Word Painting: A Guide to Writing More Descriptively [Paperback]

Rebecca McClanahan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 15, 2000 | ISBN-10: 1582970254 | ISBN-13: 978-1582970257 | Edition: Edition Unstated

Let Rebecca McClanahan guide you through an inspiring examination of description in its many forms. With her thoughtful instruction and engaging exercises, you'll learn to develop your senses and powers of observation to uncover the rich, evocative words that accurately portray your mind's images. McClanahan includes dozens of descriptive passages written by master poets and authors to illuminate the process. She also teaches you how to weave writing together using description as a unifying thread.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Rebecca McClanahan's tenth book, The Tribal Knot, a multi-generational memoir, is forthcoming from Indiana University Press in 2013. Other books include The Riddle Song and Other Rememberings, winner of the Glasgow Prize in nonfiction, and Deep Light: New and Selected Poems. Her work has appeared in Best American Essays, Best American Poetry, The Pushcart Prize anthology, The Kenyon Review, The Gettysburg Review, The Sun, and numerous anthologies. Recipient of a Pushcart Prize in fiction and the Wood Prize from Poetry, McClanahan teaches in the MFA programs of Queens University and Rainier Writing Workshop.

Please visit her website at www.mcclanmuse.com

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Writer's Digest Books; Edition Unstated edition (August 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582970254
• ISBN-13: 978-1582970257
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 0.8 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (67 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #21,272 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #50 in Books > Education & Reference > Words, Language & Grammar > Rhetoric

More About the Author

Rebecca McClanahan's tenth book, The Tribal Knot, a multi-generational memoir, is forthcoming from Indiana University Press in 2013. Her work has appeared in Best American Essays, Best American Poetry, The Kenyon Review, The Gettysburg Review, and numerous anthologies. The recipient of the Wood Prize from Poetry, a Pushcart Prize in fiction, the Glasgow Award for nonfiction, and literary fellowships from New York Foundation for the Arts and the North Carolina Arts Council, McClanahan teaches in the MFA programs of Queens University and Rainier Writers Workshop.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

139 of 143 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Writer as Painter April 7, 2004

By H. Grove TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback

I'm so pleased with this book that it's tough to figure out where to start. The author talks about working description into our stories. She could have steered us in the direction of pages and pages of static description, yet she doesn't. She could have pushed us in the direction of tired and overused techniques (having the weather too obviously match up with what's going on in the story, for example), yet she didn't. Ms. McClanahan happily points out pitfalls, trite and overused techniques, and things to beware of at all stages. Her exercises back this up, helping us to subvert the expected. She also has a wonderful, quirky sense of humor, and uses her own advice on writing descriptively to turn what could have been a dry textbook into a beautiful and inspiring, fun-to-read book.

This book has no large margins. No space-gobbling quotes. No blank space for doing the (very helpful) exercises. No overly large font or ridiculous line-spacing. None of the traditional tricks for making writing books seem larger than they actually are. This book is every bit as thick with useful information as it looks.

The range of topics covered in this book in relation to description is phenomenal. I could spend pages listing out the topics covered (and how well they're dealt with!), such as metaphor, "bringing characters to life through description," point of view, setting, narrative, the senses, and on and on.

Whether you write fiction, non-fiction, or poetry, this book can make your writing sing. I have a better notion of where my weaknesses as a writer lie, and how I might turn them into strengths. And that's some of the highest praise I can give to a writing book! This is truly one of my favorite writing books, and it's well worth a writer's time and money to read it.

61 of 64 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An Indispensable Writing Tool April 19, 2005

By GoodwinsGal

Format:Paperback

Word Painting by Rebecca McClanahan is, without a doubt, one of the best writing related books I have ever purchased. Oh, other reference books have come and gone -- mostly to an auction site or a used bookstore -- but Word Painting is one that stays on my shelf and won't be going anywhere.

Is it a book heavy on technical information? Absolutely. At times it reads like a textbook for a writing class, so that might surprise some. But the more I read this book (and I go back to re-read it regularly) the more I learn. To say that Word Painting is merely a book that teaches you how to write more descriptively would be an injustice to the material contained inside.

Word Painting tackles all the standard writing "must knows" like tenses and points of view, moves on to the art of creating your own, unique similes and metaphors (avoiding the cliche), tackles passive vs. active & cluttered vs. uncluttered prose, then moves on to the biggies like setting, and how writing descriptively weaves into narration, description, and exposition to form the larger framework of your overall story...how writing descriptively affects your narrative voice.

McClanahan teaches you to look at the world, people and things around you with an "artist's" eye, noticing texture and sound and light, then guides you through translating what you see and hear and smell and touch onto the page in words so the reader can experience that with you.

Not only did this book teach me the importance of description and how it helps shape a story, it taught me the importance of all the various elements of fiction writing AND how to write them in a balance. Each chapter is full of useful information, but I'm not going to lie and say that it's not heavy reading. It is. But then writing is an art and a skill and it takes time, dedication, and the willingness to hone your skills into the craft. This is not light afternoon reading, and it's definitely a book you have to keep coming back to again and again because what you missed one time will click in the next, then something else the next. To me, that's an indispensable writing tool because it's not a one shot deal like so many other books that you buy, read once, then never read again. Word Painting -- like your writing -- is an evolving book that grows with you.

When people ask me for "how to write" book recommendations, Word Painting is first (and often only) book that comes to mind.

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I have recommended this book to all my conference students. July 31, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

This book is a valuable tool for any writer, and I have been recommending it to all my students here at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival. Teachers, especially those who work with beginning creative writers in a community setting, will find the incredible exercises listed at the end of each chapter invaluable. I find myself asking, why didn't I think of that one? The examples she uses to illustrate her comments on using all five senses are drawn from the classics and from contemporary sources, all chosen for Virginia Woolf's "common reader." The language is very readable and approachable; and the charm and enthusiasm of the writer comes through. This is the best teaching tool I have bought in years.