Writing is often thought out thoroughly with the mind, before it is transferred onto paper for people to read or just for the writer to read. Not only is writing just about one thing only, but it also focuses on the little details that make up the big story. The things people write about can either be fact or fiction, whether it is an essay, a novel, or a journal that a person keeps. Writers try to fit in what they can so that the reader would understand the text fully, not just to a certain extent. Descriptions also make the text more interesting to read. It is said that ‘good writers are often descriptive writers’ and this statement is proven correct in Joan Didion’s, Slouching Toward Bethlehem, within the first essay, “Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream.”
Throughout Didion’s essay, descriptive writing can be found everywhere. For starters, she discusses the San Bernardino Valley and includes details that would clue the readers in with how the whole scenery is expressed in that certain area, both time and place, as if they were actually there. She makes sure that the readers are able to picture what is going on in the story or writes it in a way that readers can imagine how life would be like in that specific area, rather than just reading the story only. Didion writes, “October is the bad month for the wind…when breathing is most difficult and the hills blaze up spontaneously…” Within those few words, it already sets a scene for her story. During the court scene, Didion adds in cries, screams, and certain motions to set off a mood of disappointment, anguish, guilt, and much more.
As anyone can see, a good writer must include the little details within a story. So whether or not the story is based on something factual, the descriptiveness makes up for the entire piece and completes it. Without the important little details and the many descriptions to what is placed in the writing, then what is there to a great story?
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