I want to be a writer, and I am good at thinking of creative plots and good story lines, problem is I am not good at discriptive writing. What can I do to improve on discribing better?

always keep the 5 senses in mind - try to make the reader feel like he/she is actually picturing, hearing, smelling, tasting, or feeling what you are describing.

Read authors who write in a style you prefer. The more you read, the easier it will flow from your fingertips. Once you have good examples via many, many books in your mind about styles and methods, you can start to build your own style and method.

The best way to learn anything, in my opinion, is to watch or learn from successful people do and then create your own style.

All of the suggestions here are excellent ones...if you do the work...the reward will be yours.

Consider this...using all of your senses...what if you had to describe something to someone who was BLIND.

Maybe they could see at some point in time and so can remember what Green looked like or what the Woods looked like...but what if they had NOTHING to relate the words to...?

The blind person DOES HAVE their other senses...they may know exactly what "musty" smells like, how "pepper" tastes.

They may understand that "Fiery" can burn and cause either comfortable warmth, or pain.

How would you describe a room that your character is walking into, if the room was over done in a riot of clashing colors? What if the room was sterile, cold and made you want to stay as little time as needed to do what you had to do and get OUT. What might such a room LOOK LIKE...if you could see it, and how would you tell a blind person, so that they got a feel of the room from what you have to say about it?

Try this, it might help too.

These are all excellent answers with little left to add. However one piece of advice I've taken to heart is 'dot the dragon's eye.'
This refers to painting; a picture of a dragon appears more life-like with the little white dot on the dragon's eye that shows it to be three-dimensional, and reflecting back the light in the world.
With writing, dotting the dragon's eye means bringing in a detail that breathes life into a scene. We don't want to read great swathes of descriptive prose, but (to embellish other answers here) adding a small, relevant, powerful piece of detail is enough to set the scene. My other piece of advice: Don't overwrite. It's easily done. But you don't have to paint the whole dragon.

You have received many good comments from all these writers. I want to something no one has said to the list. I am certain other writers will give more. You need to write them down.

I would like to add that to be a better writer you have to write everyday. Get you some notebooks and just start writing. Words will start coming to you faster and easier, no matter what kind of writing you want to do, you have to practice writing.

put your emotions into your writing!

get something that you feel really pasionate about, whether it be to do with the story or not, and transfer the emotions that you feel from that to your writing.

say you hated someone as in never hated anyone so much in your life, transfer all that anger and power and energy into your writing!

Start looking at things very carefully and describing them. Just randomly through the day, try to describe what is around you. Don't just describe the appearance, describe what it sounds like, smells like, feels like. Keep a journal and write those things down. Then you have a little treasure trove to turn to when you need to describe something.

Also, read authors who are gifted at describing things. Two that are very different that come readily to mind are Tolkien and Dick Francis. Tolkien can describe a scene so minutely that you can smell the mountain air as you read it. Dick Francis is very good at creating a character with a very few descriptive phrases. I one of his books he crafted the character of his villain masterfully by having his protagonist search the man's suitcase and describe his belongings. Seeing how a master does it will inspire you to do the same.

take course for writing and literature

Practice practice practice practice practice. I had issues with descriptions too :P Here's what my writing peers and teachers told me:

~ Relive memories and practice writing them down.

~ Work with characters that have lost a sense; it's hard, long, and frustrating, but it helped me a lot. That blind character is still an idea somewhere...

~ Study how other descriptive authors use their skills; read it ten to fifteen times a day, making notes. (I got really, really sick of the books I used. Just a warning.)

~ Describe movies. Rent something and watch it, dictating how you would write it in your head. I suggest a slow-moving movie with great photagraphy and scenery. WHen you get to a particularily pretty sunset or something like it, pause it and write down your descriptions.

~ Make a list of your character's observations. Make sure you used all senses. Then write out the scene, maybe several times, doing it differently every time you try.

That's the best I can do. I dearly hope it helps!

I think you are on your way. I suck at the good story lines but I can write. So, why don't you find a like-minded group (post a note in a college paper, for instance) asking writers to group together and share techniques. You can learn the skill you stink at, believe me you can, or just be a collaborative writier. That could be a blast.

