The following tools will help you improve the way you describe the action, characters, and setting in your stories.
Focused Brainstorming Worksheet
What is it? (Is it a word, phrase, description, plotline, character?)
Where is it? (location, place, setting, etc.?)
When is it? (time, time period, location in story, etc.?)
What is its origin? (birth, source, history, etc.?)
What is its color? (hue, tone, tint, value, etc.?)
What is its texture and surface? (How does it feel to the touch? Is it shiny, dull, marred, etc.?)
What is its sound? (soft, loud, jarring, musical, etc.?)
What is its smell? (acrid, strong, sweet, herbal, offensive, etc.?)
What is its taste? (pleasant, bitter, salty, fulfilling, etc.?)
What is its shape and form? (geometric, even, irregular, cubic, flat, position in space, etc.?)
What is its mass? (weight, size, space it occupies, etc.?)
How does it bend, move, and affect the space around it? (float, swirl, race, pulse, dance, push, draw in, etc.?)
What is its contrast? (opposite, alternative to, etc.?)
What does it do or how does it affect people and things? (enlarges, diminishes, yields, bestows, improves, flows, etc.?)
What ripple or causal effect does it have in the story? (future events, ideas, actions, changes, etc.?)
What is its poetic description? (similes, metaphors, symbolic objects for?)
What advantages or disadvantages does it have?
(What/who does it help? What/who does it hinder?)
What is its psychological and emotional meaning? (illusion, truthfulness, reality, hopefulness, joy, etc.?)
What does it evolve to become at the climax/end? (scattered, torn, released, satisfied, complete, etc.?)
What is its relationship to the story’s theme(s)? (mirrors, contrasts, enhances, devolves, etc.?)
What questions does it leave you with?
CONCLUSION Read over all your responses and summarize them into an original word, phrase, character, plot, etc.
Sensory Cards
Description Checklist
Resources
I recommend these resources for adding power to your descriptions.
Power Words
