Writing Prompt: Something Out of Place
In one unusual scene in Toni Morrison’s novel, Song of Solomon, two young men come across something unexpected on a car roof in the middle of large city — a peacock. There’s no explanation for its presence. The scene is not important to the plot, though it has symbolic significance. Whatever of the author’s intentions, the image stands out in the reader’s mind because it is a surprising contrast. Your job in this assignment is to describe an “out-of-place” object
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Descriptive Writing Prompt: A Busy Place
This assignment is an experiment in descriptive writing. Understand that description rarely stands alone in literature; it is normally woven into the fabric of a story or larger work. Your assignment, however, is to avoid story-telling and focus on description alone. Paint a picture using words. Of course your “painting” can appeal to more than just the sense of sight. You can make your reader hear, feel, smell, even taste your subject as well.
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Description Is Different from Narration
Learning to write vivid description is important for any writer. In real-world writing, description is an important part of story-telling, exposition, and even persuasive writing. It’s not common to read anything that seeks only to describe, but we find it is helpful to have students work exclusively on their describing skills because it is such a vital part of writing in general.
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Writing Prompt: Description Without Adjectives or Adverbs
A good way to learn how to write strong description with a focus on nouns and verbs is to eliminate all adjectives and adverbs — at least on the first draft. http://writeathome.com
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