

How to do it? Where to start?

I am here to show you how.

So let’s get started.

Table of Contents

When describing anything — could be an object, a person, a building or a city — you should always start with the basic components.

In the case of describing a room that means you should think of the following questions:

What kind of room is it?

What size is it?

What shape is it?

Let’s go through the questions one by one.

What Kind of Room

In a normal house we have:

Living room

There could also be:

Dining room

Garden shed

For the sake of simplicity, we will use living room as our example.

The mistake that many students make when talking about the size of something is that they often try to be very precise. They might say something like: It is 6 metres long and 3 and a half metres wide, so that is 21 square metres in size.

You don’t need to talk like this. Not unless your job requires that you are exact. But most people have no idea how big the rooms are in their home.

So you can use words to describe the size. Like this:

My living room is pretty big

The living room is huge

My living room is about normal size

It is tiny!

It’s a bit small

It’s kind of big/small

Now does this say anything about the size of the room? Not really.

These terms are relative to the person speaking. So if you say My living room is really small . I might think it is small but if I saw it, I might think it’s average size.

It doesn’t matter.

If you use size words — big, huge, tiny, small — the examiner listening to you has a mental picture of how big the room is. It is enough for him to have an idea of what you are talking about.

Rooms generally come in two shapes:

Rectangle/oblong

So you can say:

The living room is a rectangle shape

It is shaped like a square

Put It All Together

So if you combine all three of these elements — what kind of room, what size and what shape — you could have something like this:

The room I want to talk about is the living room. It’s pretty big, maybe the biggest room in the whole house. It’s shaped like a rectangle.

I would like to talk about the living room in my home. It’s like a normal-sized room I suppose and it’s rectangular in shape.

Our living room is kind of small. It’s a rectangle shape just like most rooms in people’s houses.

So that is the basics — what kind of room it is, the size and the shape.

When you say something like this, you are providing a good introduction to the room you are going to talk about.

Then you can go into more detail.

Do you like my articles and lesson plans?

Why not join my mailing list and I can send you new articles and lesson plans when they come out?

Join here – ManWrites Newsletter

The Details

When we talk about the details of a room, it means we talk about the following:

The Colour Scheme

The furniture.

The Window and the View

Most living room decorations are designed to make the family feel comfortable and at ease in their own home.

You could describe the decor as being:

Clean-looking

Comfortable

Old-fashioned

Traditional

Western-style

Asian-style

And that could be enough.

The examiner is not expecting you to describe all the features of the decor in the living room. There may be certain elements or features in your living room that stand out.

So you may have a large painting on the wall — if so, then you can describe the painting and say who bought the painting.

For example:

We have a painting of two dogs on the wall of our living room. The dogs walking in a field somewhere and it looks like an old painting but it is not.

My mum bought it in a local shop because she liked the look of it and wanted to have a painting on the wall to make it look less boring.

Or maybe you have a piano in the room:

My mum and dad bought a piano years ago because they wanted me to learn when I was a child. But I was never any good at playing the piano so it just sits there.

It’s more for decoration now.

Are you talking about the painting, the piano or the living room?

You are talking about the living room. The painting and the piano are part of the living room and the little stories you tell about these things are all part of your talk.

In this part, you just talk about the main colour of the room.

Most living rooms are white so just say that.

The living room is white.

There may be other colour elements in the living room but you need to say the main, most important colour first.

Don’t say something like My living room is white, red, green, purple and black.

Your living room may have other colour elements but you need to describe those elements. Don’t just reel off a list of colours!

So you could say:

The living room is white but the window frames are dark red.

Our living room is white but one wall is painted light green.

This is where you can go into more detail.

Let’s look at the main furniture items in people’s living rooms.

Coffee table/tea table

TV stand/TV

Bookshelf/Bookcase

Painting/Mirror

These cover the main kinds of furniture that people have.

And this is how you can talk about these things:

We have a big sofa in the living room. It’s dark blue and made of some kind of soft fabric — I’m not sure what it is. But it is very comfortable. Sometimes I like to lie on the sofa and listen to music or read a book.

The sofa in my living room is made of leather and it’s white. My mother always worries about it being clean enough. We sit on it when we want to watch the TV.

And again, if you talk about the things you like to do on the sofa — watching TV, reading a book — this is still part of your talk about the living room.

You can say similar things about an armchair:

My dad likes to sit in the armchair. He watches the news on TV then falls asleep.

Sometimes our cat jumps on to the armchair. My mum gets very angry about this.

Then you can talk about things like the coffee table and floor lamp.

We have a coffee table in the living room. It’s between the sofa and the TV. We out drinks on it and snacks we are eating. We also keep the TV remote on it. It’s a wooden table but has a glass top so it is easy to keep clean.

The floor lamp is next to the sofa. The light is softer than the ceiling light so it is more comfortable in the evening.

Then curtains:

The curtains are light grey. We keep them open during the day and close them at night. We close them and we have more privacy in the evening.

TV Stand/TV:

We have a big flat-screen TV in the living room. It is on top of a large TV stand. We can put other things on the stand too.

My mum has a little figure of a horse on the stand.

Rug/Carpet:

There is a rug on the floor. It’s dark red and made of wool. It’s very comfortable under your feet in the evening.

My dad always complains if we put our shoes on it because it makes it dirty.

Bookshelf/Bookcase:

There is a bookshelf in the corner of the living room. It is full of books but mostly my mum and dad’s books. I keep my books in my own room.

But it makes the living room look nice. It’s nice to see shelves filled full of books. It makes the room seem warmer.

On the wall, we have a large mirror. My mum bought it in an antique shop. I think it was quite expensive.

It makes the room seem bigger because of the reflection.

My mum always uses it to check her hair before she goes outside.

These are just some simple ideas of things you can say about furniture in the living room.

You can say what each item is made of and the colour but you can also add little stories too. The examiner will always like to hear stories in the IELTS test.

Window and View

Lastly, you can talk about the window and the view outside.

You just say where the window is and the size of it. Then you say what you can see outside.

We have a large window at the end of the living room. When I look outside, I can see the houses opposite our own house. I can also see the road outside.

We have only one small window and I can barely see anything outside. Just a wall. But the window lets in some light.

And that covers the details of the living room.

Now you can talk about how you feel about the room.

Why do you like this room?

This is where many students miss some valuable thing to say in the IELTS test. Usually, they just say if they like something or not.

This is not enough . You need to say WHY you like something.

So with our example of the living room in your house, just think of all the reasons why you like your living room.

I have put some examples below:

I like the living room because it is usually quiet and I can just lie on the sofa and relax, read a book or listen to music.

I like our living room because it is so airy and light. It feels very bright in the room.

I like the view from the living room. We look out over a nice park.

I like the two paintings in our living room. They are portraits of people from long ago. I look at them and get lost in another world.

Saying what you like about something is very simple. Just say what you like and why you like it!

What do you dislike about this room?

Equally, you can say what you don’t like about the living room.

I have listed some ideas below:

I don’t like the living room because it is always noisy and filled full of people. It drives me mad as there is nowhere to sit and be quiet.

I don’t like the living room because my dad is always watching TV there. And he is always watching the news — it’s so boring!

I don’t like the living room because it is so hot in there. The sun shines right through the window and makes it too stuffy.

Just as when you talk about the reasons why you like the living room, it is just as important to talk about why you dislike it.

What do you do in this room?

And finally, you need to say the activities you like to do in the living room.

Let’s go through a list of things that many people do in the living room.

Talk to my family

Read a book

Watch a movie

Talk to my friends on the phone/online

Do my homework

Study something

When describing a room, you can definitely say the kind of things you like to do in the room. This is all part of the description of the room.

And by talking about things you do in the living room, this may lead to a little story and that is always helpful.

Let me give you an example from my own life:

I like to watch movies in the living room with my wife. But she only likes certain kinds of movies. If I select a movie, she usually thinks it is boring and asks me to change it.

But if we watch a movie we both like it is very relaxing. We eat snacks and drink hot tea while watching the movie.

Am I talking about watching movies or describing the living room?

And the examiner would like what I said and it would be great in the IELTS test.

That is about it.

Remember the format when describing the room.

The Details — the decor, the colour scheme, the furniture, the window and the view

Why do you dislike this room?

What do you like to do in this room?

Go through all of these things and you can’t go wrong.

Now why not try by yourself or with your friends?

You can choose the room you are in. Or go online and look at pictures of rooms you can find on the internet.

Just keep practising and you will see great results.

Good luck and let me know in the comments below!

How to describe your Mother or Father in the IELTS test

How to Describe Someone’s Physical Appearance in English

How to Describe Your Friend in English?

18 thoughts on “how to describe a room in english”.

This is great advice for students preparing for the IELTS test or for any English class or presentation. There is almost nothing better to hone your English than to describe things. It puts all the students’ skills and vocabulary to the test!

That’s good to know Leona! I plan to write a few more ‘describing things’ articles.

I DON’T KNOW what it is the meaning of IELTS, BUT you know what I like it in this IELTS is MORE HELPFUL to my FINAL REQUIREDMENT IN describing a room.

Hi Charlotte, many thanks for reading! IELTS means International English Language Testing System. Check this link for more info: https://www.ielts.org/what-is-ielts/ielts-introduction

Yes, this lesson is very good because as David says it may come up in the IELTS exam and students need to be prepared to talk about anything from many different angles.

Many thanks Leona!

It was really helpful Big thanks

You’re welcome, Ahmed!

It’s a wonderful presentation of my first class on: tell me something about your…….

Hi Morris, glad you liked it!

I admire you so much, sir. You spent your time and effort to help many people so that they’re good at English. Best wishes for you.

That is very kind of you to say so, Van! Best wishes to you too!

It is a very inspiring topic.

Hi Eirik! Many thanks! I hope it was useful to you.

I read almost all of your stuff, and I was extremely amazed with the guide. You are the best!

That is really good to hear, Eirik! I am so glad that you like what I write. Many thanks and have a great day!

You too! Good luck in the future, and I will be following you. 🙂

Many thanks, Eirik!

Room Description? How?

Hello, lovelies!

So, giving a good description of anything in your story tends to give any author a mini heart attack. However, describing a room seems to be particularly difficult.

Writing tips often range from "be as detailed as possible" to "don't be detailed at all, it will bore your audience". Well, what are we supposed to do then?

The truth is, there isn't a single step-by-step way of bringing a room to life. It typically all depends on the author's own style and the genre they are writing in. You wouldn't use the same words to describe a cold, damp prison, as you would a cosy, little tea-shop, for example.

However, there are some techniques I have found in practise, that have been extremely helpful in my own writing. These can both give the audience a feel for the atmosphere the room is supposed to have, and give some concrete clues to what the room looks like.

So, I thought I would share them with you!

Whenever a reader is introduced to something new, particularly a new room, the easiest way to settle their imagination is to start narrowing down the space. This way, when you start adding things like furniture, colours and decorations, it will fit easier in their mind.

You don't need to add those things right after having described how big, wide, or tall the room is, however. Rather let those things come out as they become relevant to reader. I will address this further later on.

For shape, you don't necessarily have to add any descriptive words, since most rooms are either square or rectangle anyway. Only when the room defects from that, like round or triangular, is it handy for you to add the shape of the room, otherwise it may come across as either patronising or overbearing.

The size and height of the room is what will inform the reader the most in terms forming a basis of an image in their head. On top of that, depending on the wording you use, it's an ideal moment to give off whether the reader should feel comfortable or unsettled in this room.

For two short examples: if a room is small, the word 'tiny' or 'snug' is going to bring out a more positive reaction, as supposed to 'cramped' or 'suffocating', and if a room is tall, the word 'towering' is going to make the reader feel more overwhelmed than 'elevated'. So, if the character is meant to feel uneasy in this room, or is simply not in a good place mentally themselves, using words with more negative connotations to describe a room is a good way to illustrate that. The same goes for positive words if the character is meant to feel comfortable.

This works as an initial description if the furniture isn't overwhelmingly packing up the space or if the room isn't depressingly empty. However, if the furniture does have a deep effect on the room in terms of how it fills it up, that is what a character will most likely notice first.

This is an excerpt of the paragraph where I describe the dining room of the Girl House in my in-progress novel:

"Chipped, white paint on long rows of chairs on either side of an equally long table filled most of the long, narrow space, packed further by a stone fireplace on the right and a cabinet full to bursting with plates, cutlery and cups on the left. Not to be outdone, the top of the cream-coloured curtains were adorned by various bundles of holly and mistletoe, their bright red and white berries intertwining with the dried green of the leaves, scraping over the greyish brown-painted walls."

