Shaping Your Writing
Organize to Make Your Ideas Clear
Gather details (use your sensory chart to assist you.)
Gather details, arrange them in an order that readers can follow. Here are three types of order ---
1.) Chronological Order:
Create A Main Impression
The descriptions that are most fun to read are those that create a main impression.--an idea or feeling that ties the details about your subject together. Compare these examples:
The box is wrapped in shiny green paper. When I pull the ribbon, it comes free with a soft hissing sound. The top comes off. The object inside sits in light-green tissue paper.
The box keeps calling me. Its wrapping of shiny green paper glints and winks in the light, teasing me to guess what's inside. Finally, It is my turn to open a gift. The ribbon pulls free, sighing, "Oh, all right I'll tell!" The top falls off, revealing a shape nestled in light-green tissue paper.
Question: Which description creates a main impression of suspense? How does it do this?
As you draft, choose details that will create a single main impression.
Gather details, arrange them in an order that readers can follow. Here are three types of order ---
1.) Chronological Order:
- Present events in the order which they occur.
- Use for a remembrance or other description of an event.
- Present details from left to right, top to bottom, or back to front.
- Use for descriptions of places or objects.
Create A Main Impression
The descriptions that are most fun to read are those that create a main impression.--an idea or feeling that ties the details about your subject together. Compare these examples:
The box is wrapped in shiny green paper. When I pull the ribbon, it comes free with a soft hissing sound. The top comes off. The object inside sits in light-green tissue paper.
The box keeps calling me. Its wrapping of shiny green paper glints and winks in the light, teasing me to guess what's inside. Finally, It is my turn to open a gift. The ribbon pulls free, sighing, "Oh, all right I'll tell!" The top falls off, revealing a shape nestled in light-green tissue paper.
Question: Which description creates a main impression of suspense? How does it do this?
As you draft, choose details that will create a single main impression.