The Art of Descriptive Writing

 

ACTIVITY 1: A Square Metre
Take 4x metre rules and place these on the ground to make a square. Pupils are asked to look closely at the ground enclosed by the square and then describe (in writing) EXACTLY what they see in as much detail as possible. On a square metre of grass there will undoubtedly be insects moving; on a similar patch of pebble path there will be twigs, feathers etc.
The object of this exercise is to help pupils to consider the importance of minute details when conjuring an exact picture in the reader’s mind. Young writers often describe the ‘big picture’ well but fail to balance this with writing based on keen observation.

 

ACTIVITY 2: Mirror Writing.
Pupils engaged in this activity each need a mirror. They are encouraged to look closely at themselves and describe their reflection in detail. The teacher may wish to model the process beforehand so that ‘eyes’, for example, are not just ‘blue’ but rather ‘...blue the colour of quarry water, each flecked with small spots of black. The whites are slightly bloodshot but still they stare back intently.’
This activity helps to develop a discursive self-awareness and is useful for improving character descriptions in subsequent story writing.
As an extension activity the mirror may be placed in different positions so that the reflection is viewed from a range of angles (rather than ‘face-on’ / frontal) If, for example, the mirror is positioned upon the floor then a written transformation of Freud’s ‘Reflection with Two Children’ (1965) is achieved. In this painting the artist is seen from below in three quarter view, a result achieved by painting his reflection in a mirror at floor-level.

ACTIVITY 3: Transformational response.

For this activity pupils will need to be able to see a print of a painting/drawing, or preferably have an original work before them in an art gallery. They then transform the artwork into a piece of writing. This can clearly take many forms and has great potential for long-term writing projects. Some of the range of transformational response possibilities include,

1. Painting – descriptive writing

2. Painting – poem

3. Painting – newspaper article (...works well with historical paintings.)

4. Painting – story (...any representational paintings with a range of characters.)

5. Painting – play etc,. Etc...

The Chardin’s, reworked by Freud, include two which focus on details of the original painting rather than the whole canvas.

ACTIVITY 4: Parts of Paintings
For this activity the teacher needs a print of a painting and a sheet of coloured paper cut to the same size as the print. A circular hole is cut from the paper so that only that element of the original work can be viewed. Pupils then describe exactly what they can see through the hole. Depending on the position of the circle, this activity can be used to describe characters, locations and also action.
Further holes can then be cut in the coloured paper in order to reveal other areas of the print.
The activity is doubly useful as it encourages both close, detailed observation and accurate descriptive writing.

 

I hope you put these ideas into practice. I’m sure you will be surprised at what students can produce when you give them the chance to think and express “out of the box”.

Your feedback is important!  Lara