-Chapter 1. Morning Cinnamon

I chose to address the table here first, because not only did it tell something about how it affected the space around it, but it also led me easily into describing the rest of the things in the room, since it's the central piece of furniture.

However, had the table, or any other furniture, not been such an overwhelming presence, it would've been a better call to start describing the room as a long, slender room with a fireplace at the end, and then start describing what else the character sees in it.

So, first determine whether you want to start from the room size to what's inside, or start from the furniture, and allow that to tell the size of the room. This will mostly depend on which one will be most noticeable to the character.

In my own excerpt, I chose to immediately describe the rest of the scene in one fell swoop. However, that doesn't mean it works with everything, If a room is particularly detailed, or the character is sitting at an angle where only part of it is visible to them, it doesn't make sense to immediately describe everything. If a room is less hectic, and is in full view of the character, you can get away with it more.

Another reason to keep part of a room in the dark, is if there is something in there that's relevant to the plot that can't be discovered yet, and so it's not paid attention to. However, if room is needed for a couple of more scenes, and therefore has to be established to the reader already, it makes more sense to describe it fully. That was my reasoning for the way I wrote the excerpt above.

Colour and Light:

Similar to space, the way you describe colour and lighting is going to partially depend on the mood you are trying to convey, either because of the season, time of day, or just the general atmosphere.

Lighting especially plays a big part in this, since it will determine the shadow angles, what a character is able to see, and how dull or bright the material and colours are going to be visible to them. So, first decide what the light source in the room is going to be, in order to have a focus point. Then determine how strong the light source is, so you know its reach and how much of the room it will show. Finally, think of the warmth and colouring of the light, because this will act as a 'filter' of some sorts for what the room will look like to the reader and the characters. A small, flickering candle is going to make a room look a lot different to midday winter sunlight coming through floor-to-ceiling windows. So, make sure you have a clear image of what is causing the room to be visible.

The 'filter' of the lighting is going to influence the colours of walls and furniture to some extent as well, but more than anything, the colours and lighting are going to work together to form 'the aesthetic'. Any colour can be mixed with any lighting, but each combination is going to have its own atmosphere, which you can use to your advantage.

For example: the living room in the Girl House is first introduced when it is dark, meaning that the light source comes from the large fireplace. This gives me a filter of reddish orange light with a limited reach, so the furniture and ceiling are going to have a lot of long shadows. This works for me, because a ghost story is about to be told, and I can use the shadows to convey an unsettling mood. The walls here are already a warm, brown colour, because of the wood, so the colour warmth is amplified by the light filter. The same goes for the furniture, which are variations of faded red and brownish yellow.

However, had the colours been different, the mood and feel of the room would have been different as well. The already warm colours are both meant to give a sense of homeliness and cosiness, but also act as a contrast to the dark, freezing winter outside. If the colours were of a colder variety, like grey or blue, that contrast wouldn't be as strong, and the room may have a more calm or tranquil feel, as supposed to cosy. However, with the light from the fireplace, the colours also wouldn't be as pronounced, because of the clash of warm and cold.

So, if you want your room to have a pronounced feeling, make sure the lighting and colours both match the atmosphere of that feeling, and enhance each other. If you want it to be more muted, or even distorted, you can make the colours and light clash instead. This will help you bring out the atmosphere you want in a more practical way.

Surfaces, Smell, and Sounds:

Sight isn't the only way you can inform the reader about a room, especially when it comes to surfaces. A character will typically touch the furniture or move around the room in some way, meaning they will experience the room in more ways than just through their eyes.

Think about the material and the quality of the furniture, and whether they feel soft, hard, smooth, stringy etc. Think about whether they are comfortable for the character or not. Even consider whether they make a sound when being sat on or not.

How a surface feels can tell you a number of things about not only the state of the room, but also the people occupying it. Specifically, by telling the reader about the age of the furniture, and how well the room is being cleaned and taken care of, they can get a feel for both the economical state of the characters, or simply how much they care about hygiene and appearance.

Each room also tends to have a distinctive scent, whether because of cleaning, incense, age, fabric, smoke, or other factors. These can help distinguish one room from another, as well as tell something about the people occupying the room in question. For example: the room smells very heavily of perfume, it may indicate that particular space is mainly used by wealthy ladies. Or, if a room smells awful, it can show it hasn't been cleaned in a while.

I said before you should consider the sound of furniture when it's being used, but the sound of the rest of the room is just as important. A floor's material, for example, can be explained just by the sound of footsteps alone. Smooth, marble isn't going to creak, and heels on carpets aren't going to click in echoes.

Consider the space as well when thinking of the sound, particularly how the voices of the characters are being carried through the air. Small rooms with flat ceilings, for example, aren't going to have as much as of an echo as large, tall rooms with a curved ceiling.

These can be considered details, which can add character and depth to a room. So, you don't need to immediately address these when first introducing the room to the reader. However, as the room gets explored, they are handy tools in creating the atmosphere you want, without having to just rely on the room's looks to do so.

I hope these are at least somewhat helpful for you all, and if you have something you would like me to cover, let me know in the comments!

Goodbye, lovelies!

How to Describe an Apartment in a Story

By A.W. Naves

Are you writing an apartment setting? This post on how to describe an apartment in a story will help you! Read on to learn how you can add description to your fictional apartment through the use of the following 10 words.

Providing a feeling of comfort , warmth, and intimacy.

“She snuggled up in the cozy apartment, surrounded by soft blankets and dimmed lighting.”

“The cozy atmosphere of the apartment made him feel instantly at ease.”

How it Adds Description

The word “cozy” evokes comfort and warmth, transforming an apartment into a haven of tranquility. It invites your character to experience a sense of security and relaxation, offering respite from the outside world’s trials. Your character’s conflicts and struggles away from home make the “cozy” apartment a place of solace for them.

Having an old-fashioned appearance.

“My father’s new apartment was filled with quaint furniture and vintage decorations.”

“The quaint apartment sat atop her clothing shop, its front balcony overlooking the picturesque town square below.”

When you describe an apartment as “quaint” in your story, it gives the impression that the character living there has a fondness for the past or has an appreciation for unconventional and unique styles. The apartment’s quaintness can reveal a lot about the character’s personality and backstory, highlighting their specific tastes or sentimental attachment to earlier times.

3. Dilapidated

In a state of disrepair or ruin due to age or neglect.

“The paint was peeling, and the furniture was worn in the dilapidated apartment she rented after getting her first real job.”

“She couldn’t believe someone lived in such a dilapidated place, but Sam didn’t seem to mind his shoddy little apartment in the least.”

“Dilapidated” is a word that describes an apartment that is in poor condition. It’s a place that has been neglected and is falling apart. Imagine a character living there who’s having money troubles or finding it hard to keep their living space in good condition. The run-down state of the apartment could symbolize the character’s hardships or show a sense of despair.

Full of energy , excitement, or activity.

“The lively apartment was filled with laughter and music, creating a vibrant atmosphere.”

“The bustling cafes and colorful street art located near her lively apartment led to a steady stream of unexpected visitors, but she loved their company.”

Using the word “lively” is about creating an atmosphere that’s full of life, energy, and excitement. The character who calls this place home is outgoing, social, and thrives in a bustling environment. This liveliness plays a significant role in shaping the character’s experiences. You can use this description to give them a sense of belonging or spark their creative juices.

Calm, peaceful , and untroubled.

“She found solace in the serene apartment, surrounded by plants and soft lighting.”

“The view from the rooftop garden revealed a lush landscape that matched the vibe of the serene apartment he inhabited below it.

The word “serene” paints a picture of pure tranquility and peace in your character’s apartment. Picture someone who craves a calm and soothing atmosphere, as an escape from a chaotic life. The serene vibe of the apartment can play a role in shaping your character’s journey. It could give them a special space for self-reflection, unwinding, and even healing.

Uncomfortably small or restricted in space.

“The cramped apartment felt claustrophobic, with barely enough room to move around.”

“Living in such a cramped space was starting to take its toll on her mental well-being.”

Describing an apartment as “cramped” demonstrates that is doesn’t have enough space. Your character may feel physically uncomfortable and frustrated because there’s no room to move about freely. This cramped place could affect their mood, relationships, or their daily routine. They might start seeking a bigger place or thinking of other ways to deal with the problem.

Fashionable , modern, or tastefully presented in appearance.

“The apartment’s stylish decor showcased a blend of contemporary and vintage elements.”

“She was known for her impeccable taste and always managed to create a stylish living environment.”

If your character lives in a “stylish” apartment, we can assume it is very appealing from a visual standpoint. The inhabitant has a great sense of fashion and design. Such a sense of style can show readers that your character is someone who pays attention to intricate details, cares about what others think of them or simply appreciates beauty and elegance.

8. Eclectic

Composed of a variety of styles , themes, or sources.

“The apartment’s eclectic furnishings showcased a mix of vintage, modern, and cultural elements.”

“He loved the eclectic apartment he found hidden among the diverse restaurants and shops of the quirky little town.

Use “eclectic” to portray an apartment that has a random display of mismatched styles. Such a place would house a character who is open-minded, appreciates various cultures, or has a love for combining assorted styles and influences. This environment can inspire their creativity, fuel their curiosity, and let them express themselves freely in a way that aids your plot.

9. Spacious

Having ample room, open and not crowded .

“The spacious apartment boasted high ceilings and generous living areas.”

“She felt a sense of freedom in the spacious apartment, allowing her thoughts to roam.”

“Spacious” indicates openness and roominess in the apartment where your character lives. It suggests that your character values freedom of movement, loves having people over, or enjoys having enough room for their hobbies. The spacious environment may impact your character’s mood and behavior by making them feel unrestricted or sparking a sense of potential.

Contemporary ; characteristic of the present or recent times.

“The apartment’s modern design featured state-of-the-art technology and appliances.”

“The modern apartment’s minimalist aesthetics were a selling point for her client, who loved the glass and stainless-steel accouterments.”

A character who lives in a “modern” apartment embraces the latest trends and stays up to date on innovative technology. It’s a useful way for you to show their preferences, interests, or social status. Adding a modern touch adds a sense of sophistication to the plot, highlighting the character’s connection to the current scene, their adaptability, or their craving for a progressive lifestyle.

SLAP HAPPY LARRY

Writing activity: describe a living room.

Henry Wallis - The Room in Which Shakespeare Was Born 1853

As a writing exercise, describe your own living room, or the living room of someone you know. For inspiration, I offer the following examples from literature.

EXAMPLE OF A LIVING ROOM DESCRIBED BY DAPHNE DU MAURIER

We were all sitting in the long, low room at Farthings, darker than usual because of the rain . The french windows gave very little light, chopped as they were in small square panes that added to the beauty of the house from without , but inside had all the appearance of prison bars , oddly depressing . The grandfather clock in the corner ticked slowly and unevenly; now and again it gave a little cough , hesitating momentarily, like an old man with asthma , then ploughed on again with quiet insistence. The fire in the basket grate had sunk rather low; the mixture of coke and coal had caked in a solid lump, giving no warmth; and the logs that had been flung carelessly on top earlier in the afternoon smouldered in dull fashion, needing the bellows to coax them into life. The papers were strewn about the floor, and the empty cardboard covers of gramophone records were amongst them, along with a cushion that had fallen from the sofa. These things may have added to Charles’s irritation. He was an orderly man, with a methodical mind . from the opening scene of The Parasites by Daphne du Maurier, 1949.

In the short passage above du Maurier conveys a lot of information.

The reader learns right away that this house — and the people who live there — are not like the landscape outside. The house looks good from the other side but when you’re in it, not so much. The snail under the leaf setting , symbolised by a single house.
The house is compared to a prison
The grandfather clock is personified , which in turn makes the actual people seem part of the room. Since the clock is ‘like an old man with asthma’ we know something is about to end and another thing begin.
We know the temperature of the room
We have a sense of the light
We have enough detail to place this room in its approximate time period — the bellows, the open fire which uses coke and coal for fuel, and the gramophone records all indicate this setting is mid-20th century
Words such as strewn, flung, empty, smouldered and coax work together to not only describe the room but some of its occupants .
The room is juxtaposed with the first character introduced — the orderly Charles. This is the story’s initial conflict.

What kinds of chairs are in this living room? Who sits in them, or who used to sit in them?

