Descriptive Writing Techniques Checklists and Practice Tasks
A printable set of checklists and quick-reference tools to keep your description focused, vivid, and examiner-ready.
Pre-writing Checklist (2–3 mins)
- □Task focus chosen (place, moment, person, mood)
- □Mood selected and consistent
- □3 key details (specific nouns/verbs)
- □2 ambitious words or a fresh image
Technique Toolbox
Verbs > Adjectives
drift, pool, throb, tremble, slice, spill, stitch
Sensory Swaps
Swap “nice smell” → citrus tang; “loud music” → bass thudding the ribs
Fresh Figurative
“windows winking with rain”, “a queue crept like ivy”
Sentence Openers Bank
Beyond the…, Under the…, From the…, Between…, With each…, As if…, Even now…, By the time…, Whenever…, Instead of…
Editing Checklist (2–3 mins)
- ✓Cut vague words (nice, very, really)
- ✓Replace 1–2 adjectives with precise verbs
- ✓Remove clichés and repeated phrases
- ✓Check punctuation and paragraph breaks
- ✓Last line echoes the opening mood
Timed Drills
- 1-minute vocab burst: List 10 precise verbs for rain.
- 3-minute zoom: Describe one object from two moods.
- 5-minute micro-scene: 120 words, one sense focus + signature detail.
Practice Prompts
- The school hall five minutes before an assembly begins
- A mountainside during the first snowfall of the year
- Inside a museum after closing time
- A kitchen just before a family celebration