Writing with Stardust: The Ultimate Descriptive Guide for students, parents, teachers and writers (20 page)
Authors: Desconhecido
2. The scorched-brown desert was
a theatre of death
.
3. The fallow-brown desert was
a coliseum of death
.
4. The wasteland-brown desert was
a monstrous amphitheatre of death
.
5. The burnt-umber desert was
a vast, scorching pan of emptiness
.
SOUND
sneaking | scrambling | scratching | slithering | sidling | |
scraping | scrawling | scrabbling | slinking | skulking | |
1. The scraping sounds of animals at night
drove us mad
.
2. The scrambling sounds of animals beyond the campfire
unmanned us
.
3. The scratching sounds of animals beyond the firelight
unhinged us
.
4. The slithering sounds of snakes outside of the fire’s glow
drove us demented
.
5. The skulking of animals stalking us at night
tipped us over the edge and into insanity
.
INACTION
empty | arid | desiccated | featureless | sterile | |
lifeless | barren | desolate | forlorn | jejune | |
1. We were
gasping for breath
through the lifeless desert.
2. Our
breath was puffing
in the arid desert.
3. Our
lungs were huffing
through the desiccated desert.
4. Our burnt
lungs were chugging
through the forlorn desert.
5. Our singed
lungs were wheezing and pumping
like a bellows through the jejune desert.
METAPHORS
the devil’s kitchen | Satan’s sauna | Lucifer’s garden | the devil’s cauldron | Abaddon’s arboretum | |
Old Nick’s oven | Satan’s solarium | Lucifer’s grill | the devil’s crematorium | Beelzebub’s bake house | |
1. The desert by day is the devil’s kitchen. The nights are
as cold as a witch’s soul
.
2. The desert by day is Satan’s sauna. The nights are
as cold as a phantom’s soul
.
3. The desert by day is Lucifer’s garden. The nights are
as cold as the devil’s soul
.
4. The desert by day is the devil’s cauldron. The desert by night is
as cold as a banshee’s soul
.
5. The desert by day is Beelzebub’s bake house. The desert by night is
as cold as a ghoul’s soul
.
ANIMALS OF THE DESERT
camel | desert lion | desert fox | scorpion | tarantula | |
lizard | bobcat | coyote | rattlesnake | vampire bat | |
1. Camels can live in deserts
as hot as a furnace
.
2. Bobcats can survive in deserts
as hot as a lime kiln
.
3. Coyotes can inhabit stifling deserts
as hot as Greek fire
.
4. Scorpions dwell in suffocating deserts
as hot as a dragon’s breath
.
5. Tarantulas thrive in perfidious deserts
as hot as the devil’s breath
.
PLANTS OF THE DESERT
cactus | brittle bush | jumping cholla | pancake cactus | desert ironwood | |
soap tree | chain fruit | ocotillo | creosote bush | Joshua tree | |
1. The cactus was circled by
a shimmering heat haze
.
2. The chain fruit was surrounded by
a dream-like mirage
.
3. The ocotillo was encircled by
a trance-like mirage
.
4. The creosote bush was enwreathed by a mirage. It was like
an illusory mirror of your own doom
.
5. The Joshua tree was begirded by a mirage. It looked to us like
a hallucinatory, graven image of our
own death
.
BIRDS OF THE DESERT
crow | eagle | humming bird | cactus wren | roadrunner | |
owl | hawk | desert quail | cactus woodpecker | vulture | |
1. The
sun blazes
, the
heat bakes
and your
skin boils
.
2. The
sun scorches
, the
heat swelters
and only the
dust sparkles
.
3. The desert is
barren
,
bleak
and
bereft
of life.
4. Your
blood simmers
, your
brain stews
and even your
bones smoulder
.
5. The heat is
relentless
,
remorseless
and
reckless
in its hatred of every living thing.
SMELL
burned and blasted | baked and barbecued | griddled and grilled | scorched and seared | simmered and skewered | |
flamed and fried | basted and blazed | roasted and sautéed | combusted and cooked | sizzled and toasted | |
1. We were flamed and fried in the desert heat. It seemed to hate
everything that walked
,
everything that crawled
and
everything that flew
.
2. We were baked and barbecued in the desert heat. At night, the
temperatures plummet
, the
mercury dips
and even the
thermometers shiver
.
3. We were griddled and grilled by the desert sun. The days were
searing
, the sun was
scouring
and the sand was
singeing
.
4. We were scorched and seared by the desert sun. Walls of sand
flayed
,
flogged
and
flagellated
our skin.
5. We were sizzled and toasted by the remorseless sun. Even the nights were
starlit
, but
sinister
, not
soul-nourishing
.
SENSATION
a dry, gritty mouth | swollen tongue | parched throat | feet like hot coals | skin scraped by sandpaper | |
sweat sodden | brain inflamed | dehydrated liver | face like Greek fire | skin stabbed by sun-spears | |
1. Our mouths were dry and gritty. By day, there is no life in the desert:
no joy
,
no
movement
and
no hope
.
2. Our brains seemed inflamed by the heat. The desert is
stark
and
sterile
and
savage
.
3. Our parched throats were not the problem. The desert vegetation ripped at us with
barb
,
hook
and
thorn
, like mini-armour ranged against us.
4. Our faces felt like Greek fire had been poured on them. Every creature that
scuttled
,
slithered
or
skittered
had burrowed underground long ago.
5. Vultures circled overhead like winged messengers of death as the sun stabbed us with its spears. We
trudged
,
tottered
and
tacked
inch by tortoise inch towards our inevitable death.
TASTE
joyless taste | juiceless taste | listless taste | vapid taste | mawkish taste | |
tasteless | spiritless taste | savourless taste | insipid taste | wersh taste | |
1. The
scalding
sun makes the food seem tasteless.
2. The
simmering
sun makes the food seem juiceless.
3. The
seething
sun makes the food appear savourless.
4. The
smouldering
sun turns the food insipid.
5. The
sweltering
sun renders the food wersh and mawkish.
LEVEL 1: BASIC SENTENCES
1. The desert was
barren-brown
.
COLOUR
2. Little creatures were
sneaking
through the desert.
SOUND
3. The desert was
empty
of life.
INACTION