Description; the 6th Sense–Part 1 the Sense of Sight

It seems that a lot of you are wanting tips on writing and stuff like that. So I decided to do a series on description. (Take note, that I am by no means an expert, feel free to comment, and tell me what you think, or if I have stated anything wrong–though I will ask you to please state your mind respectfully, I want to hear from you and your thoughts on the subject.) Description holds a certain wonder on me, how it magically turns plain, uninteresting sentences into ones that captivate you, never ceases to awe me. Simple words, like dark, and ominous, can make a reader shudder. While other words, like bubble, and beautiful, can make them smile with contentment.

In this series I'm going to give you a sentence, a plain, ordinary sentence, with no descriptions what-so-ever. Then, slowly, we'll add description based on the 5 senses; sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. To end with the 6th sense; description. And a much more intriguing, and satisfying sentence (or sentences, depending on how long it gets.)

Are you ready?? Alright, here is the sentence that we'll be using:

Patience sat in the meadow, when she saw a storm coming on. 

So we've go the sentence. Nothing fancy. . . like the string of a necklace, now we just need to add some beads to it. First, we'll start with sight.

So we've got Patience sitting in the meadow (btw, I named her Patience, because she must have been sitting in the meadow a very long time, and she'll be remaining there until we've added all of the senses, so she's got to be very patient. . . . ). Now close your eyes, and put yourself in the meadow, we're she is. Picture everything. You don't need to worry about touch or sound or any of that, we'll work with that in another post, just focus on the sights. Are you sitting beneath a tree? Or in the open grass?? Are there lots of flowers in the meadow? Perhaps is there a bird flying around?? Dig into the deep things (because though you don't always need to add the little things, it's good to know what they are, just in case an opportunity rises.) like the bugs. If you really think about it, bugs inhabit the grass. Most of the time you can't see them, but when you walk, they sometimes go jumping off, in order not to be squashed. So perhaps you want to add a few crickets, or grass hopers hoping about on the grasses. Is it windy?? With a storm coming on, it may just be, otherwise the clouds wouldn't be moving very fast. Are the dark clouds rearing up like a monster? Or are they spreading across the whole of the horizon, like a deadly plague? 

Alright, you can open your eyes now. Now let's add some sight to this sentence.

Patience sat amidst the tall grass in the meadow. A lark swooped into the violently waving grass, before soaring back into the quickly darkening sky, with a cricket gripped tightly in its thin beak.  Patience turned her eyes to the horizon, where a large black monster crept silently over her once peaceful surroundings. Lightning flashed inside it's belly, as it reared up it's angry head. 

As you can see, sight can change a whole lot about the atmosphere of a scene.

I hope this has been helpful! :) In a few days or so, I'll continue the series with the sense of sound. 

Assr lei∂r ykkarr or∂.

~ElizabethMarieKauffman~