FS - Descriptive Writing in Sports Lesson

A literary device that authors use to paint a picture with words is descriptive writing. This type of writing helps readers to visualize what they are reading; it offers a chance to experience the events through sensory details. Sensory details include sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste. Inclusion of sensory details will draw the reader into the story that you are creating. It will make the story more engaging to the reader.

Look at these examples:

• John and Allison waited in line to buy their tickets for the movie.
• The smell of buttery popcorn extended through the air as John and Allison waited in line to buy their tickets for the movie.
• The cat jumped into my lap from the chair.
• The orange-striped cat jumped into my lap from the worn, saggy chair.

Musicians use different instruments to build up the sound of a piece of music. Decorators often mix patterns, colors, and textures to create a sense of style. Sports writers can do the same thing by including the following:

1. Vividly descriptive sensory details- how something looks, sounds, feels, smells. The more senses that are included in the writing the better the reader can understand the descriptions.
2. Figurative language-metaphors, similes, and analogies. Figurative language that can be used to convey a specific element of this event/experience, such as the way a person moved.
3. Showing, not telling- the use of vivid and precise adjectives, adverbs and verbs when describing the topic. This paints a much clearer and more detailed picture for the reader.

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