French artist Monique Valdeneige creates living spaces remarkable for their labyrinthine feel. A single view offers glimpses into various parts of the house, aided by the use of mirrors.

Describe the lighting. Where do shadows fall? What might be shrouded in the dark recesses of this room?

How does the high angle perspective change things for the viewer? How might you induce this view in a reader, using text only?

Are there living creatures in this living room? What about living creatures we don’t necessarily see at first?

How is the character connected to their space? Houses are highly symbolic . For instance, houses made out of glass tend to convey loneliness, suggesting isolated and vulnerable characters.

EXAMPLE OF A LIVING ROOM DESCRIBED BY ALICE MUNRO

Alice Munro focuses first on a single aspect of this space — the soft furnishings. Why is the carpet daunting? Perhaps because white carpet shows up stains. But because this is a Munro short story, we know that the ‘stain’ is heavily symbolic, beyond the actual carpet.

Grant caught sight of two layers of front-window curtains, both blue, one sheer and one silky, a matching blue sofa and a daunting pale carpet, various bright mirrors and ornaments. […]

Kitchens are great because everything in them feels symbolic. Knives are especially foreboding, even if they’re not used to murder anyone in the end.

On the kitchen counters there were all sorts of contrivances and appliances—coffeemaker, food processor, knife sharpener , and some things Grant didn’t know the names or uses of. All looked new and expensive, as if they had just been taken out of their wrappings, or were polished daily.

The viewpoint character’s response segues nicely from the thumbnail description, telling us more about him:

He thought it might be a good idea to admire things. He admired the coffeemaker she was using and said that he and Fiona had always meant to get one. This was absolutely untrue—Fiona had been devoted to a European contraption that made only two cups at a time.

We also learn about the woman he has come to visit:

“They gave us that,” she said. “Our son and his wife. They live in Kamloops. B.C. They send us more stuff than we can handle. It wouldn’t hurt if they would spend the money to come and see us instead.” Grant said philosophically, “I suppose they’re busy with their own lives.” “ The Bear Went Over The Mountain ” by Alice Munro

My favourite detail comes further down, when Munro describes an ordinary kitchen object in gruesome terminology:

She poured the coffee into two brown-and-green ceramic mugs that she took from the amputated branches of a ceramic tree trunk that sat on the table.

All it took was that one word — amputated. Grant feels entirely cut off from his wife, who has dementia, and who is also having an affair inside the care facility.

A LIVING ROOM DESCRIBED BY MARGARET ATWOOD

The sitting room is subdued, symmetrical; it’s one of the shapes money takes when it freezes. Margaret Atwood

EXAMPLE OF A LIVING ROOM DESCRIBED BY KENNETH GRAHAME

The floor was well-worn red brick, and on the wide hearth burnt a fire of logs, between two at tractive chimney-corners tucked away in the wall, well out of any suspicion of draught. A couple of high-backed settles, facing each other on either side of the fire, gave further sitting accommodations for the sociably disposed. In the middle of the room stood a long table of plain boards placed on trestles, with benches down each side. At one end of it, where an arm-chair stood pushed back, were spread the remains of the Badger’s plain but ample supper. Rows of spotless plates winked from the shelves of the dresser at the far end of the room, and from the rafters overhead hung hams, bundles of dried herbs, nets of onions, and baskets of eggs. It seemed a place where heroes could fitly feast after victory, where weary harvesters could line up in scores along the table and keep their Harvest Home with mirth and song, or where two or three friends of simple tastes could sit about as they pleased and eat and smoke and talk in comfort and contentment. The ruddy brick floor smiled up at the smoky ceiling; the oaken settles, shiny with long wear, exchanged cheerful glances with each other; plates on the dresser grinned at pots on the shelf, and the merry firelight flickered and played over everything without distinction. The Wind In The Willows

Badger’s living area is a sitting-room kitchen combo. As the description wears on, Grahame makes use of personification to bring the crockery to life. Live objects in the home was a popular Edwardian trope in children’s literature. Here it serves the purpose of contrasting the safe and cosy Badger’s sette with the faces Mole observed watching him in the dangerous, dark Wild Wood surrounding them.

See “Broke” by Samm Henshaw , a music video on YouTube

Header painting: Henry Wallis – The Room in Which Shakespeare Was Born 1853

CONTEMPORARY FICTION SET IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND (2023)

On paper, things look fine. Sam Dennon recently inherited significant wealth from his uncle. As a respected architect, Sam spends his days thinking about the family needs and rich lives of his clients. But privately? Even his enduring love of amateur astronomy is on the wane. Sam has built a sustainable-architecture display home for himself but hasn’t yet moved into it, preferring to sleep in his cocoon of a campervan. Although they never announced it publicly, Sam’s wife and business partner ended their marriage years ago due to lack of intimacy, leaving Sam with the sense he is irreparably broken.

Now his beloved uncle has died. An intensifying fear manifests as health anxiety, with night terrors from a half-remembered early childhood event. To assuage the loneliness, Sam embarks on a Personal Happiness Project:

1. Get a pet dog

2. Find a friend. Just one. Not too intense.

KINDLE EBOOK

A Guide to Descriptive Writing

by Melissa Donovan | Jan 7, 2021 | Creative Writing | 8 comments

What is descriptive writing?

Writing description is a necessary skill for most writers. Whether we’re writing an essay, a story, or a poem, we usually reach a point where we need to describe something. In fiction, we describe settings and characters. In poetry, we describe scenes, experiences, and emotions. In creative nonfiction, we describe reality. Descriptive writing is especially important for speculative fiction writers and poets. If you’ve created a fantasy world, then you’ll need to deftly describe it to readers; Lewis Carroll not only described Wonderland (aff link); he also described the fantastical creatures that inhabited it.

But many writers are challenged by description writing, and many readers find it boring to read — when it’s not crafted skillfully.

However, I think it’s safe to say that technology has spoiled us. Thanks to photos and videos, we’ve become increasingly visual, which means it’s getting harder to use words to describe something, especially if it only exists in our imaginations.

What is Descriptive Writing?

One might say that descriptive writing is the art of painting a picture with words. But descriptive writing goes beyond visuals. Descriptive writing hits all the senses; we describe how things look, sound, smell, taste, and feel (their tactile quality).

The term descriptive writing can mean a few different things:

The act of writing description ( I’m doing some descriptive writing ).
A descriptive essay is short-form prose that is meant to describe something in detail; it can describe a person, place, event, object, or anything else.
Description as part of a larger work: This is the most common kind of descriptive writing. It is usually a sentence or paragraph (sometimes multiple paragraphs) that provide description, usually to help the reader visualize what’s happening, where it’s happening, or how it’s happening. It’s most commonly used to describe a setting or a character. An example would be a section of text within a novel that establishes the setting by describing a room or a passage that introduces a character with a physical description.
Writing that is descriptive (or vivid) — an author’s style: Some authors weave description throughout their prose and verse, interspersing it through the dialogue and action. It’s a style of writing that imparts description without using large blocks of text that are explicitly focused on description.
Description is integral in poetry writing. Poetry emphasizes imagery, and imagery is rendered in writing via description, so descriptive writing is a crucial skill for most poets.

Depending on what you write, you’ve probably experimented with one of more of these types of descriptive writing, maybe all of them.

Can you think of any other types of descriptive writing that aren’t listed here?

How Much Description is Too Much?

Classic literature was dense with description whereas modern literature usually keeps description to a minimum.

Compare the elaborate descriptions in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy with the descriptions in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series (aff links). Both series relied on description to help readers visualize an imagined, fantastical world, but Rowling did not use her precious writing space to describe standard settings whereas Tolkien frequently paused all action and spent pages describing a single landscape.

This isn’t unique to Tolkien and Rowling; if you compare most literature from the beginning of of the 20th century and earlier to today’s written works, you’ll see that we just don’t dedicate much time and space to description anymore.

I think this radical change in how we approach description is directly tied to the wide availability of film, television, and photography. Let’s say you were living in the 19th century, writing a story about a tropical island for an audience of northern, urban readers. You would be fairly certain that most of your readers had never seen such an island and had no idea what it looked like. To give your audience a full sense of your story’s setting, you’d need pages of detail describing the lush jungle, sandy beaches, and warm waters.

Nowadays, we all know what a tropical island looks like, thanks to the wide availability of media. Even if you’ve never been to such an island, surely you’ve seen one on TV. This might explain why few books on the craft of writing address descriptive writing. The focus is usually on other elements, like language, character, plot, theme, and structure.

For contemporary writers, the trick is to make the description as precise and detailed as possible while keeping it to a minimum. Most readers want characters and action with just enough description so that they can imagine the story as it’s unfolding.

If you’ve ever encountered a story that paused to provide head-to-toe descriptions along with detailed backstories of every character upon their introduction into the narrative, you know just how grating description can be when executed poorly.

However, it’s worth noting that a skilled writer can roll out descriptions that are riveting to read. Sometimes they’re riveting because they’re integrated seamlessly with the action and dialogue; other times, the description is deftly crafted and engaging on its own. In fact, an expert descriptive writer can keep readers glued through multiple pages of description.

Descriptive Writing Tips

I’ve encountered descriptive writing so smooth and seamless that I easily visualized what was happening without even noticing that I was reading description. Some authors craft descriptions that are so lovely, I do notice — but in a good way. Some of them are so compelling that I pause to read them again.

On the other hand, poorly crafted descriptions can really impede a reader’s experience. Description doesn’t work if it’s unclear, verbose, or bland. Most readers prefer action and dialogue to lengthy descriptions, so while a paragraph here and there can certainly help readers better visualize what’s happening, pages and pages of description can increase the risk that they’ll set your work aside and never pick it up again. There are exceptions to every rule, so the real trick is to know when lengthy descriptions are warranted and when they’re just boring.

Here are some general tips for descriptive writing:

Use distinct descriptions that stand out and are memorable. For example, don’t write that a character is five foot two with brown hair and blue eyes. Give the reader something to remember. Say the character is short with mousy hair and sky-blue eyes.
Make description active: Consider the following description of a room: There was a bookshelf in the corner. A desk sat under the window. The walls were beige, and the floor was tiled. That’s boring. Try something like this: A massive oak desk sat below a large picture window and beside a shelf overflowing with books. Hardcovers, paperbacks, and binders were piled on the dingy tiled floor in messy stacks. In the second example, words like overflowing and piled are active.
Weave description through the narrative: Sometimes a character enters a room and looks around, so the narrative needs to pause to describe what the character sees. Other times, description can be threaded through the narrative. For example, instead of pausing to describe a character, engage that character in dialogue with another character. Use the characters’ thoughts and the dialogue tags to reveal description: He stared at her flowing, auburn curls, which reminded him of his mother’s hair. “Where were you?” he asked, shifting his green eyes across the restaurant to where a customer was hassling one of the servers.

Simple descriptions are surprisingly easy to execute. All you have to do is look at something (or imagine it) and write what you see. But well-crafted descriptions require writers to pay diligence to word choice, to describe only those elements that are most important, and to use engaging language to paint a picture in the reader’s mind. Instead of spending several sentences describing a character’s height, weight, age, hair color, eye color, and clothing, a few, choice details will often render a more vivid image for the reader: Red hair framed her round, freckled face like a spray of flames. This only reveals three descriptive details: red hair, a round face, and freckles. Yet it paints more vivid picture than a statistical head-to-toe rundown: She was five foot three and no more than a hundred and ten pounds with red hair, blue eyes, and a round, freckled face.

10 descriptive writing practices.

How to Practice Writing Description

Here are some descriptive writing activities that will inspire you while providing opportunities to practice writing description. If you don’t have much experience with descriptive writing, you may find that your first few attempts are flat and boring. If you can’t keep readers engaged, they’ll wander off. Work at crafting descriptions that are compelling and mesmerizing.

