Technique 1: Personification (拟人)
Description/purpose: Gives an object the characteristics of a living thing, bringing it to life
The haunted house seemed to
stare at
me,
beckoning
me towards the door.
Description/purpose: Similes likens something to something else giving a more detailed description
The night sky was
as dark as the deepest ocean
.
The stars sparkled
like diamonds.
The snake
moved like a ripple on a pond
.
Technique 3: metaphor (暗喻)
Description/purpose: Metaphors say that something is something else, giving the description more power
A wave of terror
washed over him.
Technique 4:Vivid adjectives (生动的形容词)
Description/purpose: To make the story more interesting and vivid by using more imaginative descriptions, sometimes in a list
Gleaming, glistening, whispery
flakes
of snow
Technique 5: Negative description (否定描述)
Description/purpose: To tell the reader what is not there is an effective way of showing how unpleasant, comfortless a place is
There was
no cushion, no carpet, no warmth, no light and no comfort.
Technique 6: Camera-pan and zoom (摄影-全景+放大)
Description/purpose: To use the idea of how a film director works, you can give a wider view then focus in on one detail
From the withering trees he looked past the
littered farmyard
, across to the decrepit hovel.
Its doors
hung sadly awry,
the handle broken.
Technique 7: Nouns for details (细节名词)
Description/purpose: Scenes are filled with things that we see and therefore uses lots of nouns, even lists of nouns to convey what is there.
The
rooms
were crowded with
lanterns
fastened on
oak paneled walls
,
tables
laid with
silver candlesticks
and
goblets.
Description/purpose: All of our senses become aware in a new situation or place. Your reader needs to know how your character are feeling.
Wafts of salt-laden air
were in her nostrils as the
skittery sand on her feet
led her to the edge of the waves.
Good setting description for appreciation
1. The house smelled musty and damp, and a little sweet, as if it were haunted by the ghosts of long-dead cookies.
2. The sun kept dipping down into the ocean and the lights came on at the harbor, casting sudden shadows on the ground, illuminating the faces that were just a second ago silhouettes. The sky was golden and purple, the ocean a darker shade of violet.
3. The sun had set, but a faint pastel haze lingered in the mid-summer sky.
4. They rolled up the path, tree branches raking the windshield like angry wardens.
5. Outside, the air filled with cricket noise, as the sun reddened in its descent.
6. A restaurant overlooking a starlit night sprang to my imagination like something out of an illuminated manuscript from the late Middle Ages.
7. The moon went slowly down in loveliness; she departed into the depth of the horizon, and long veil-like shadows crept up the sky through which the stars appeared.
8. All brightness was gone, leaving nothing. We stepped out of the tent onto nothing. Sledge and tent were there, Estraven stood beside me, but neither he nor I cast any shadow. There was dull light all around, everywhere. When we walked on the crisp snow no shadow showed the footprint. We left no track. Sledge, tent, himself, myself: nothing else at all. No sun, no sky, no horizon, no world.
9. Night had fallen fast upon the land. No more than an hour ago the sky was painted with hues of red, orange and pink, but all colour had faded leaving only a matt black canvas with no stars to be looked upon.
10．It would be a cold moonless night. The sky was dark and low, the air so chilled it hurt to breathe. Already the ground was laid white with frost and any water that had been liquid under the winter sun had become ice.
