Descriptive Essay

Your essay is required to include detailed descriptions of each of the following—
1) The exterior.
2) The interior.
3) Three people seen in (or around) your home.
4) A conversation with one of them.

The assignment requires you to be keenly observant and take precise notes regarding the above criteria. You can’t take too many notes, nor can they be too specific—they work like a database for your essay, one that you can pick and choose details from as you compose each part of the piece.
Sketches and photographs can be helpful, but they aren’t replacements for written research, which is where the conversion of sensory input to writing begins. Taking notes about each part of your home and experience is
the key—if they’re thorough and specific, I promise that the paper will seem to write itself from them.
I used to say, “You absolutely must go somewhere—this assignment demands a fresh, first hand experience of both place and people; memories always lack the specificity and authenticity the essay requires.” Now, you just have to stay home and look at your surroundings with renewed focus and attention. Memory is still NO substitute for in-person observation. You’ll notice that this takes energy and concentration, like most of your visual activities at ACCD.
Good descriptive writing has a consistent mood or atmosphere. To produce this, choose an adjective that describes your sense of the location, and when taking notes, record the details that have created this feeling.
Write about everything in the present tense, as though the action is happening as you write, i.e. “I’m walking through my living room, and I almost trip over my Siamese cat sleeping in the middle of our golden, polished, and now paint-splattered hardwood floor.” This produces a more dynamic description, transporting the readers directly to your point of view.