Writing With Descriptive Adjectives

Students writing stories this week? Parents/teachers helping kids with stories this week? Follow this "describing tip" we use with our student to help with the descriptions in your writing:

"Only use an adjective that will cause your reader to have a different picture in his mind than he would have without the adjective."

For example, do not write "small, wooden, isolated cabin." The picture that a reader gets when reading that is not much different than he would get if he just read "cabin." By their nature, most cabins are small, wooden, and isolated (or at least we picture them as so).

Only use an adjective if it creates a different picture of the noun than the noun alone paints. Use specific and vivid adjectives--or omit them altogether. 

P.S. Are you following us on Facebook? We offer a lot more tips and tidbits daily at our Facebook page than we can get put up on the blog. Join us!