CREATIVE WRITING BUILDING BLOCKS

There may be no absolutes when it somes to description, says writer and tutor Ian Ayris, but there are some very helpful guidelines to making it as effective as possible

In the previous issue, we looked at how Show and Tell can be used to bring your descriptions to life and link one part of your story with another. In this issue, we will be examining further ways in which the Building Block of Description can be used to tell your story.

The first issue we will be looking at is somewhat grammatical. I know. I apologise. But it is a simple grammatical effect that, when recognised in your writing can have a massive impact on bringing your descriptions to life.

Here we go . . .

Active writing v Passive writing

Let’s get the technical bit out of the way first:

Active writing puts the subject of the sentence first (the active participant) and the object (the thing acted upon) second. Passive writing has the object first and the subject second. A couple of examples . . .

Active: The man (subject) fired the gun (object).

Passive: The gun (object) was fired by the [wait for it . . .] the man (subject).

Active: The whale (subject) ate the poor, unfortunate penguin (object).

Passive: The poor, unfortunate penguin (object) was eaten by the whale (subject).

In the Active examples you can see how the purpose of the sentence is arrived at much quicker than in the Passive part, thus more directly engaging the reader. In the Passive example, the reader is led through a long, torturous, dreary trudge to the meaning of the sentence. Now, there is nothing wrong, per se, with passive sentences. They are grammatically correct. But too many passive sentences and your piece of writing will feel like long winded and slow, dare I say, boring.