Description

Description is most powerful when it's visible, aural, tactile. Make your decriptions fresh and they'll move your story forward, imbue your work with atmosphere, create that tang of feeling that editors cry for and readers crave.

Monica Wood helps you squeeze the greatest flavor from the language. She segments description like an orange, separating its slices to let you sample each one.

You'll learn about:

• Detail, and how you can use description to awaken the reader's senses of touch, taste, hering, smell, and sight.
• Plot, from advancig your story using relevant description, to how to edit out sluggish, reader-stopping writing
• Style, and the use of description to create a mood that matches your story's contest.
• Point of view, how selecting omniscient, first person or third person limited narrative influences the descriptive freedom you have.
• Word Selection, including how to create original word descriptions of poeple, animals, places, weather, and movement.

Wood teaches by example, developing stories with characters in various situations, to show you how you can apply description techniques.

You'll also see samples of work by such noted writers as Mark Helprin, Anne Tyler and Raymond Carver. And, you'll find dos and don'ts, lists of descriptive alternatives to common verbs and nouns, and tips for editing your work.