Word Painting: A Guide to Write More Descriptively (Paperback)

~ (Author) "If I were fully conscious of my surroundings at this moment, I would describe the light through the miniblinds, the way it searches out the..." (more)
Key Phrases: peripheral narrator, sensory proofs, flashback descriptions, Big Ear, John Gardner, Waverly Place (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

In Word Painting, Rebecca McClanahan guides readers through an intriguing examination of description in its many forms. Through her thoughtful instruction and engaging exercises, readers will learn to tap into their senses, develop their powers of observation, and uncover the rich evocative words that accurately portray the images in their mindis eye. She includes dozens of descriptive passages written by master poets and authors to help readers develop their own descriptive writing style, and she also teaches how to weave writing together using description as a unifying thread.

About the Author

Rebecca McClanahan is an accomplished writer, poet and teacher. She has published three collections of poetry, including The Intersection of X and Y, and her work has been anthologized in Pushcart Prize XVIII.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Writers Digest Books (August 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582970254
• ISBN-13: 978-1582970257
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #31,352 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

77 of 80 people found the following review helpful:

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

By	H. Grove "owling6683" (Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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.

19 of 19 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

This review is from: Word Painting: A Guide to Writing More Descriptively (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.

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Write More Descriptively!................, October 30, 2001

By	Margaret "fugirl" (NYC) - See all my reviews

........now that I've moved past the basics of fiction-writing and I'm working on honing my skills, McClanahan's "Word Painting" has proven invaluable to teaching me how to be more descriptive in my writing. I have read and highighted this book over and over, gaining something more from it each time I re-read. I might add that the exercises in the back of each chapter have proven enormously helpful to me.McClanahan shows us the relevance of description in our writing by showing us just how it impacts a story in each of its complex facets. She presents chapters on metaphor, point of view, setting, plot and pace, "seeing" and translating what we see into words, and bringing our characters to life. I highly recommend this book to any fiction writer who has moved beyond writing basics and feels ready to further develop the skill of writing more descriptively. This book has helped me immensely!