Everyone here has already explained to a great extent. Hmm... The only other suggestions I can give are:

Read. Read until your eyes blur. Pay attention to everything the writer tells you. Don't only imagine the detail they give, but study it.

Take a pen and paper with you everywhere and write down everything you see, feel, smell, taste. Every sensation and burst of light is important.

Lastly, subscribe to dictionary.com's Word a day program where they send you words in your email. Grab the word of the day and put it in a story or journal entry; even use it in sentences if you don't have time to write it down.

I like to also play with the thesaurus. It helps when words get a bit redundant and your creative juices begin to burn out.

Hope I helped a little. Good luck!

there's an old adage that asserts you need a minimum of 2 sensory "strokes" to bring a detail to life--that is, describe not just visually, but give auditory details, smell, taste, how something feels when touched. . .
A good exercise is to divorce yourself from the visual for awhile, & practice describing scenes through other senses.
Remember that you want your "sensual" details to re-inforce or echo the overall mood or theme of the scene. They aren't always random. YOU'RE in control.

two of the exercises we had in school
1. pick a room in your house and start describing everything with in it as detailed as you can
2. go outside and pick a place to describe in detail on paper.

Write more. And then, write some more. One important aspect of improving your writing is to write. YOu can be very creative, but without compositional skills, no one will recognize that creativity. Have you considered writing opportunities at school, locally or on the internet?

Write everyday.
Write everyday.
Write everyday.
Write everyday.
Write everyday.

I CANNOT say it enough. You will only improve with practice.

Go somewhere; while you are sitting there write as descriptively as you can about the place, people and events that are going on around you. BUT, this will only work if clear your mind of thoughts like 'My writing sucks. I'm never gonna succeed at this...blah blah blah.'

If you get there and start thinking like this:
Look at something and just start listing off every word you can thing of that describes it. Then, take your observations and use the words you like the most from your list to create the scene.

Even if you have a vivid imagination, remember that to some degree your thinking is predictable and regular and that you will need to turn to the real world for fresh story lines. And NO not all of them will be good, but sometimes they will give you the spark of inspiration you need.

Take a creative writing course, join or start a writing group if you can. GOOD LUCK!

Do like spongebob...


use your IMAAAAAAGINATION!

I'm the same way so I'm going to direct instead of write

Try describe a place without actually saying what the place is. Think of what words you would use, write them down, and see if they tell the reader what the place (or subject or person) is anyway, without having actually said the main topic, and if it works, you have effectively described something.

WRITING TIPS: TRY CREATE MOOD: A CROWDED SUPERMARKET

Words are text, not images, but you want to create images in the reader's mind, by providing atmosphere. The best way to try and do this, is to avoid mentioning the particular place, person or situation, and only describe it.

The strong smell of over-ripe pineapples was overpowered by the acidity of the accidental spillage of swimming pool chemicals in the next aisle.

Brows were furrowed and lips were clamped firmly together. Skin was shiny and clammy. The cooldrink aisle was the busiest.

Some toddlers in trollies were gazing happily at passersby, while others were crying. A few were screaming and throwing temper tantrums.

The atmosphere or mood I tried to create:

It is humid and people are irritable.
Disorganized supermarket staff, probably suffering from irritability and heat themselves.
Children are frustrated, tired, hot and impatient. Some of the children are quite fascinated by the goings on around them, and are probably further irritating the people whose children are throwing temper tantrums, by the unfairness of it all!

© Teresa Schultz 2009

First of all always remember show not tell.
'When you describe an event, the nervous system picks up on it. if you present events slowly, the reader will duplicate that. Most events can be slowed down. When things unfold slowly, they can hold the reader's attention. It works the same as SM in a movie. Time slows down. we slow down. Because the scene or action is slowed down, we feel as if we are right there, in the action, part of it.'

'If we the writer present an action slowly, one second at a time, then the reader gets it that way. Any change in the image, one frame at a time, creates more interest,more explanation. We see the snapshots in the sequence the writer presents them. Taken together, these snapshots present the event. And the reader feels the emotion of the event.'

Dug up some old English class handouts. These notes are excerpted from Maston's 'Let the Crazy Child Write' on slow motion writing. I had a ton more like on the whole show not tell thing but I apparently didn't keep as much as I'd hoped. Hopefully this does something for you.