Writing with Stardust: The Ultimate Descriptive Guide for students, parents, teachers and writers (37 page)

                                     
DESCRIBING THE SUN

When describing the sun, there are 5 simple ways to do it. These are: the shape using
a
metaphor
,
the reflection
,
the colour
,
weapons
and
water
. Then you are using an ‘artist’s eye’ in order to portray the sun and its beams in a different way. We will start with 10 metaphors for the shape.

10
metaphors
for the shape:

1. … a fiery ball in the sky.

2. … a glowing medallion in the sky.

3. … a golden globe in the sky.

4. … God’s morning star (i.e. the sunrise).

5. … the celestial fireball in the sky.

6. … a heavenly orb.

7. … Titan’s fiery wheel.

8. … the God-goldened disc in the sky.

9. … God’s golden eye.

10. … God’s luminous daystar.

These are just some examples of possible metaphors to be used. The next step is to apply the
reflection
of the sun to the metaphors. The best 5 are probably:

You can also use
archaic
words
which will lend a sense of age and antiquity to the sentence. 5 examples of this are:

Now 10
colours
relating to yellow or gold may be used. Some interesting ones are:

The final step is to link all of these into a sentence using terms to do with
weapons
and
water
. For example, underneath are 5 terms of each for you to use.

1.
Arrows
of sunlight
bathed
the meadow.

2.
Hafts
of sunlight
drowned
the valley.

3.
Lances
of sunlight
splashed
the forest’s floor.

4.
Shafts
of light
poured
onto the lake.

5.
Spears
of light
showered
the lonely moor.

All the techniques can then be joined into a short paragraph in order to make your writing more effective. Underneath is the finished product:

I walked through the forest. The sun above me was blazing like Titan’s fiery wheel in the sky. It was a-dazzle with splendour and it was a soul-swelling experience. Between gaps in the forest’s canopy, lances of its molten-gold beams splashed onto the floor. In places, the dead leaves seemed to be a-fire with an inner glow.

That is just one example of how to give your writing a more interesting slant. Using a different grouping of words, you can write the following:

I sat down by a glass-clear lake. The sun was like a celestial fireball in the sky. Its beams were scorching the land and sent the lake a-glitter with golden sparkles. In the afternoon, it began to get cloudy. The sun was a muted, waxmelt-yellow but shafts of light still poured through patches of cloud and onto the lake. Speckled trout arced into the air and plopped onto the water’s surface, seeking to grab a fly from the platoons of them hanging over the lake.

DESCRIBING THE MOON

The wolves howl mournfully outside the village, slinking between shadows and the dark shape of the tents. A bitter, winter-white moon hangs in the sky and the smoke from dying fires still lingers in the air. A pile of buffalo bones lie to one side, gleaming silver and attracting the ravenous wolves. It is January 16, 1621. In exactly two months to the day, an Indian named Samoset will walk into an encampment at Maine, New England with the words: “Welcome, Englishmen!” They give him a coat and he will trade furs and fish with the pilgrims of the Mayflower. Life for the Indians will never be the same again.

The similarity between the moon-names of the pilgrims from Plymouth fleeing persecution and the native Indians is fascinating. One can trace the development of their traditions, culture and hunting/farming habits from the terms applied. Underneath are some explanations of the most difficult:

1.
Worm moon
: so called because the worms used to leave trails in the melting snow.

2.
Dyad moon
: from the word duo, meaning two, when the sun and moon appeared in the sky together.

3.
Mead moon
: named after a drink of honey and ale used for celebrations. Hunting for honey sounds dangerous!

4.
Harvest moon
: named after the medieval word ‘haerfest’, meaning autumn. A celebration usually occurred around September 23
rd
after the last ‘mell’ or sheaf of corn was brought in. Hence the term ‘pell-mell’, meaning crazy! Playing ‘hooky’, meaning absent, comes from this era also.

5.
Wort moon
: named after healing plants such as butterwort and woundwort which grew at this time.

6.
Sturgeon moon
: Indians around the Great Lakes were able to catch the huge fish, the sturgeon, which were active at this time.

7.
Dog day’s moon
: The Roman’s named it thus originally after Sirius, the Dog Star. It was traditionally the hottest time of the year and dogs either went mad or collapsed with exhaustion.

8.
Blood moon
: so named because the moon can appear red at certain times.

9.
Blue moon
: It became popular as a term after an article was published in the ‘Sky and Telescope’ in March 1946. I’m inclined to believe the theory that it comes from the word ‘belewe’, however, an old Saxon word meaning ‘beware’ (as in beware the false moon). A blue moon does occur once every 2-3 years. This is because the
lunar month
is 11 days shorter than the calendar month (
29.53 days
in a month). Hence, every two and a half years or so, there is an ‘extra’ moon. There are 13 moons instead of 12. Monks used to have to convince the populace on the occurrence of a ‘bewere’ moon that they had to fast for another month for Lent! Monks also caused the extinction of the beaver moon term. Beaver and turtle were classed as aquatic animals in England so that the monks could eat them on Fridays. Blue moons
can
exist to the naked eye. In 1950 and 1951, forest fires in Sweden and Canada scattered the red and yellow light particles, turning the moon blue for those watching it. The same happened after the Krakatoa volcano in 1883.

10.
Dark moon
: There is no such thing as the dark side of the moon. Dark spots on the moon can be seen from earth, however. These are caused by old lava beds and meteor impacts, which are grey on the moon but appear as dark spots to us.

For the purposes of descriptive writing, being able to put in a term like a wolf moon adds a touch of exotica and spice to a passage. I love the Reaper’s moon, personally, when the corn or wheat was brought in by the reapers. The section on OTHERS in the grid has capital letters because the choice is up to the writer to decide if they should be capitalised or not.
   

The moon is perhaps the ‘magic pill’ of imagery when you want to create an evocative scene. Everyone has their own idea on what makes for a great moon image. It could be a shimmering, globe-gold moon. It could be the eerie, blood-red harvest moon of autumn or the dreaded death moon of March. This post will show how to use a silver moon in an atmospheric way. In particular, it will show how to use a silver sea-moon. If you want evoke a beautiful image and make your writing compelling, this is the moon for you! There are no rules to descriptive writing. However, there are some useful hints that you might take on board. For example, it is easier to divide the moon into the following categories:
shape
,
colour
,
reflection
,
metaphors for the moonbeams
and
similes.

Suggested
shapes
are the following:

The
colours
are completely up to you but some nice silvers are to be found with metals.