Descriptions

At this week's Uckfield Writers' Group, we did two exercises around descriptions.

Exercise 1: Describe something on the table without saying what it is.

I’ve used it now. Just two short hours ago it was fresh and unopened. I chose it carefully. For something so simple, there are so many choices. From Britain or across the sea? Plain or sparkly? Big or small?

I wanted to choose well. The novelty of fizzy spangles would soon wear off.  Much better a classic Moleskine that I can slip into my handbag and forget. 

Highlight the black area to see what I described.

Exercise 2 : to describe something in the town.

It goes mostly unnoticed on the busy corner. We don’t need it now with our Smart Phone maps and GPS.  But still it stands there, ready to catch a curious eye.

A child points and asks “What is it? Who put it there? And why? And When?

Mother hesitates, trying to catch a memory. “I’m not sure. I think it tells us how many miles to London.”

Answer: The bow-bells mile post outside Stead and Simpson. The bow and bells represent the Bow Bells church in London.

Highlight the black area to see what I described.