Go to one of your favorite spots and write a description of the setting: it could be your bedroom, a favorite coffee shop, or a local park. Leave people, dialogue, and action out of it. Just focus on explaining what the space looks like.
Who is your favorite character from the movies? Describe the character from head to toe. Show the reader not only what the character looks like, but also how the character acts. Do this without including action or dialogue. Remember: description only!
Forty years ago we didn’t have cell phones or the internet. Now we have cell phones that can access the internet. Think of a device or gadget that we’ll have forty years from now and describe it.
Since modern fiction is light on description, many young and new writers often fail to include details, even when the reader needs them. Go through one of your writing projects and make sure elements that readers may not be familiar with are adequately described.
Sometimes in a narrative, a little description provides respite from all the action and dialogue. Make a list of things from a story you’re working on (gadgets, characters, settings, etc.), and for each one, write a short description of no more than a hundred words.
As mentioned, Tolkien often spent pages describing a single landscape. Choose one of your favorite pieces of classic literature, find a long passage of description, and rewrite it. Try to cut the descriptive word count in half.
When you read a book, use a highlighter to mark sentences and paragraphs that contain description. Don’t highlight every adjective and adverb. Look for longer passages that are dedicated to description.
Write a description for a child. Choose something reasonably difficult, like the solar system. How do you describe it in such a way that a child understands how he or she fits into it?
Most writers dream of someday writing a book. Describe your book cover.
Write a one-page description of yourself.

If you have any descriptive writing practices to add to this list, feel free to share them in the comments.

Descriptive Writing

Does descriptive writing come easily to you, or do you struggle with it? Do you put much thought into how you write description? What types of descriptive writing have you tackled — descriptive essays, blocks of description within larger texts, or descriptions woven throughout a narrative? Share your tips for descriptive writing by leaving a comment, and keep writing!

Further Reading: Abolish the Adverbs , Making the Right Word Choices for Better Writing , and Writing Description in Fiction .

Ready Set Write a Guide to Creative Writing

I find descriptions easier when first beginning a scene. Other ones I struggle with. Yes, intertwining them with dialogue does help a lot.

I have the opposite experience. I tend to dive right into action and dialogue when I first start a scene.

I came across this article at just the right time. I am just starting to write a short story. This will change the way I describe characters in my story.

Thank you for this. R.G. Ramsey

You’re welcome!

Great tips and how to practise and improve our descriptive writing skills. Thank you for sharing.

You’re welcome, Bella.

Hello Melissa

I have read many of your articles about different aspects of writing and have enjoyed all of them. What you said here, I agree with, with the exception of #7. That is one point that I dispute and don’t understand the reason why anyone would do this, though I’ve seen books that had things like that done to them.

To me, a book is something to be treasured, loved and taken care of. It deserves my respect because I’m sure the author poured their heart and soul into its creation. Marking it up that way is nothing short of defacing it. A book or story is a form of art, so should a person mark over a picture by Rembrandt or any other famous painter? You’re a very talented author, so why would you want someone to mark through the words you had spent considerable time and effort agonizing over, while searching for the best words to convey your thoughts?

If I want to remember some section or point the author is making, then I’ll take a pen and paper and record the page number and perhaps the first few words of that particular section. I’ve found that writing a note this way helps me remember it better. This is then placed inside the cover for future reference. If someone did what you’ve suggested to a book of mine, I’d be madder than a ‘wet hen’, and that person would certainly be told what I thought of them.

In any of the previous articles you’ve written, you’ve brought up some excellent points which I’ve tried to incorporate in my writing. Keep up the good work as I know your efforts have helped me, and I’m sure other authors as well.

Hi Stanley. Thanks so much for sharing your point of view. I appreciate and value it.

Marking up a book is a common practice, especially in academia. Putting notes in margins, underlining, highlighting, and tagging pages with bookmarks is standard. Personally, I mark up nonfiction paperbacks, but I never mark up fiction paperbacks or any hardcovers (not since college).

I completely respect your right to keep your books in pristine condition. And years ago, when I started college, I felt exactly the same way. I was horrified that people (instructors and professors!) would fill their books with ugly yellow highlighting and other markips. But I quickly realized that this was shortsighted.

Consider an old paperback that is worn and dog-eared. With one look, you know this book has been read many times and it’s probably loved. It’s like the Velveteen Rabbit of books. I see markups as the same — that someone was engaging with the book and trying to understand it on a deeper level, which is not disrespectful. It’s something to be celebrated.

Sometimes we place too much value on the book as a physical object rather than what’s inside. I appreciate a beautiful book as much as anyone but what really matters to me is the information or experience that it contains. I often read on a Kindle. Sometimes I listen to audio books. There is no physical book. The experience is not lessened.

I understand where you’re coming from. I used to feel the same way, but my mind was changed. I’m not trying to change yours, but I hope you’ll understand.

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

7 Sites You’ve Got to Check Out About Journaling! | The NoteBook Blogairy - […] Writing Forward: This eight-year-old website has TONS of great writerly information to share including a really wonderful piece about…

Submit a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

Subscribe and get The Writer’s Creed graphic e-booklet, plus a weekly digest with the latest articles on writing, as well as special offers and exclusive content.

Pin It on Pinterest

The Emotion Amplifier Thesaurus , a companion to The Emotion Thesaurus , releases May 13th.

Skip to primary navigation
Skip to main content
Skip to primary sidebar

WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®

Helping writers become bestselling authors

Setting Description Entry: Haunted House (inside)

May 23, 2009 by BECCA PUGLISI

Sight Dust, cobwebs, sheets on furniture, broken tables, chairs, windows, lamps, peeling wallpaper, gaps in the floorboards, holes in the walls, flickering lights (if there’s electricity) chandelier with broken strings of crystals, broken glass on the floor, spiders, cockroaches, rust, mildew, ripped curtains, shadows, gloomy staircases, old portraits & paintings, cracked…

footsteps on the stair, creaking doors, window shutters rattling on the outside, wind scattering/rustling paper through a broken window gap, words whispered in ear, screams, crying, wailing, laughter, glass smashing, the scrap of a chair moving, the scritch of tree branches scraping at the windows, rats squeaking, movement in the walls, a…

Phantom perfume or cologne, burning smells, pipe or cigarette smoke, mildew, rot, dank, rusty or metallic smells, wet wood and stone, rancid breath, yeasty beer smell, food, dust, dry rot, rat/mice feces, urine

Sour & dry mouth from fear, dust floating in the air and coating the tongue, salty tears

A phantom hand on the shoulder, the puff of breath on the earlobe or the back of the neck, the sensation of being grabbed on the arm, pushed, pulled, pinched, poked, slapped, burned, a feeling of light-headedness and nausea, hair rising on arms or the back of the neck, the body’s reaction to a drop in temperature (chills, shivering, breath puffing out…

Helpful hints:

–The words you choose can convey atmosphere and mood.

Example 1: I cringed at each creak on the old warped stairs, but it didn’t sway my determination to make it to the bedroom on the second floor. Halfway up, a shadow flickered at the corner of my vision. I froze, and as I stood there, caught a woody scent lingering in the air. Tobacco smoke? A shiver curled through the hairs on the back of my neck then cascaded down my backbone. It was all I could do to not hurl myself back down the stairs toward the front door…

–Similes and metaphors create strong imagery when used sparingly.

Example 1: (Metaphor ) The dining room chair suddenly jolted back and tilted toward me, a gracious invitation by an invisible host…

Think beyond what a character sees, and provide a sensory feast for readers

Setting is much more than just a backdrop, which is why choosing the right one and describing it well is so important. To help with this, we have expanded and integrated this thesaurus into our online library at One Stop For Writers.

Each entry has been enhanced to include possible sources of conflict, people commonly found in these locales, and setting-specific notes and tips, and the collection itself has been augmented to include a whopping 230 entries—all of which have been cross-referenced with our other thesauruses for easy searchability. So if you’re interested in seeing this powerful Setting Thesaurus , head on over and register at One Stop.

On the other hand, if you prefer your references in book form, we’ve got you covered, too, because both books are now available for purchase in digital and print copies. In addition to the entries, each book contains instructional front matter to help you maximize your settings. With advice on topics like making your setting do double duty and using figurative language to bring them to life, these books offer ample information to help you maximize your settings and write them effectively.

Becca Puglisi is an international speaker, writing coach, and bestselling author of The Emotion Thesaurus and its sequels. Her books are available in five languages, are sourced by US universities, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, editors, and psychologists around the world. She is passionate about learning and sharing her knowledge with others through her Writers Helping Writers blog and via One Stop For Writers —a powerhouse online library created to help writers elevate their storytelling.

Reader Interactions

May 14, 2021 at 1:51 pm

creepy…

May 8, 2021 at 6:48 pm

Oh wow. It hadn’t occurred to me to make a list of all the things to do with my settings. Thank you for this. Brilliant!

May 10, 2021 at 5:53 am

It’s so much easier to get the setting exactly where we want it when we know beforehand what to aim for :).

March 12, 2021 at 5:58 pm

I really love this Thank you so much for doing this

March 2, 2021 at 2:17 pm

February 18, 2021 at 8:34 am

Thankyou soo much…it really helped me

February 13, 2021 at 5:04 am

omg!! Thankyou so much, this helped with my assignment!!!

February 10, 2021 at 6:25 am

thank you so much, helped me alot during lockdown!!

February 11, 2021 at 8:29 am

Well thank goodness for that!

December 22, 2020 at 12:24 am

Thank You really helpful

December 12, 2020 at 5:30 am

December 4, 2020 at 11:38 pm

Thank you so much, there are totally enough ideas for me for my essay

November 22, 2020 at 10:04 am

Very helpful

November 10, 2020 at 5:41 pm

thank you so much i needed ideas and this gave me so much.

October 21, 2020 at 4:50 pm

I am doing a descriptive writing project and this helped me so much! Thank You!

October 21, 2020 at 7:01 pm

Glad it helped!

March 20, 2021 at 6:59 am

October 8, 2020 at 11:51 am

I love the website I had to write a paper about Halloween and I used this website to find my d Description Word I need . Who ever made this website I don’t know what I would tell him or her but it’s one of my favorite it gives me great description of what words I don’t understand and I then I can use it later if I could rate it 5 stars

October 8, 2020 at 1:07 pm

Zachary, I am so glad you like this website and it’s a help to you!

September 26, 2020 at 5:48 pm

thank u a lot s helps me in my writing

September 19, 2020 at 1:49 am

Thanks! It was quite helpful for my paragraph. 😊

March 25, 2020 at 1:17 am

This was SOOO helpful. Thanks a lot. It was very helpful.

This was SOOO helpful. Thanks a lot.

January 2, 2020 at 5:56 am

this helped me with my essay A LOT!!!!!!!!!!! 😊

December 3, 2019 at 2:51 pm

This is awesome！👌

March 31, 2021 at 11:41 pm

This awesome

November 18, 2019 at 1:32 pm

This is so helpful for everyone . People can use them in essays while describing a haunted house .

November 10, 2020 at 5:43 pm

That is exactly what i used it for

November 11, 2019 at 7:02 am

This is so helpful! Definately the best website for writing! Thanksssss❤️❤️

November 11, 2019 at 10:42 am

Happy this helps!

November 3, 2019 at 7:28 am

October 25, 2019 at 4:58 am

I really like it. It’s really good.for.young children and writers. I love it do much

July 1, 2019 at 6:21 pm

wow I really needed this thank you sooo much

May 25, 2019 at 11:22 am

Amazing. Im a 14-year-old writer and all these descriptions inspired me on how to write my mystery book. Thanks so much Becca

February 9, 2019 at 6:29 pm

I really liked it because it helped me a lot to inspire me with my writing for greater depth.It was all very creative and amazing 😃👍🏻

January 28, 2019 at 11:34 am

very good descriptions

January 3, 2019 at 11:03 pm

This is too helpful

November 11, 2018 at 4:21 am

Helpful!!!!!

June 6, 2019 at 2:08 am

Good descriptive terms and phrases!!

October 24, 2018 at 1:23 pm

Thank you so much you have helped me so much.

October 23, 2018 at 10:49 am

This story describes the house and starts to leave an image of what the inside of the house looks like. I get shivers reading it.

October 22, 2018 at 11:10 am

I love this website it helps me

July 22, 2018 at 8:38 am

Thank you so much.. It helped me a lot… I am very happy about this web page😊

November 19, 2018 at 11:04 pm

yeah me too it helped alot

December 13, 2017 at 7:04 am

Thank you so much it really helped write my writing assessment and get full marks, don’t worry i didn’t cheat that much!

October 25, 2019 at 12:17 pm

lmao “that much”

November 9, 2017 at 5:32 pm

It Game Some Ideas What To Write

April 4, 2017 at 1:37 pm

Its just awesome because I get a idea to write it in my suspense story??

March 19, 2017 at 11:49 am

thanks alot it really helped me in my suspense story writing and it did really gave me some ideas to write it thanks 😉

December 3, 2016 at 8:15 am

Thank you very much. This is helpful to do my English HW. Zabit Khwaja

September 12, 2018 at 2:01 pm

October 25, 2016 at 2:12 pm

Thank you !! This has really helped me to do my homework and to inspire me for different t ideas.

