Descriptive Detail, Show and Quotations

I was a little worried about this week's assignment because I haven't had much time to read lately. I really liked the chapter on style and some of the examples it provided. I specifically liked the section on "Descriptive Detail" and "Show, Don't Tell." The use of Descriptive Detail can really enhance your writing and engage readers into the story or whatever information you are trying to share by making it interesting.

The textbook explains the "Show, Don't Tell" style as a way to engage readers by allowing them to draw their own conclusions based on the information, rather than telling them what to think.

A good example of descriptive detail, showing and also quotations can be found in this description of "Diagon Alley" in "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." The combination really brings "Diagon Alley" to life.

"The sun shone brightly on a stack of cauldrons outside the nearest shop.Cauldrons - All sizes - Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver - self stiring - Collapsible said a sign hanging over them.

"Yeah, you'll be needin' one," said Hagrid, " but we gotta get yer money first."

Harry wished he had about eight more eyes. He turned his head in every direction as they walked up the street, trying to look at everything at once: the shops, the things outside them, the people doing their shopping. A plump woman outside an apothecary's was shaking her head as they passed, saying, "Dragon liver, sixteen sickles an ounce, they're mad ..."

A low, soft hooting came from a dark shop with a sign saying Eeylops Owl Emorium - Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown and Snowy. Several boys of about Harry's age had their noses pressed against a window with broomsticks in it. "Look," Harry heard one of them say, " the new Nimbus Two Thousand - fastest ever," There were shops selling robes, shops selling telescopes and strange silver instruments Harry had never seen before, windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, tottering piles of spell books, quilss and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon ..."