STATION+THREE+Descriptive+Writing

Planning your descriptive essay:

 * What or who do you want to describe?
 * What is your reason for writing your description?
 * What are the particular qualities that you want to focus on?

Drafting your descriptive essay:

 * What sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures are important for developing your description?
 * Which details can you include to ensure that your readers gain a vivid impression imbued with your emotion or perspective?

Revising your descriptive essay:

 * Have you provided enough details and descriptions to enable your readers to gain a complete and vivid perception?
 * Have you left out any minor but important details?
 * Have you used words that convey your emotion or perspective?
 * Are there any unnecessary details in your description?
 * Does each paragraph of your essay focus on one aspect of your description?
 * Are you paragraphs ordered in the most affective way?

Here are some great prompts to get you started:

1. Describe a place you always wanted to visit. 2. Describe the most beautiful scene in nature that you can imagine. 3. Describe a kitchen that you have seen or would love to see. 4. Describe the ocean. Think about what it looks like on and below the surface. 5. Describe a storm. This could be a thunder storm, a snow storm, a hurricane, a tornado, a hail storm, a rain storm, or any type of storm. 6. Describe a place where you feel safe and protected. 7. Describe a toy you love(d). Think of all its good points. 8. Describe your ideal playground. 9. Describe the perfect shopping mall. 10. Describe a place where people congregate (like a zoo, a church, a circus, etc.) 11. Describe your bedroom the way you want it to be. 12. Describe your favorite dessert (or food). 13. Describe a beach (a desert, a mountain, a city, or a plain). 14. Think of your favorite animal and describe that animal. 15. Describe your best friend so that the reader can picture him or her. 16. Think of your favorite place. What do you like about this place? What do you do there? How does it look, smell, and feel? Now write an essay describing your favorite place so that your reader will be able to picture it. 17. Some people prefer dogs as pets, some like cats, and others prefer birds, snakes, fish, rabbits, pigs, horses, and other animals. What is your perfect pet? What does it look like? Is it soft or hard? Does it make any sounds? Now describe your idea of a perfect pet so that your reader can picture it. 18. Different teachers decorate their classes in different manners. Think of your idea of the perfect classroom. Is it colorful? Does it have desks or tables? What does it look like? How does it smell? Are there any sounds in it? Write an essay describing your idea of the perfect classroom. 19. Each season of the year is beautiful in some way. Think of which season is your favorite: winter, summer, spring or fall. Think of what your town looks like during that season. What does it feel like? Is there a smell or taste to it? Now write an essay describing an outdoor scene during your favorite season of the year. 20. Everyone has a favorite object that they treasure. Think of some object in your room that you really like. It could be a toy, or a doll, a game, a stuffed animal, or a book, but whatever it is, it is special to you. What does it look, feel, smell, and sound like? Now, describe this object to your reader so that he or she will be able to picture it clearly. 21. Every person has a favorite place to play. Think of your favorite place to play. It may be your backyard, or a playground, or a nearby woods, or an open field. What does this place look like? What are the sounds you hear there? What does it feel and smell like? Describe your favorite place to play so that your reader can see it without being there. 22. Almost all houses have kitchens. Some are big and some are tiny. Think of the kitchen at your home. Think of how you might change it to make it even better. What is in it? What does it smell like? Now, describe this perfect kitchen to your reader so that he or she can see it clearly. 23. There are trees everywhere, even in the middle of big cities. Think of a tree you have seen. What does it look, feel, and sound like? Describe that tree so that your reader can picture it too. 24. People gather at places like malls, fairgrounds, schools, gymnasiums, sports fields and swimming pools. Think of a place in your town where there are lots of people. How does it look, sound, smell, and feel to be there? Now, describe that crowded place so that your reader can feel as if he or she is there. 25. Every child enjoys playing on a playground. Think of the playgrounds you have played in. Think of what makes them better. Maybe you’ve already seen it, but think of what makes the perfect playground. Think of how it looks, sounds, feels, and smells. Now, describe your idea of a perfect playground so that your reader can see it clearly. 26. Even in the desert it rains sometimes. Think of what the world looks like outside your window when it rains. Think about how it looks, smells, and feels. What sounds do you hear? What does rain taste like? Describe what the world looks like outside a window when it rains. 27. Flowers always make a yard or a room look very pretty. Think of a garden or a bunch of flowers you have seen. Make it even better and prettier in your mind. What does it look and feel like? Does it smell? Describe the garden or a bunch of flowers so that your reader can see it and smell it in his or her mind. 28. Cities and towns have lots of things going on in them, lots of stores, traffic, people, churches, schools, parks, and maybe even a zoo. Think of your city or a city you have visited. As you walk down the sidewalk in the middle of that city, what do you see, hear, smell, taste, and feel? Describe that city for your reader and what it is like to be there. 29. Even in big cities, there are parks where there are woods. There are woods everywhere in this big country of ours. Think of a woods you have been in or played in. What does it look like? Now describe this woods so that the reader can see it. 30. Alice visits Wonderland in Alice in Wonderland. Wonderland is the land of her dreams. What is the ideal place for you? What place do you dream about? What does it look like? Does it have a smell? How does it feel? Do you hear sounds there? Describe the ideal place of your dreams in such a way that the reader can picture it, too.