October 6, 2016 at 9:45 am

this helped me do my English course thank u sooo much

September 1, 2011 at 9:32 am

this is awesome! 😀 helped me do my coursework for English! thanks a lot 😀

October 14, 2010 at 8:47 pm

this story is awsome i want to read another one.

September 16, 2010 at 12:48 pm

Thanks Aloot It Helped Me In My English Homework:) But I Think It Would Be Better If There Were More Examples Of Haunted Houses:D x

April 3, 2010 at 4:53 pm

this has helped me a great deal with my story for my English class 🙂

May 27, 2009 at 11:34 am

I love the image of the child riding a phantom rocking horse — very effective.

May 25, 2009 at 11:48 pm

This one was so fun to do. There are so many unusual settings to explore–stay tuned!

May 24, 2009 at 6:08 pm

You gals cover some of the greatest topics!!! Hope you can get these out in book form soon or eventually! Keep up the good work!

May 24, 2009 at 7:21 am

I can hear the wind moaning around corners…whhoooooooooowhoooooo.

May 24, 2009 at 7:14 am

Fantastic! Thanks!

May 23, 2009 at 4:09 pm

Gives me the shivers too. =)

May 23, 2009 at 1:35 pm

Gives me shivers just reading it. 😉

Privacy Overview

Your browser is no longer supported. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience.

Room With a View: Creative Writing Exercises

Exercise one – in this room.

A key part of being a good writer is to really pay attention to your surroundings and to translate what you can hear, see, smell, touch, taste and feel into words so that other people can experience what you’re experiencing. Focusing on the five senses is an important skill to develop as it helps to make your writing richer and multi-dimensional. It’s also a great mindful tool for creating calm. Win win!

A key part of being a good writer is to really pay attention to your surroundings.

For this exercise, try to stay in the moment. Take in your surroundings. What can you see, hear, touch, taste and smell where you are today? Maybe there’s a smell of recently brewed coffee. Perhaps you can hear the birds tweeting outside or members of your family having an argument in another room. For touch, you might just want to focus on the feeling of your fingers on the keyboard or the way the paper feels beneath your arm or the pressure of one leg on top of the other, the feel of floorboards beneath your feet, or you could explore other feelings too. And if your mind gets taken away to a memory of another time and place as you notice a souvenir from a holiday on the desk, feel free to follow that thought too. Allow yourself to write whatever comes to mind and don’t think too hard about it. You can always edit it later.

Exercise Two – Room with a View

Windows and the views from them can be a rich source of inspiration for writing. They’re a boundary between one space and another, but a transparent boundary and a natural frame for writing. For this exercise, it’s probably easiest if you position yourself so that you can see out of particular window, but if you’ve got a good memory, you could also choose to write about a different view that you know well: maybe the view from a school window, or a holiday cottage that you might have visited. Follow the prompts below and allow your writing to get more fanciful and imaginative as you go on. Write in long sentences rather than making notes. Essentially, you’re constructing a poem, line by line.

You can also watch this video and follow the prompts included here:

Something is straight in front of you. What is it?
What’s off to the left?
In the corner of your view, what can you see?
Remember the way it looked at a different time in the past.
Something is unusual today. What is it? Maybe something is missing, or present when it isn’t usually there.
What is out of view (over the hedge, across the road)?
What’s happening further away – on the other side of the village or the city?
What about over on the other side of the world?

Exercise Three – The Witness

Let’s turn our attention from writing poetry to writing fiction and imagine a story in which a character observes the world from their window. Perhaps they’re a person who loves to be nosey, or someone who simply enjoys watching the world go by. Maybe, in your writing, you might have a whole cast of characters that the main protagonist sees: the woman who walks the dog at the same time every day, the man who pushes the pram, the postman or woman. Or, you might want to focus on one particular person and one particular incident.

Effective fiction tends to focus around change so see if you can incorporate this into your story. Maybe the main character sees something that changes their perception of the world in some way or perhaps they see something that literally changes their world. Perhaps it’s something that they shouldn’t have seen and perhaps their decisions about what they do with that knowledge will drive the story. Maybe the change is simply that the woman stops walking the dog or that the post stops arriving. It’s up to you.

Effective fiction tends to focus around change so see if you can incorporate this into your story.

Here are a few suggestions to get you started:

The post gets delivered to the wrong house and a person who hasn’t left their home for years has to take it to the rightful owner.
Someone witnesses a robbery.
A character sees two people having a fight and has to decide whether to intervene.
Someone overhears a conversation that they shouldn’t have heard.
A character sees or has an encounter with some unusual wildlife – maybe a badger or a fox

Exercise Four – Picture This

In case you’re tired of looking out of your own windows at your own views, we’ve provided some different views for you to look at. Hopefully they might inspire you.

For this exercise, simply take one of the photographs and imagine yourself into the scene. You might be a character who is looking out of the window, or you might be someone in the scene beyond the window.

Use the following questions to help you to develop the character that you’re writing about. You might want to write a piece of fiction, but you could also write a poem about, or from the viewpoint, of the character. Most stories are driven by the desires of the main character and the obstacles that you, the writer, put in their way. You might want to think about that as you write.

Who is the character? (Name, age, nationality)
What are they doing here?
Where are they going? Or where have you been?
Who are they with or who are they waiting for?
What are they afraid of?
What do they have in your pocket or bag?
What do they want most in the world?
What is their biggest regret?
Who is their best friend?

Exercise Five – Objects

We’re surrounded by objects in our homes and what can seem ordinary and boring can soon be transformed into something interesting if we bring our attention and imagination to it.

For this exercise, pick an object from the room where you’re sitting and use it as the starting point for a piece of writing.

You might want to tell the literal story of what it is and where it came from or you could make it the centre of a fictional piece. Maybe that little box from your holiday in Spain is actually a repository for all of the secrets of the universe, or perhaps your notebook is enchanted and everything you write in it becomes true.

Maybe that little box from your holiday in Spain is actually a repository for all of the secrets of the universe?

Another exercise to try is to write from the point of view of the object. How does it feel to be the necklace that no-one very takes out of the jewellery box or the book that someone bought just to show off but which never gets opened?

Maybe you could write about two objects and their relationship. Perhaps the salt pot has a vendetta against the pepper pot or maybe the fork is in love with teapot.

Have fun with it.

“It is perfectly okay to write garbage–as long as you edit brilliantly.’ C. J. Cherryh

Editing is a fundamental part of the writing process. Some writers enjoy the first burst of creativity more than editing, but others love that process of stripping out the unnecessary parts of their work and shaping it into a finished piece.

I like to imagine editing as being a bit like sculpting; the finished story or poem is in there and your job as an editor is to chip away at the raw materials (your first draft) to smooth and polish the final work of art. Most writers write several drafts before they get to a piece that they’re happy with and, if you want to be a writer, it’s an important lesson to learn, that something is rarely finished at the first attempt. Invariably there’s a lot that can be done to improve a piece of writing and sometimes the finished article bears little resemblance to the piece you started out with. You write as a writer, but you need to edit as a reader.

Here are some tips to help you to improve your first draft.

General tips

If you have time, leave your writing for a while before you start to edit it. That way you can view it as a reader.
Read your work aloud. You’re bound to find yourself editing as you go along as you’ll sense which bits flow and which bits don’t.
Give it to a few trusted readers to read. They will pick up things that you’re too close to see. Make sure you choose your readers wisely though. You don’t want the opinions of people who are too close to you who’ll be afraid of hurting your feelings (e.g. your mum) nor do you want people who are too critical or competitive. Other writers usually make for good critics as they know how precious your work is and they also know what to look for.
Think about what the purpose of your writing is. Can you summarise it in a paragraph? What do you want your reader to think or feel after they’ve read it? It helps if you can keep this in mind as you edit and try to make sure that everything you write serves this purpose.
Is your opening the best one? Does it make the reader want to read on? It’s usually a good idea to get straight to the point and the action. Can you cut the first paragraph or page? Often we’re finding our own way into the story at the beginning and our opening isn’t the right one.
That said, you want your reader to feel quickly located in your story and clear what it’s going to be about. You might find it helpful to think about the w’s: who, what, where, why and when. Can you convey the basics of this information quickly and succinctly?
Lay some hooks and questions to get the reader interested at the beginning. It’s a delicate balance between giving enough information so that the reader isn’t confused, and leaving them intrigued and guessing what’s going to happen next.
Are you showing rather than telling? This is a big topic and something you’ll be able to find out more about online. Generally-speaking, you want to feel like you’re in control of a movie set and that you, as writer, are directing the film, showing the reader the action as it unfolds rather than telling the story. The reader doesn’t want to hear your voice but the voices of the characters.
Check your viewpoint. Usually it’s best to stick with one character’s point of view or to be very clear that you’re switching to another character (e.g. by starting a new page of chapter). Be careful not to flit between characters’ heads unconsciously as this can make the reader feel confused and disorientated. One way to check this is to ask yourself the question: ‘says who?’ at the end of every sentence.
Check for repetition and see if you can use different words and phrasing.
Use as few words as possible. You don’t need to explain things in several different ways e.g. don’t say, “ ‘I’m furious,’ screamed Jen, angrily.” One way of letting us know that she’s angry is enough.
Where possible, avoid feeling words and show emotions in different ways e.g. with body language and physical sensations i.e. ‘she sank to the floor, her body wracked with sobs’ as opposed to ‘she felt really upset.’
Don’t overdo it though. You don’t need to reference the tightness in someone’s chest every time they feel anxious and beware of mentioning the same things over and over again e.g. scratching chin, playing with hair, winking. How often do people really wink in real life?
Avoid using too many adverbs and adjectives, especially adverbs.Often, you can replace an adverb by choosing a better verb e.g. instead of saying ‘he shut the door noisily ’, you could say ‘he slammed the door.’
Use dialogue to bring your prose to life and to show character rather than describing everything.
Don’t overuse names. Unless it’s confusing, use ‘he’ and ‘she’.
Be careful when choosing character names to choose names that sound very different. If your three main characters are called Ahmed, Abdul and Ahad, your reader is likely to get confused.
Don’t feel you have to use complicated dialogue tags: ‘he said’ and ‘she said’ are usually better than ‘he expostulated’ and ‘she exclaimed’.
Don’t give too much information and try to make it natural when you can e.g. a character wouldn’t say, ‘when Matt, my husband, came home from his work at the local hospital.’ She’d just say, ‘when Matt came home from work.’
Check that you’re indenting each paragraph and each time a new person speaks.
It’s generally accepted practice in the UK to use one inverted comma for dialogue and to put the punctuation inside the inverted commas e.g. ‘Are you coming for your dinner?’

Editing poetry is a bit more complicated as poetry is more open to interpretation and individualistic stylistic choices but here are a few things you can look for.

Read your poem out loud several times. How it sounds is as important as how it looks on the page.
Are you using the perfect word? Poets think really hard about every word. They’re thinking about the sound and shape of the word as well as its meaning.
Think about where you position your words. Does a line sound better if you turn it around?
Consider line lengths and stanzas or the overall shape and balance of the poem.
Think about which words go at the ends of the line. You probably don’t want to end lines with words conjunctions like ‘and’, ‘or’ and ‘because’.
If you’re rhyming a poem, make sure you’re not just using a word because it rhymes. If you are, then think about a different way to say what you’re trying to say.
Be consistent with your punctuation and capitalisation. Some poets use capitals at the beginning of each and some don’t. Either is ok but make sure you’ve thought about your stylistic choice.
Does your imagery make sense? Poets often make use of similes and metaphors. One or two carefully-chosen metaphors are usually more effective that lots.
Have you used other poetic techniques e.g. alliteration and assonance? Could these be strengthened?
Think about your beginning and your ending. Are you starting and ending with two of your best lines?

Don’t forget to follow us on social for regular writing prompts and challenges; @thelitplatform / @theliteraryplatform.

Log in or Sign up

You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly. You should upgrade or use an alternative browser .

Lea`Brooks Contributor Contributor

How would you describe this room.

Discussion in ' Word Mechanics ' started by Lea`Brooks , May 20, 2016 .

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_33e2b3d748501b522a1461fd77557022'); }); This is essentially what a bedroom looks like in my story (though it's much wider). Two solid walls and two others covered with these open archways. But I'm struggling to write it so that it makes sense. Any pointers?

