Writing With Detail

Why Write With Detail?…Because detail is the tool that allows you to create a vivid picture of life experiences, engaging readers by

making people, places, events, and feelings come alive in their minds.

What is Detailed Writing?…Detailed writing is also

called “descriptive writing.” The two terms go together because you need to add detail in order to describe

something. The more detail you add, the more descriptive

your writing becomes.

Types of Detail:

Specific Details:“Specific” means clearly defined or identified, so

“specific details” are concrete words and

phrases used to describe something.

“It was a sunflower: it was tall and sturdy with a stalk that made a

crooked arch-shape. The center of the flower head was large and brown, full

of little seeds, and surrounded by many thin floppy petals that were not

bright yellow, but a dull mustard color.”

Sensory Details:These are the words that

express the feelings of our five senses: descriptions of

how things look, taste, smell, sound, and feel.

“The flower had a thick, grizzly stalk and bushy leaves covered in what

looked like a thin layer of fuzz. Because it was so tall, it wobbled

forward and back in the wind, always with its head facing the most direct

rays of warm sunlight. The faint smell of pollen, sweet but fishy at the same

time, hovered around the plant.”

We’ll think of detail in two different ways:

Types of Detail:

Specific Details:“It was a sunflower: it was tall and

sturdy with a stalk that made a crooked arch-shape. The center of the flower head was large and brown, full

of little seeds, and surrounded by many thin floppy petals that were not

bright yellow, but a dull mustard color.”

Sensory Details:“The flower had a thick, grizzly stalk and bushy leaves covered in what

looked like a thin layer of fuzz. Because it was so tall, it wobbled

forward and back in the wind, always with its head facing the most direct

rays of warm sunlight. The faint smell of pollen, sweet but fishy at the same

time, hovered around the plant.”

Take note: you always describe your sense of sight (we do this naturally), so when trying to write with more sensory

details, focus on adding more of the other four senses. Yes, some of the “specific” details listed are visual things (there is

overlap between the two types of detail in this respect).

I pet a black dog.

The soft fur of the dog felt like silk against my skin, and her black coloring glistened as it absorbed the sunlight,

reflecting it back like a perfect, deep, dark mirror.

The weather was foggy and dreary.

It was a cold grey day in late November. The weather had changed overnight, when a backing wind brought a granite sky and a mizzling rain with it, and although it was now only

a little after two o'clock in the afternoon, the dullness of a winter evening seemed to have closed upon the hills,

cloaking them in mist.

The woman rose from her seat and

moved to the aisle of the airplane.

The young woman rose from her seat, the

plastic armrests slowly creaking as she lifted

her heavy body towards the aisle. The

flight had been quiet for most of the evening, the luscious amber skies of the Atlantic

during the summertime, piercing the window's

gray shutters.

My most valuable possession is a guitar.

My most valuable possession is an old, slightly warped blond guitar. It's nothing fancy, just a Madeira folk guitar, all scuffed and scratched and finger-printed. The body of the Madeira is shaped like an enormous yellow pear, one that was slightly damaged in shipping. The blond wood is worn by years of fingers pressing chords, and now looks gray in spots, particularly where the pick guard fell off years ago.

Overview:We we practice multiple strategies for writing with detail:

“Sensory Overload” Technique “Digging for Details” Technique “Slow Motion” Technique Using Metaphor & Simile “Show, Don’t Tell” Characterization