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Fictional Narrative Basics - Description
Unit Completion Date: End of Week 5
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We'll come back to these issues of grammar and syntax in a more detailed discussion of overall prose style later on, but for now, let's continue with the subject of description. Above and beyond the issues of grammar and syntax, there are other elements of descriptive technique that you can add to your repertoire with a little practice, and with careful observation of writers you admire. I asked earlier in this section for your definition of what description really was, and it will be well worth your while to read the examples posted in the "Description" section of the class craftbook ("Beginning" Exercise 4).
I'm sure many of you will struggle with the distinction I've made between descriptive and expository prose--that is, prose that gives sensory detail and prose that gives information. In part, this is because the two are very closely related and work together to accomplish many of the same goals. Consider the following two examples:
John was white.
Blue veins showed through the skin of John's forearms so that you could almost see the blood circulate.
Both examples provide similar information to the reader--the character John is Caucasian. The first, supplies that information directly, and seems to encompass the whole range of cultural and social implications attendant to his position as being of a particular race. It is seems like a quality intrinsic to the character as much as a physical description. The second example, while it may imply all of the above, provides much more detailed sensory information about John's physical self.
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