Witchymama Active Member

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_33e2b3d748501b522a1461fd77557022'); }); Ok first of all, I now know what I want for my dream bedroom. You could describe it as open air. I don't know, but I would probably describe the room based on directional views from inside it. What does the character see when on the bed? While sitting at the vanity?

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_33e2b3d748501b522a1461fd77557022'); }); Witchymama said: ↑ Ok first of all, I now know what I want for my dream bedroom. You could describe it as open air. I don't know, but I would probably describe the room based on directional views from inside it. What does the character see when on the bed? While sitting at the vanity? Click to expand...

SethLoki Retired Autodidact Contributor

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_33e2b3d748501b522a1461fd77557022'); }); A colonnade style bedroom, its high ceiling supported by ornate and proud alabaster columns, each arched precisely to the other. All grand inside too with a marbled open space that's purposely mezzanined fore and aft to afford views of the city and countryside.

matwoolf Banned Contributor

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_33e2b3d748501b522a1461fd77557022'); }); Open air room with big concrete posts supporting the ceiling, and a flush vanity.

Wreybies Thrice Retired Supporter Contributor

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_33e2b3d748501b522a1461fd77557022'); }); matwoolf said: ↑ Open air room with big concrete posts supporting the ceiling, and a flush vanity. Click to expand...

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_33e2b3d748501b522a1461fd77557022'); }); Really, what was the curious slogan scripted over the way to Geoffrey's chamber, and in this place of such atmosphere, she stroked her neck.

Cave Troll It's Coffee O'clock everywhere. Contributor

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_33e2b3d748501b522a1461fd77557022'); }); It reminds me of something either from an Italian Villa, or of a Romanesque inspiration. Though I would like to think there would be windows on a bedroom that lavish and extravagant, otherwise it would be littered with all sorts of things you would not want in there. Otherwise that is what I would describe it as in terms of what it looks like, using the main features of the room itself. It was of columns that held the ceiling high and off the marble floor, and the large panes of glass filling the archways of the ornate pillars.

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_33e2b3d748501b522a1461fd77557022'); }); Cave Troll said: ↑ It reminds me of something either from an Italian Villa, or of a Romanesque inspiration. Though I would like to think there would be windows on a bedroom that lavish and extravagant, otherwise it would be littered with all sorts of things you would not want in there. Otherwise that is what I would describe it as in terms of what it looks like, using the main features of the room itself. It was of columns that held the ceiling high and off the marble floor, and the large panes of glass filling the archways of the ornate pillars. Click to expand...

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_33e2b3d748501b522a1461fd77557022'); }); They had glass, but ok... Can I get a partial credit for ornate pillars and archways?

peachalulu Member Reviewer Contributor

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_33e2b3d748501b522a1461fd77557022'); }); A columnated breezeway that the garden was starting to claim. Vines had already woven through the archways.

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_33e2b3d748501b522a1461fd77557022'); }); Cave Troll said: ↑ They had glass, but ok... Can I get a partial credit for ornate pillars and archways? Click to expand...

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_33e2b3d748501b522a1461fd77557022'); }); Four stumps, thick, cold stumps, stretched to an ornate high roof, decorated in our legends of antiquity. I touched the clasp of my toga, and caught by gust it flew seawards, my message clear to Mark Anthony. 'Huh, hmm, huh, huh, errr,' he said, spirit forces caught in his throat. The senator tore at his groinplate, and candle lit, draped the plate across my full Arabian breasts. 'Retain modesty of Aristotle,' he said, his penis swinging in shadow, the one horizontal stump climbed this house of vertical attraction. I knew how it would not be long, how our bath time together, how a dozen individual slaves attending to our sexual whims would bring us to the verge of very, very burst on this mountain top, under gods. Oh do shut up, dick head.

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_33e2b3d748501b522a1461fd77557022'); }); Never mind.... (whistling and walks away) @Lea`Brooks

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_33e2b3d748501b522a1461fd77557022'); }); I built it in the Sims, but it's not letting me upload it....

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_33e2b3d748501b522a1461fd77557022'); }); Lea`Brooks said: ↑ I built it in the Sims, but it's not letting me upload it.... Click to expand...

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_33e2b3d748501b522a1461fd77557022'); }); Ha-ha! I figured it out. Observe: Preferably, the brown fences in arches would be stone fences. But I don't have the option to do that.

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_33e2b3d748501b522a1461fd77557022'); }); Fab–but (as mentioned on a concurrent thread) poss a bit draughty. If that bed were mine I'd be draping the 4 poster with material all diaphanous like for excluding mozzies and a more secure sense of snug. Stop press. Cue Twilight Zone leitmotif. Wifey here has just loaded up Minecraft and by strange coincidence is crafting something similar (not asked for her motive); I was peering into this writing forum world at your image while over the lid of laptop something quite similar is being worked on in another virtual arena. I think it's spooked me a little.

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_33e2b3d748501b522a1461fd77557022'); }); SethLoki said: ↑ Fab–but (as mentioned on a concurrent thread) poss a bit draughty. If that bed were mine I'd be draping the 4 poster with material all diaphanous like for excluding mozzies and a more secure sense of snug. Click to expand...

IHaveNoName Senior Member Community Volunteer

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_33e2b3d748501b522a1461fd77557022'); }); The room was large, tiled in marble, with a small fireplace at one end. Two of the walls were colonnades; beyond them lay balconies.

Share This Page

Log in with Facebook
Log in with Twitter
Log in with Google
No, create an account now.
Yes, my password is:
Forgot your password?

Creative Writing Forums - Writing Help, Writing Workshops, & Writing Community

Search titles only

Separate names with a comma.

Search this thread only
Display results as threads

Useful Searches

Recent Posts
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register. By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies. Accept Learn More... Dismiss Notice

AI Content Shield
AI KW Research
AI Assistant
SEO Optimizer
AI KW Clustering
Customer reviews
The NLO Revolution
Press Center
Help Center
Content Resources
Facebook Group

List of Great Adjectives to Describe a Room

Table of Contents

To portray the right picture, you need adjectives. You need adjectives to describe a room if you’re writing a story or an essay.

Descriptions give you concrete details and show that you’re capable of thinking critically in writing. In your English speaking and writing tests, you need adjectives to impress the teachers who will grade your essays.

You must be able to describe things in a way that holds your readers’ attention. For a room, you must write in a way that vividly shows you know your room by discussing furniture, accessories, decorations, or paintings.

This article teaches how to describe a room in great detail. Let’s Jump right into it!

white wooden coffee table near white sofa

What Is a Room?

A room is an enclosed space within a building, defined by its walls, floors, and ceilings. Anything that divides the space is a room, such as stairwells, hallways, and windows.

The distinction of “room” is a somewhat subjective classification. Rooms depend on their purpose, but we recognize them as spaces within one large building.

Sentence Examples of a Room

The room has lots of books in it.
Mike’s room has coral walls.
Take the room located on the second floor.
The room has an ambiance of peace and rest.

Best Adjectives to Describe a Room

These adjectives give a general idea about the character of a room . Some of these adjectives are bland, crowded, cozy, dark, and plain. The description of a room might be the following:

Old-fashioned
Controversial
Filled with natural light

Synonyms Related to Room- Meanings and Sentence Examples

Many words can replace the word “room.” Other words describing a room are chambers, hallway, living room, and study.

1. Chambers

A chamber is a room, usually with one or more openings, in a building. We can also describe a chamber as an ample space typically used for formal gatherings.

Sentence Example: “The Jacksons live in a chamber near the high school.”

A hallway is a passage (usually indoors) that connects one room or area to another. It is generally long and narrow (up to 4-meters wide in buildings), constituting a path through the building.

Sentence Example: The hallway is full of all types of students.”

3. Living Room

The living room is a living space where visitors relax after a long and tiring day. This might not be the most important room. It can also be defined as the central living space in the home of a family or an individual.

Sentence Example: “The living room was full of loud noises and music.”

The word “space” is any area with no fixed boundaries and cannot be filled with other setups, objects, or geography. It’s important to remember that space is a fluid term that can signify many different things.

On the other hand, we can also describe space as a large area that can be used by anyone who wants to.

Sentence Example: “The space was so empty that it was eerie.”

A bedroom is where one sleeps, wakes up, or relaxes. It is usually a private room in the home of someone who values privacy.

Sentence Example: “Your bedroom is a mess; Fix it!”

Many words can be used as adjectives to describe a room . We hope you had fun with this article and learned something new!

List of Great Adjectives to Describe a Room

Abir Ghenaiet

Abir is a data analyst and researcher. Among her interests are artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural language processing. As a humanitarian and educator, she actively supports women in tech and promotes diversity.

Explore All Add Strong Adjectives Articles

Comprehensive adjective list to describe a day.

“How was your day?” you’ve probably been asked this question dozens of times. And it can be hard to find…

Add Strong Adjectives

The Best Adjectives to Describe a Hardworking Person

Indeed, there are words that people use to cheer someone up. If you are trying to boost the confidence of…

The Best Descriptive Words for Emotions

Do you want to describe you what you feel through the exact words? Are you eager to let other people…

An Lesson Guide About Descriptive and Limiting Adjectives

Whenever you write an article or essay, adjectives will never disappear from your text. You will always use descriptive and…

Colorful Adjective Examples Worth Considering

The English dictionary is one of the most reliable writing guides, consisting of various words used to describe the shade…

Learn the Best Adjectives to Describe Things

Are you thinking of the best words to use when trying to distinguish the characteristics of one noun from another?…

The GSAL Journal

Passion, Curiosity & Creativity

An Old-fashioned Room

Oliver – Year 7 Student

Editor’s Note : Students were asked to complete the following creative writing task under timed conditions: ‘Describe an old-fashioned room as suggested by the picture’. Oliver’s response demonstrates some truly fantastic writing. ADM

The room had a musty odour, evocative of grandparents’ houses – the type that makes you feel safe and cosy. It was lit dimly by a tall lamp in the corner with a green lamp shade decorated with light, undulating patterns, all but lost under a thick coat of dust. There was drab, vile, green wallpaper; dark green contrasting curtains; a wide, thin rug with tassels on. A wooden rocking chair sat in the corner, furnished with an old, dilapidated cushion. A small, coal fireplace graced one wall beneath was a white, marble mantelpiece. On top of the mantelpiece danced porcelain figurines and ornaments.

On walls hung portraits of long forgotten people, who looked about the room with a proprietorial air. There was a sofa against one wall – a bland, beige coloured lump, which looked as if it would be itchy if you sat on it. A pink doll’s house was pushed up against a wall and enveloped in dust. It looked sad and lonely, as if it knew it would never be played with again. Next to it sat a hobby horse with chewed-looking ears, missing its rocker.

If you looked out of the ornate window, you would see an overgrown jungle of a garden: brambles and an oak tree with branches like twisted fingers and gnarled, twisted roots protruding from the ground like snakes.

This was my home, all those years ago.

Published by thegsaljournal

The student-led academic journal of the Grammar School at Leeds, showcasing passion, curiosity and creativity. Also on Twitter @gsaljournal - we would love to hear from you! View all posts by thegsaljournal

Describing Smells in Writing: Mastering the Art of Sensory Language

By: Author Paul Jenkins

Posted on September 6, 2023

Categories Writing , Creative Writing

The art of describing smells in writing can elevate your work to an immersive experience for readers. The human sense of smell is closely linked to memory, making it a powerful tool for writers to evoke emotions and transport readers into the world they’ve created.

Capturing the essence of a scent in words can be challenging, but with a robust vocabulary and practiced skill, it’s a technique that greatly enhances storytelling.

Understanding the science of smell allows writers to appreciate how scents can influence our perception, emotions, and memories. Developing a robust vocabulary for scents, categorizing them, and accurately describing their intensity will enable writers to paint vivid, olfactory pictures for their readers.

Through practice, observation, and dedication to mastering this art, you will be able to create stories with rich sensory experiences that leave a lasting impact on your readers.

Key Takeaways

Describing smells effectively in writing can create deeper, immersive experiences for readers.
Developing a strong vocabulary and understanding the science of smell helps writers enhance their storytelling.
Practice, observation, and a focus on accurately capturing sensory details lead to richer, more evocative writing.

The Science of Smell

The role of smell receptors.

Your sense of smell relies on specialized receptors in your nose. These receptors detect and identify various types of odor molecules present in the air you breathe. When these molecules reach your smell receptors, they send signals to your brain, which then interprets the scent. There are approximately 10 main categories of scent, such as fragrant, woody, fruity, and chemical.

