65. Setting and Action Paper

65. Setting and Action Paper:

Definition: Description is an expression in vivid language that suspends an object, place, or action in time and evokes sight, sound, smell, texture, and taste. This expression often evokes one dominant impression-the overall pervading emotion, idea, or concept.

Assignment: Write a description of a setting and an action. This description must evoke a dominant impression in the reader. You may write the dominant impression as the title of the piece. Be sure to employ three of the five senses in your description of setting and action.

Show, don't tell

Telling:

Generalizing about an experience in abstract language without providing examples or

details to illuminate the general statement

Telling:

"It was so cold in the early morning air that everything seemed to be dying.

Showing:

Using specific examples and sensory details to expand and clarify general

statements.

showing:

"From the first moment that I got outside, I felt chilled to the very marrow. It was one of those nights on which the earth seems dead with cold. The frozen air becomes resisting and palpable, such pain does it cause; no breath of wind moves it, it is fixed and motionless; it bites you, pierces through you, kills the trees, the plants, the insects, the small birds themselves, who fall from the branches on to the hard ground, and become stiff themselves under the grip of the cold.

The moon which was in her last quarter and was inclining all to one side, seemed fainting in the midst of space, so weak that she was unable to wane, forced to stay up yonder, seized and paralyzed by the severity of the weather. She shed a cold, mournful light over the world, that dying and wan light which she gives us every month, at the end of her period." (Guy de Maupassant "Love")

-notice how Maupassant is able to bring the reader into the landscape through sensory detail and specific examples that demonstrate the cold seemed to be killing everything.

Sample Setting and Action Paper:

Pelicans: A Single, Precise Purpose

The pelicans swarm soaring in a circle; they are just grey figures against a bright blue sky. They fly around the school of fish waiting for a chance to strike. All of the sudden one falls into a dive with its wings tucked back to form a bullet, plummeting towards the ocean. The pelican crashes and disappears into the blue; the only traces of it are the white, foamy splashes it leaves just as it becomes enveloped in the dark, blue water. Then it floats back to the surface with a full mouth. As the pelican slowly spits a stream of water out of its beak, you can see a white, writhing figure in the throat sack. The sound of the pelicans squawking mixes with the splashes of water as other pelicans ‘pick-axe’ the ocean. Despite the cold, swift wind the pelicans still glide and dive deftly and precisely without tiring.

The Jump: to feel alive

It was a sunny, warm day in mid-November. The icicles that hung above my head slowly dripped down onto the sleet of ice below. My friend and I pulled out a weathered, wooden bench and moved it so it was just below the slope of my roof. Climbing on, we carefully lifted ourselves onto the icy, slick slabs. Like lionesses hunting their prey, we crouched down and slowly moved to the other side of the roof. The roof loomed over the snow covered ground, almost fifteen feet up. Before making our ascent up the roof, we had strategically placed a large snow pile just below where we had intended to jump. We neared the edge of the roof, holding onto nothing but the sticky snow that clung onto the edges. Being the reckless and adventurous person I am, I decided that I would be the first to leap.

I stood up with my arms stretched outwards to keep my balance. A grin was plastered upon my face. I looked down at my friend who was still clutching the snow, her eyes were wide and her mouth was open. Reassuring her that I would be fine, I took the jump. My stomach dropped as soon as my feet left the roof. For a brief moment I was flying. I was free. Cold air stung my face. My arms made violent circles. My feet kicked as if in water. Then just like that, I plopped into the five feet of snow. Smiling.

SCRATCH OUTLINE FOR SETTING AND ACTION:

SETTING: develop three

VISUAL IMAGES: (sight)

AUDOTIRY IMAGES: (sound)

TACTILE IMAGES: (touch)

OLFACTORY IMAGES: (smell)

GUSTATORY IMAGES: (taste)

ACTION: develop three

VISUAL IMAGES: (sight)

AUDOTIRY IMAGES: (sound)

TACTILE IMAGES: (touch)

OLFACTORY IMAGES: (smell)

GUSTATORY IMAGES: (taste)