Acquiring a vocabulary for description
- Home
- Board: /lit/ - Literature
- Reading: Acquiring a vocabulary for description
"We went to camp. An old man in old-looking clothes gave us directions to the camp site. We put down our tents. There were trees of various kinds around. There was a lot of green- green bushes and green plants and green leaves, but they were all different kinds of green- you know what I mean? Like they were all distinct from each other and not like one big pixelated green blur. Wow. And the smells - don't even get me started. There were so many smells and sounds, man. Awesome. And so many little sounds by little insects and birds. Yeah, there was also the sun, which was, uhm, shining down on us all. It was a very pleasing experience on all senses overall. I hoped I conveyed it to you well kthxbye"
This is an exaggerated version of what my prose looks like when I'm trying to descibe settings.
How do you know the proper words for sights, sounds, names of plants, describing the sunlight and the unique greenery, etc? My vocabulary isn't bad, I excelled in SATs. I hardly have to pick up the dictionary when I'm reading books. But I suck at bring those words forth.. like tattered clothes instead of old-looking clothes, or something even better that I can't think of now.
>>7795337
Look up some synonyms, use them sparingly.
Read more
Developing your writing voice is a matter of sharpening your observational skills, reading writers with good prose, and expressing your personality creatively. There's no "proper" way to describe a sunrise.
look up synonyms
read fitzgerald
Study flora native to the area where your story takes place. Cormac McCarthy is the best at this. Use Blood Meridian as a reference.