Sense of Smell and Emotion

Smell has a unique relationship with emotion. Unlike other senses, the olfactory system is closely linked to the brain’s limbic system, which is responsible for processing emotions and memories. This connection essentially means that smells can evoke strong emotional responses, both positive and negative. For example, the scent of freshly baked cookies may bring feelings of comfort and nostalgia, while the odor of rotten food may trigger disgust or repulsion.

Smell and Memory

One of the most impactful aspects of smell is its connection to memory. The relationship between your sense of smell and memory is powerful due to the proximity of the olfactory system to the brain’s hippocampus and amygdala, which are vital for forming and storing memories. As a result, specific scents can bring back vivid memories, even ones that have been seemingly forgotten for a long time.

When incorporating smells into your writing, consider how they might connect with emotions and memories to create a more immersive reading experience for your audience. By effectively describing a variety of scents and the emotions they evoke, you’ll be better equipped to engage your readers and help them establish a strong connection with your narrative.

A Vocabulary for Scents

Adjectives to describe smells.

The world is filled with an incredible variety of scents, and to accurately describe them in your writing, it’s essential to have a diverse vocabulary at your disposal. By using specific adjectives, you can evoke the sensations and memories associated with different smells. Here are some categories of adjectives that will help you describe various scents:

Fresh : crisp, clean, natural
Earthy : loamy, musty, damp
Floral : flowery, feminine, fragrant
Fruity : citrusy, berry-like, zesty
Woody : pine, resinous, bark
Masculine : musky, leathery, smoky
Chemical : acrid, pungent, rancid
Sweet : honeyed, sugary, syrupy

These are just a few examples to get you started. Be creative and explore the vast array of adjectives available to you when describing smells in your writing.

Describing Smells through Associations

Another effective way to describe smells in your writing is through associations. Since our sense of smell is closely tied to memory, connecting a scent to a particular experience or situation can create a vivid and relatable description for your reader. By incorporating associations, you will make your descriptions more engaging and authentic.

For example, instead of simply stating that a room smells old, you could describe the scents of dusty, yellowed pages and mothballs, evoking the feeling of a long-forgotten library. Likewise, instead of stating that a bakery smells delicious, you could describe the aroma of warm, freshly-baked bread and buttery croissants wafting through the air.

When using associations to describe scents, consider the following tips:

Draw upon personal experiences : Reflect on your own memories and emotions that certain scents evoke, and use them to enhance your descriptions.
Utilize common or relatable experiences : Describe smells that your readers can easily recognize, enabling them to recall similar situations they’ve encountered in their own lives.
Be specific and detailed : Provide rich and nuanced descriptions of smells, painting a vivid sensory picture for your reader.

Remember, the aim is to create a strong and evocative connection between your description and the scent you’re trying to convey. Experiment with different associations and adjectives to find the perfect way to capture a smell in your writing.

Categories of Smells

Natural scents.

When describing smells, think about the different categories of natural scents that you might encounter in the environment. For example, the scent of flowers can range from sweet and floral such as roses, to more earthy and green as in a pine forest. Fruity smells, like those of lemons or other fruits, often have a fresh and invigorating quality. Earthy smells are common in nature and can evoke a sense of being grounded in the environment. Use these natural scents in your writing to create vivid and authentic descriptions of your settings.

Floral : rose, jasmine, lavender
Fruity : lemon, apple, mango
Green : pine, grass, eucalyptus
Earthy : damp soil, rain, moss

Man-Made Smells

Man-made smells are those that originate from human activities or created products, such as perfume or sweat. Think about the characteristics of these scents and how they can add layers to your descriptions. Chemical smells can be harsh, pungent, or even nauseating, while perfume scents often bring sophistication or luxury. Describing the smell of sweat can help to convey an atmosphere of physical exertion, labor, or stress. Incorporate these man-made smells in your writing to enhance your storytelling or underscore certain emotions.

Chemical : bleach, gasoline, ammonia
Perfume : floral, musky, subtle
Sweat : salty, metallic, pungent

Complex Scents

Complex scents are a blend of various smells that are often difficult to separate into distinct components. These scents can add depth and interest to your writing, as they are not easily identifiable or may evoke different experiences for different people. When capturing complex scents, consider the layers of smells present, such as a combination of fruity and floral notes or the merging of earthy and green scents. Describing complex scents in your writing can help create a sense of atmosphere and intrigue.

Fruity floral : a blend of fruit and flower aromas
Earthy-green : an intermingling of soils and plants
Lemony-chemical : a mixture of citrus and synthetic elements

Remember to use a confident, knowledgeable, clear, and neutral tone when describing the various categories of smells in your writing. By using second person point of view (you, your, yours), your readers will feel more engaged and connected to the sensory experiences you are conveying.

Describing Intensity of Smells

Light and faint scents.

When describing light and faint scents in your writing, you can draw attention to the subtle nature of the aroma. These scents might require a character to take a deep breath to fully detect them, or they may be barely noticeable. Feel free to use words like delicate , mild , or soft to convey the lightness of a scent. For example, you can describe a gentle floral aroma wafting through the air on a spring day.

Heavy and Strong Scents

Heavy and strong scents are more distinct and tend to linger in the air or on objects. To describe these scents, choose words that evoke their intensity, like robust , rich , or even heady . Your character might walk into a room and immediately notice a heavy, smoky smell hanging in the air. Additionally, you can highlight the warmth associated with certain strong scents, like a spicy or hot aroma, to further convey their potency.

Overpowering Scents

Overpowering scents can be so intense that they dominate the senses and might even cause physical discomfort. When describing these powerful aromas, words like pungent , overwhelming , and intense can effectively convey their force. For instance, your character may feel their eyes watering and nose burning due to an overpowering scent of cleaning chemicals. Pay attention to the characters’ reactions to such smells to emphasize their impact on the scene.

Tips for Describing Smells in Writing

Relating smells to other senses.

When describing smells in your writing, try to relate them to other senses, like taste or touch. By doing this, you can create additional sensory connections for your reader. For example, you could mention that a certain smell is reminiscent of a particular taste or feeling, which can make it easier for the reader to imagine and relate to the described smell. Think about how smells often have similar attributes to tastes, like sweetness or sourness, and incorporate these into your descriptions.

Using Smells to Evoke Emotions

A powerful way to use smells in writing is by connecting them to emotions. As the sense of smell is closely linked to memory and feelings, associating a specific smell with a character’s emotions can effectively convey their state of mind and create an emotional bond with the reader. Consider how certain scents might evoke feelings of happiness, nostalgia, or even fear, and use that connection to enhance the emotional depth of your writing. For example, the smell of freshly baked bread might evoke feelings of warmth and comfort, while the smell of a damp basement might evoke feelings of unease or anxiety.

Choosing the Right Words

When describing smells, it’s essential to choose the right words to convey the message clearly. Be specific and avoid using vague or overly complex language. Instead, use concrete and descriptive terms that will paint a clear picture for the reader. Some helpful ways to do this include:

Use adjectives : Employ a variety of adjectives to describe the smell’s qualities, such as sweet, pungent, or musty.
Analogies and metaphors : Draw comparisons between the smell and other recognizable scents, tastes, or feelings to help the reader understand the sensory experience better.
Onomatopoeia : Use words that imitate the sound associated with an object or action, such as “sizzle” or “pop,” to help your reader connect with the sensation of the smell.
Show, don’t tell : Rather than merely stating that a character can smell something, describe the actual scent, the effect it has on the character, and the resulting emotions.

By following these guidelines, you can effectively describe smells in your writing, engaging your reader’s senses and creating a more immersive experience.

Examples of How to Describe Smells

Using smells in character descriptions.

To create vivid characters, writers can use descriptions of scents to convey personality traits and evoke emotions in the reader. For example, you can describe a character’s personal fragrance, such as earthy, floral, or crisp. These words can help characterize them as masculine, feminine, or even androgynous.

Here are a few examples of smells used in character descriptions:

Her scent was a delicate mixture of lavender and vanilla, making her presence soothing and comforting.
He carried the unmistakable aroma of fresh pine, evoking feelings of being in a forest.
Their scent was a confusing blend of citrus and cinnamon, giving them an air of mystery and unpredictability.

Setting the Scene with Scents

In addition to character descriptions, you can use smells to help set the scene or create a mood in your writing. Descriptions of scents can transport your reader to different environments, providing an immersive experience and enriching your narrative.

Here are a few examples of using smells to establish a scene:

The sweet smell of freshly baked pastries greeted her as she entered the cozy bakery.
A salty sea breeze filled the air, transporting her back to summer days spent at the beach.
The pungent odor of gasoline and burning rubber filled the bustling garage, immersing the reader in the world of auto repairs.

While describing smells in your writing, remember to keep the tone confident, knowledgeable, neutral, and clear. In doing so, your descriptions will be more effective and enriching for your readers.

Common Pitfalls in Describing Smells

Overuse of adjectives.

One common pitfall in describing smells is the overuse of adjectives. While adjectives are necessary to convey the intensity or quality of a smell, too many can leave the reader overwhelmed and confused. It’s important to strike a balance and use adjectives judiciously. Try to focus on choosing a few strong, specific adjectives that accurately convey the scent you’re describing. Using too many adjectives can also make your writing appear less polished and professional.

Describing Smell without Context

Another issue writers encounter when describing smells is neglecting to provide context. Smells don’t exist in isolation; they are often tied to a specific setting or situation. To make your descriptions more effective, try to include contextual details that will help the reader imagine the scent more vividly. For example, instead of simply describing a smell as “musty,” you might indicate that the musty odor is reminiscent of a damp, old basement, which not only grounds the scent in a physical space but also allows your reader to better visualize and understand the smell.

Ignoring the Readers’ Experiences and Associations

Finally, it’s important to consider your readers’ experiences and associations when describing smells. People’s interpretations of scents can vary widely due to their personal experiences and cultural backgrounds. What smells delicious to one person might be off-putting to another. In your descriptions, try to take these differences into account by using relatable, universal examples that most readers will understand. At the same time, avoid using highly subjective or personal associations that may not resonate with everyone. By keeping the reader in mind and considering their experiences, you can create more effective, engaging descriptions of smells in your writing.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can i effectively convey scents in my writing.

To convey scents effectively in your writing, you should provide a vivid and specific description that helps the reader imagine the smell. Think about the different aspects of the scent – its intensity, its duration, and the sensations it evokes. Make connections with memories or emotions, and use sensory terms and similes to enhance the description.

What are some sensory terms used for describing various smells?

Sensory terms used for describing smells can be grouped into different categories, such as

Floral (e.g., rose, jasmine)
Fruity (e.g., citrus, berries)
Earthy (e.g., damp soil, petrichor)
Spicy (e.g., cinnamon, cloves)
Sweet (e.g., vanilla, caramel)
Pungent (e.g., ammonia, vinegar)

These terms help you create a more detailed and immersive experience for your reader.

What are some ways to describe a compelling fragrance?

When describing a compelling fragrance, consider:

Its main scent (e.g., lavender, sandalwood)
Its subtler notes (e.g., hints of lime or vanilla)
The way it evolves over time (initial burst, heart notes, and base notes)
The feelings it evokes (e.g., warmth, calm, energy)

Use comparisons and similes to make the description relatable and engaging.

How can I illustrate the smell of a person or an environment?

To illustrate the smell of a person or an environment, focus on the most characteristic and dominant scents associated with them. For a person, consider their perfume, body odor, or even the laundry detergent they use. For an environment, think of the combination of smells present, such as the saltiness of the sea, the vegetation, or the exhaust fumes in a city. Use sensory details and create a vivid description that transports your reader to the scene.

What phrases can be used to describe unpleasant odors?

Here are a few phrases you can use to describe unpleasant odors:

Rancid or sour
Musty or stale
Overpowering or suffocating
Acrid or sharp
Fetid or rotten

Be creative with your language and comparisons to help your reader understand the intensity and nature of the unpleasant odor.

How can I incorporate the sense of smell into descriptions of natural surroundings?

To incorporate the sense of smell into descriptions of natural surroundings, focus on the most characteristic scents of the setting. Think about the smells associated with the place – the earthy aroma of a forest, the fresh scent of a meadow, the salty tang of the ocean, or the fragrant blossoms in a garden. Use descriptive language and draw connections with memories or emotions to enrich your depiction and engage your reader.

