Overview

The most effective descriptive language presents a clear image to readers. Descriptive writing stimulates readers' senses, drawing them into the environment or the events created. Select words that engage your readers in the scene and evoke an emotional response from them. Warm their hands with a mug of comforting hot chocolate or slide their fingertips down the cold smoothness of a banister along a long, dark stairway.

As the writer, you control the details in the scene and the sequence in which your readers encounter them. Create a topic sentence and organize the details to focus your readers' attention and set their expectations. Connect the details with transitional words and phrases.

Figurative language creates vivid images. Use a simile, a metaphor, or personification to present a rich image in a few words. Use an analogy to extend a comparison between two images. Select your words with care to make your readers see the same images you see.