Description is any type of communication that aims to make vivid a place, object, person, group, or other physical entity.^[1] It is one of fourrhetorical modes (also known asmodes of discourse), along withexposition,argumentation, andnarration.^[2]

Fiction writing specifically has modes such asaction, exposition, description,dialogue, summary, and transition.^[3] AuthorPeter Selgin refers tomethods, including action, dialogue, thoughts, summary,scenes, and description.^[4]

Description is the mode for transmitting a mental image of the particulars of a story. Together with dialogue, narration, exposition, and summarization, it is one of the most widely recognized of the fiction-writing modes. As stated inWriting from A to Z, edited by Kirk Polking, it is more than the amassing of details; it is bringing something to life by carefully choosing and arranging words and phrases to produce the desired effect.^[5]

A purple patch is an over-written passage in which the writer has strained too hard to achieve an impressive effect, by elaborate figures or other means. The phrase (Latin: "purpureus pannus") was first used by the Roman poetHorace in hisArs Poetica (c. 20BC) to denote an irrelevant and excessively ornate passage; the sense of irrelevance is normally absent in modern usage, although such passages are usually incongruous. By extension,purple prose is lavishly figurative, rhythmic, or otherwise overwrought.^[6]

In philosophy, thenature of description has been an important question sinceBertrand Russell's classical texts.^[7]

• Baldick, Chris (2004),The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms, Oxford:Oxford University Press,ISBN 978-0-19-860883-7
• Crews, Frederick (1977),The Random House Handbook (2nd ed.), New York:Random House,ISBN 0-394-31211-2
• Marshall, Evan (1998).The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing. Cincinnati, OH: Writer's Digest Books. pp. 143–165.ISBN 1-58297-062-9.
• Morrell, Jessica Page (2006).Between the Lines: Master the Subtle Elements of Fiction Writing. Cincinnati, OH: Writer's Digest Books. p. 127.ISBN 978-1-58297-393-7.
• Ogilvie, Brian W. (2006).The science of describing: Natural history in renaissance Europe. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.ISBN 0226620875.
• Polking, Kirk (1990).Writing A to Z. Cincinnati, OH: Writer's Digest Books.ISBN 0-89879-435-8.
• Rozakis, Laurie (2003).The Complete Idiot's Guide to Grammar and Style, 2nd Edition. Alpha.ISBN 978-1-59257-115-4
• Selgin, Peter (2007).By Cunning & Craft: Sound Advice and Practical Wisdom for fiction writers. Cincinnati, OH: Writer's Digest Books. p. 38.ISBN 978-1-58297-491-0.

• Grammar
• Narratology
• Writing
• Rhetoric
• Literary concepts
• Rhetorical techniques
• Philosophical logic
• Fiction-writing mode

• Articles with short description
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