![]() The following sentences provide examples of the concreteness, evocativeness and plausibility of good descriptive writing. As always in the craft of writing: when in doubt, write less. “Her eyes were sapphires, bright and hard” creates the same effect in a fraction of the reading time. “Her eyes were brighter than the sapphires in the armrests of the Tipu Sultan’s golden throne, yet sharper than the tulwars of his cruelest executioners” will have the reader checking their phone halfway through. To be plausible, the descriptive writer has to constrain the concrete, evocative image to suit the reader’s knowledge and attention span. ![]() Consider “her eyes shone like sapphires, warming my night” versus “the woman’s eyes had a light like sapphires, bright and hard.” Each phrase uses the same concrete image, then employs evocative language to create different impressions. To be evocative, descriptive writing has to unite the concrete image with phrasing that evokes the impression the writer wants the reader to have.Rather than “Her eyes were the color of blue rocks” (Light blue? Dark blue? Marble? Slate?), try instead, “Her eyes sparkled like sapphires in the dark.” To be concrete, descriptive writing has to offer specifics the reader can envision.To be good, descriptive writing has to be concrete, evocative and plausible. The writing will be such that it will set a mood or describe something in such detail that if the reader saw it, they would recognize it. Good descriptive writing creates an impression in the reader's mind of an event, a place, a person, or a thing.
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