Show, Don’t Tell: The Art of Description [Emma Torzs]

Good literary description does not merely set a scene: it can build tension, create a mood, evoke emotion, move the plot forward, or reveal character. We will engage with prose by a few of the descriptive masters (including J. K. Rowling, Toni Morrison, and Kurt Vonnegut), and, through writing exercises, we will practice our own descriptive powers. From faces to places, we’ll write self-portraits, “sketch” our surroundings, and learn when to zoom in or back away.