The Writers' Circle

My brother asked me how did I know how to describe things the way I do.  It got me to think about that, at first it seemed some of it came naturally to me.  Then I remembered something I learned at my brief stint while working for the police department as a 911 dispatcher. I use the same technique when I describe in my writing and thought I would share this trick.

People are creatures of habit, they tend to view the world around them the same way.  When a police officer is questioning a witness to a crime or taking a statement, everything they do will go in a specific order.  There is no variation to this order.  Top to Bottom, Left to Right, Outside to Inside.

Now, some of you might be going well duh! Others, might be scratching their heads and never thought of it that way before.  This is why they do everything in this order.

People: A person may not remember the eye color, but more often than not, they can tell you the hair color and sometimes the hair style. From there, the eye color may come back to them, or remember seeing a scar on the face. They could remember that the person they saw had no neck, or had a long neck line. That the persons chest was broad or real flat, or the stomach was a beer gut, the person had wide hips, narrow hips, long legs, short legs.

The first time someone sees a stranger or someone they've never met before, we gravitate towards the face, this is natural, something we start doing as infants.  Our parents are the ones who trained us to notice the face first. 

Things are described the same way as people, you start at the top of the object and work your way down.  Then you can add what the object is sitting on or leaning against.  

Bigger than life are the building, these are described from the outside to inside.  The same principle works for them just like people and things.  Only, on a grander scale.  

Now, some may ask, why left to right?  That principle is drawn from how we are taught to read.  It will work right to left if that is the way your country reads.  

As long as you describe from broad general terms to more specific the closer you get to your characters or anything inside your writing, you'll notice it has a greater effect on how the image you read will form more clearly inside your mind.

Above all, word choice is key here for this to shape the picture being created inside the reader's mind. If you. the writer, can't see it then how can the reader?