Descriptive Paragraphs: The Writing Process

1. Make sure to choose a meaningful person, place, or thing. If you want to describe a
character, make sure the person is interesting in some way. If you want to describe an object,
make sure it has some deeper meaning beyond itself so you have enough to write about. If you
pick a place, make sure you can describe it in a unique way that can capture a reader's
attention.

2. Introduce the person, place, or thing you are describing. If you want to get the reader's
attention, then you should let him or her know what you're describing as soon as possible
instead of leaving them guessing. Here is an example of some opening lines in a descriptive
paragraph:

 Natasha's basement was our sanctuary. I return to it in my best dreams and wake up feeling
like I could die happy.
o These opening sentences introduce the subject that is being described, the basement of
the narrator's friend. They make it clear that this place is very important to the narrator.

3. Engage your reader's sense of sight. You can start with what the reader can see and appeal to
his or her sense of sight to help introduce the object. Since sight is the most helpful sense, any
good descriptive paragraph must first discuss what the writer wants the reader to visualize.
Using strong adjectives to illustrate your scene, moment, experience or item to the reader will
help provide a visual picture in your reader's mind. Keep in mind that, while adjectives can
help convey a sense of the subject, overusing them can lead to boring, overwrought writing.
Here's an example of the opening of a descriptive paragraph:

 Even today I could paint a perfect picture of it, right up to the last piece of neglected pizza
crust festering under the ping-pong table.
o Immediately, the reader is given a visual description of some things in the basement:
old pizza crust and a ping-pong table. The reader is given a sense of a messy, chaotic
place.

4. Describe smells and tastes if you can. Think about how you can describe the topic, scene, or moment to
the reader in terms of how it smells and tastes. The best descriptive paragraphs make the reader feel as
if he or she were actually experiencing the thing he or she was reading about, not just reading about it.
Include a sentence or two about how your topic smells and use a few poignant adjectives to relay the
smell of it to the reader. "It tastes good" is not going to provide a specific experience for your reader.
However, "It tastes like Grandma's apple pie when it's fresh and still bubbling around the edges -
crunchy, flavorful and sweet" helps describe the distinct flavor of your item. Of course, not everything
you describe will have a relevant taste or smell; if it does, though, it can help to include it. Here's the
next part of our paragraph:

 The spilled root beer and duck sauce shining over the nappy brown carpet indicated nights
of giggles and prank calls, times when we were far too occupied to consider the absurd
possibility of cleaning up. Popcorn got crushed into the carpet and was never quite cleaned
up. You could smell this mixture of sweetness and butter even when you stood on the front
porch.

5. Describe how the moment or item feels. As you continue writing your paragraph, write a
sentence or two about how the experience feels. What does it remind you of as you imagine
yourself running your hand along its surface, or the tingling feeling you feel run down your
back? How are you reacting to the moment? Again, use descriptive adjectives to describe how
the moment feels. Avoid using general statements like "it feels nice", which isn't descriptive at
all. Opt for specific, definitive examples that relay the feeling of something to the reader. If
 you're describing how the object or item feels for a certain character, this can also give readers
a sense of what it was like. Continuing on:

6. Describe how your subject sounds. What can you hear? Is there a deafening silence? If there is a
buzzing sound, avoid simply saying "All of a sudden I heard a loud buzzing sound", rather "I jerked as
all of the sudden I heard an undefinable buzzing sound, so loud I put my hands over my face and ears. I
assumed it was the fire alarm..." and the reader would be able to relate with the "fire alarm" description,
as most people have experienced the startling noise of a fire alarm. Here is how the sounds are
described in our paragraph:

 The television in the basement was always on, but no one ever seemed to watch it. We were too
busy laughing over our latest stupid game of Rummikub, prank calling our crushes, or
listening for the doorbell that told us the pizza was here.
o Here, the narrator uses the sounds in the basement to help give a sense of what it was
like to actually be there, and to indirectly tell the reader what was commonly done
there.

7. Make unique observations. When you're describing something, give your readers an image, feeling,
smell, or sight that they wouldn't normally expect. If you're describing a lawyer, for example, don't just
tell the readers things that they would expect to hear about him, like that he wears a suit and works too
much; tell them about his secret love for his pet iguanas. Make sure to keep your descriptions sounding
fresh and surprising. Continuing on with our paragraph:

 The silver Christmas garland around the banisters was pretty much a permanent fixture; the
same birthday steamers celebrated three shoe-sizes of birthdays, eventually lost their color,
and seemed to peel off the walls on their own accord.
o This sentence makes it sound as if the basement has a life and will of its own.

8. Include some figurative language. Using other effective writing techniques to top off your
paragraph will make it all that more appealing and evocative. If you include all these elements in your
paragraph, your reader will be able to fully experience and appreciate your writing. You can describe a
person, place, or thing while using both literal language and speaking on the level of metaphor or
simile to fully give a person a sense of the thing that is being described. Here is some figurative
language:

 As it was, with a net-less ping-pong table and a set of bare mattresses facing the TV, the
basement looked more like the Fiona Apple "Criminal" video than a place to raise your
children.
o This sentence uses simile to compare the basement to a notorious music video, adding
an extra layer of meaning.

9. Wrap it up. Though you don't need to have a neat concluding sentence for this creative paragraph
(unless it is part of an assignment for school), you'll need to end the paragraph in some way to remind
readers of what you had described and to leave a lasting idea of the person, place, or thing in their
minds. Here's how this paragraph ends:

 And that was exactly why three extra toothbrushes made their way to the downstairs
bathroom. All of us could have lived and died there.
o The second to last line, while it doesn't say that the other girls used to spend all of their
time there explicitly, uses the images of the extra toothbrushes to show that this
basement was once a sanctuary for the young girls, which reminds the reader of the first
sentence.