Quotes and Descriptions to Inspire Creative Writing Discover, Share, Connect

Search for creative inspiration

19,890 quotes, descriptions and writing prompts, 4,964 themes

marvellous school of neurology

"It turns out, as obviousness would have it, that our brains (especially those of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in this case) have been teaching us neurology through comic books and the movies that have come from them." Full article linked to from my profile, click "abraham" below, awesome!!

walking in the rain

I won't say I love the cold rain. I won't say I love being soaked to the skin. I won't say I'm alright with how long it takes for my boots to dry. But I will say it enlivens me and awakens a part of me that slumbers in the warm and sunny weather. I will say that jumping in puddles is fun and that I'm far too old to be enjoying such things. I will say that a part of me finds a beauty in wondering how many raindrops there are and listening for them in the meditative pitter patter.

blanket fort

In that artistry of wool, within a fabric that told of patient hours of tip-tapping knitting needles, we dwelled within a castle within our home.

"Adjective and noun associations are worthy of our consideration because by careful linkage of words such as 'black' with strong emotionally positive words (such as in 'black heavens' and 'noble black night') we can start to program subconscious bias from the brain by creating a background neurochemistry that is more positive. This keeps the prefrontal cortex more fully operational and encourages more empathy in both thoughts and behaviours. Thus society develops better through their own choices and evolves. This is part of social evolution and this kind of awareness in writers is essential."

I wonder if the roof tiles miss the rain on these long summer days. I wonder if they miss making their together song. Or perhaps they await the tickle of bird feet and a hearth-warm breeze. Or maybe it is the variation that makes these seasons special.

Joys born of vice should never be held in equivalency with joys born of true virtue or else we create a cerebral short-circuit and confusion reigns; thus the word 'happiness' should belong only to that uplift born of loving goodness.

"When we make daily choices that are emotionally indifferent, the sort that the money-nexus makes faux-virtues of, we build our capacity for emotional indifference at the direct expense of our capacity for empathy, and thus the conflict between money and love is laid bare."

prime minister

"Aha!" said the Prime Monister, "we will have the poor scrap with the destitute for scraps! We can't lose!"

In war let us keep a warm heart and a cool head, remembering always the humanity of the 'othered' or else lose our own.

essential career advice for writers

"For writers in the next half century and beyond, a comprehension of how creative writing, neurology, biology and our environment interact will be essential for a successful career." - a link to the full article is in my bio and on the Descriptionari "About" page. Much love!!! Angela Abraham (Daisy)

Sign in or sign up for Descriptionar i

Keep track of your favorite writers on Descriptionari

We won't spam your account. Set your permissions during sign up or at any time afterward.

IMAGES

Describing a room
💌 Describe my room paragraph. Describe A Room Of Your House: My Drawing
Describe in the Room
50+ Creative Space Ideas 31
Welcome to My Room
Describing a bedroom

VIDEO

Pragraph Writing Describing Person by group 4
Write A Letter To Your Friend Telling Him The College You Have Recently Joined || Letter Writing
50 inspirational ideas for a small living room
Dimitros Meletis
Describing room and my hometown
paragraph writing/ describing people/ class 9th / #pseb / #arunaasifali / #tribaloforrisa

COMMENTS

Setting Description Entry: Bedrooms
Setting is much more than just a backdrop, which is why choosing the right one and describing it well is so important. To help with this, we have expanded and integrated this thesaurus into our online library at One Stop For Writers.Each entry has been enhanced to include possible sources of conflict, people commonly found in these locales, and setting-specific notes and tips, and the ...
Al's Writing Block: Writing: How to Describe a Room
The old man lit a candle that was on the table with a makeshift lighter. The candle illuminated the room, revealing the old man's face to Kurt. The old man went to the corner of the room, where a tub of water sat idle. Kurt noticed that the man rigged a purification system over the tub, allowing him access to relatively clean water.
How To Write Descriptions And Create A Sense Of Place
Set the scene early on - then nudge. It may sound obvious but plenty of writers launch out into a scene without giving us any descriptive material to place and anchor the action. Sure, a page or so into the scene, they may start to add details to it - but by that point it's too late. They've already lost the reader.
How to Describe a Room in English
They might say something like: It is 6 metres long and 3 and a half metres wide, so that is 21 square metres in size. You don't need exact details on the size of the room. You don't need to talk like this. Not unless your job requires that you are exact. But most people have no idea how big the rooms are in their home.
Room Description? How?
This works as an initial description if the furniture isn't overwhelmingly packing up the space or if the room isn't depressingly empty. However, if the furniture does have a deep effect on the room in terms of how it fills it up, that is what a character will most likely notice first. This is an excerpt of the paragraph where I describe the ...
How to Design a Fictional House for Your Story
Creative Writing Strategies. For a lot of short stories and novels, a house will be the central place where your characters interact. A room is an extension of one's personality: it gives hints about what the character is like. A house is an extension of a family or group's personality: it gives hints about a collective.
How to Describe an Apartment in a Story
Are you writing an apartment setting? This post on how to describe an apartment in a story will help you! Read on to learn how you can add description to your fictional apartment through the use of the following 10 words. 1. Cozy Definition. Providing a feeling of comfort, warmth, and intimacy. Examples
creative writing
3. Treat both the room and the actors within it, as characters. Then describe the most important character in the scene first. The room might be the largest character, with major descriptive facts. Or, one of the actors might be the dominating force, followed by the room, then maybe a few minor actors.
Writing Activity: Describe A Living Room
To assuage the loneliness, Sam embarks on a Personal Happiness Project: 1. Get a pet dog. 2. Find a friend. Just one. Not too intense. As a writing exercise, describe your own living room, or the living room of someone you know. For inspiration, I offer the following examples.
A Guide to Descriptive Writing
Writing description is a necessary skill for most writers. Whether we're writing an essay, a story, or a poem, we usually reach a point where we need to describe something. In fiction, we describe settings and characters. In poetry, we describe scenes, experiences, and emotions. In creative nonfiction, we describe reality.
Setting Description Entry: Haunted House (inside)
SightDust, cobwebs, sheets on furniture, broken tables, chairs, windows, lamps, peeling wallpaper, gaps in the floorboards, holes in the walls, flickering lights (if there's electricity) chandelier with broken strings of crystals, broken glass on the floor, spiders, cockroaches, rust, mildew, ripped curtains, shadows, gloomy staircases, old portraits & paintings, cracked… Sounds footsteps ...
Room With a View: Creative Writing Exercises
Allow yourself to write whatever comes to mind and don't think too hard about it. You can always edit it later. Exercise Two - Room with a View. Windows and the views from them can be a rich source of inspiration for writing. They're a boundary between one space and another, but a transparent boundary and a natural frame for writing.
How would you describe this room?
Otherwise that is what I would describe it as in terms of what it looks like, using the main features of the room itself. It was of columns that held the ceiling high and off the marble floor, and the large panes of glass filling the archways of the ornate pillars.
How to Build Atmosphere in Creative Writing
Caitlin Berve is a multi-award-winning fantasy author, editor, and speaker. Through Ignited Ink Writing, she edits novels, creates video tutorials, and writes.She has an MFA in Creative Writing and Poetics and teaches writing at colleges and writing organizations/ conferences. Her collection of modern fairy tales When Magic Calls won the CIPA EVVY Herb Tabak (best fiction) book award in 2021 ...
List of Great Adjectives to Describe a Room
Synonyms Related to Room- Meanings and Sentence Examples. Many words can replace the word "room." Other words describing a room are chambers, hallway, living room, and study. 1. Chambers. A chamber is a room, usually with one or more openings, in a building. We can also describe a chamber as an ample space typically used for formal gatherings.
Dystopian Creative Writing: The Room
Here is an excellent exemplar of creative writing based on the conventions of Dystopia. This is a student piece written by Mohamed Zakaria bin Mohamed Said. It is entitled, 'The Room'. Thank you for sharing your writing. The Room The small dull-grey clock read 8:30am. I rise from the simple white linen and I look….
A room
a room. - quotes and descriptions to inspire creative writing. A room is so much more than the sum of its parts when it encourages the soul to breathe. By Angela Abraham, @daisydescriptionari, March 17, 2021 . A room can be small and perfect, plain and relaxing, simple and inviting. By Angela Abraham, @daisydescriptionari, March 17, 2021 .
An Old-fashioned Room
Oliver - Year 7 Student Editor's Note: Students were asked to complete the following creative writing task under timed conditions: 'Describe an old-fashioned room as suggested by the picture'. Oliver's response demonstrates some truly fantastic writing. ADM The room had a musty odour, evocative of grandparents' houses - the type that makes you feel safe…
Dining room
If the dining room isn't a place of fun, you aren't doing it right. That's what my Nana would say. She cooked, we made merriment, that was the deal. By Angela Abraham, @daisydescriptionari, January 22, 2021 . The dining room carried a happy vibe interwoven with the aroma of our meal together. By Angela Abraham, @daisydescriptionari, January 22 ...
Dark room
By Angela Abraham, @daisydescriptionari, December 4, 2017 * . The dark room was like a place out of time, a place to rest without consequence. The darkness in that way was a sanctuary, a place to recharge and forget the things the world said had to be done. It wasn't that Tia couldn't or wouldn't, but rather that she needed that sense of ...
Describing Smells in Writing: Mastering the Art of ...
The art of describing smells in writing can elevate your work to an immersive experience for readers. The human sense of smell is closely linked to memory, making it a powerful tool for writers to evoke emotions and transport readers into the world they've created. Capturing the essence of a scent in words can be challenging, but with a ...
Quotes and Descriptions to Inspire Creative Writing
love nexus. "When we make daily choices that are emotionally indifferent, the sort that the money-nexus makes faux-virtues of, we build our capacity for emotional indifference at the direct expense of our capacity for empathy, and thus the conflict between money and love is laid bare." Creative writing ideas by abraham.

March 23, 2013

16 comments:

How to Describe a Room in English

What Kind of Room

Put It All Together

The Details

The Colour Scheme

Window and View

What do you dislike about this room?

What do you do in this room?

Share this:

Related Posts

How to describe your Mother or Father in the IELTS test

How to Describe Someone’s Physical Appearance in English

How to Describe Your Friend in English?

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Room Description? How?

Recent Posts

How to Describe an Apartment in a Story

How it Adds Description

3. Dilapidated

8. Eclectic

9. Spacious

SLAP HAPPY LARRY

EXAMPLE OF A LIVING ROOM DESCRIBED BY DAPHNE DU MAURIER

EXAMPLE OF A LIVING ROOM DESCRIBED BY ALICE MUNRO

A LIVING ROOM DESCRIBED BY MARGARET ATWOOD

EXAMPLE OF A LIVING ROOM DESCRIBED BY KENNETH GRAHAME

CONTEMPORARY FICTION SET IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND (2023)

A Guide to Descriptive Writing

What is Descriptive Writing?

How Much Description is Too Much?

Descriptive Writing Tips

How to Practice Writing Description

Descriptive Writing

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

Submit a Comment Cancel reply

Recent Posts

Pin It on Pinterest

Setting Description Entry: Haunted House (inside)

Think beyond what a character sees, and provide a sensory feast for readers

Share this:

Reader Interactions

Privacy Overview

Room With a View: Creative Writing Exercises

Exercise Two – Room with a View

Exercise Three – The Witness

Exercise Four – Picture This

Exercise Five – Objects

General tips

Log in or Sign up

Lea`Brooks Contributor Contributor

Witchymama Active Member

SethLoki Retired Autodidact Contributor

matwoolf Banned Contributor

Wreybies Thrice Retired Supporter Contributor

Cave Troll It's Coffee O'clock everywhere. Contributor

peachalulu Member Reviewer Contributor

IHaveNoName Senior Member Community Volunteer

Share This Page

Useful Searches

List of Great Adjectives to Describe a Room

What Is a Room?

Sentence Examples of a Room

Best Adjectives to Describe a Room

Synonyms Related to Room- Meanings and Sentence Examples

1. Chambers

3. Living Room

Abir Ghenaiet

Explore All Add Strong Adjectives Articles

The Best Adjectives to Describe a Hardworking Person

The Best Descriptive Words for Emotions

An Lesson Guide About Descriptive and Limiting Adjectives

Colorful Adjective Examples Worth Considering

Learn the Best Adjectives to Describe Things

An Old-fashioned Room

Share this:

Published by thegsaljournal

Leave a comment Cancel reply

Describing Smells in Writing: Mastering the Art of Sensory Language