Picturesque Words

I have seen many authors on forums lately asking about ways to improve their writing. They are looking for writing exercises that they can do each day. There is one such exercise that I remember from my days at school which helped me with my descriptive writing and lead to my love of writing. It is easy to do and does not take much time.

To any authors that would like to work on their descriptive writing I suggest finding images online. Find any picture. Then, all you need to do is write about it. Describe what is happening and what people, objects and scenery appear in the picture. If you have a picture of the beach then write about how the waves roll, the colour of the sand, how it feels, the wind, the people sunbathing. They say that 'a picture is worth a thousand words' and it is true, I could write paragraph upon paragraph all based on one picture.

This is also a great exercise for any authors that are having difficulty coming up with a story idea. Find an image and then base a story on the characters within the picture or within the setting depicted. I have previously written a short story based on a painting of a young girl holding a dead goldfinch. It turned in to a story about an orphan during war whose only friend was a goldfinch who dies as it protects her from a soldier. It is quite easy for your inspiration to be spurred by a meaningful image.

What writing exercises do you use?

Scarlett Van Dijk

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Image courtesy of ponsuwan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net