by Katy Kauffman,@KatyKauffman28

 Soft hues of gold, orange, and pink painted the sky as the sun set on that frigid December evening. I clutched my coat collar closer as I left the office. That’s when I saw her. Shivering on the curb, she wore only a tattered hoodie and stained jeans. No hat, no coat. The look of hunger resided in her forlorn eyes, and I realized that compassion could not be just something I had heard in church on Sunday. It needed to become my reality. And her rescue.

Description. Vivid descriptions allow your readers to step into your scene in their minds. The more concrete descriptions you give, the better. When you begin your nonfiction book with a story, keep your reader’s interest by setting up a scene that offers enough description but doesn’t stall the action. Use description to touch your reader’s heart in particular ways as the story progresses.

Use these 6 tips to write vivid descriptions in your real-life or fictional stories:

1. Write the scene as if you’re in it with the characters. Allow the reader to “live” the scene by incorporating the five senses. If you’re sharing a personal story, remember what you saw, heard, felt, tasted, or smelled. Include the details that progress the story, and leave out those that don’t.
2. Pick choice adjectives and nouns, but don’t go overboard on modifiers. Heavy description makes for slow reading and can cause the reader to lose interest.
3. Use vivid verbs that don’t require an adverb. Stay away from to be verbs such as am, is, are, was, and were, when you can.
4. Use only those descriptions that help paint the picture but don’t distract the reader from the main point of your story. In other words, don’t describe just to add a volume of words.
5. Appeal to the reader’s sense of drama, awe, wonder, and curiosity as you write. Descriptions can turn prose into poetry and capture the heart of the reader.
6. Read some of your favorite authors—of both fiction and nonfiction—and make notes on how they tell their stories. How much description do they give? What vivid nouns and verbs have they included? Do you feel like you are living the story along with the main character?

Invest in your descriptions as an enriching element in your writing. Set up the story’s mood, give insights into the characters, and introduce surprise and suspense with vivid descriptions. After you’ve written a first draft, put yourself in the reader’s place and see if the descriptions adequately draw you into the story.

Which authors have you read that write vivid descriptions, and what do you like about what they include? Share your thoughts in the comments below. Make descriptions an invaluable asset to your writing that grabs the readers’ attention, and lets them live the stories you share.

Katy Kauffman is an award-winning author, an editor of Refresh Bible Study Magazine, and a co-founder of Lighthouse Bible Studies. Her Bible studies for women focus on winning life’s spiritual battles, and she has the privilege of editing compilations written by Christian authors from around the country. Her next compilation—a Bible study on godly character—releases in the spring of 2018. Katy currently contributes to three blogs, and she loves spending time with family and friends, scrapbooking, and making jewelry. Connect with her at her blog and on Facebook and Twitter.