Descriptive writing draws the reader into the story with vivid details that show, rather than tell, what is going on. For example, in her novel "To Kill a Mocking Bird," Harper Lee never tells the reader that Atticus Finch is a good man; rather she shows this through details such as Atticus telling his children never to shoot a mockingbird and defending a black man against a rape charge in the Jim Crow South. Descriptive writing helps the reader imagine that the setting and characters are real.
Mood is the feeling a writer wants his story to convey. It can be weird, mysterious, scary, happy, joyful or any feeling or combination of feelings you can think of. Mood is developed through detailed descriptions. For example, Rozelle says, in his novel "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," Hunter S. Thompson establishes a hallucinatory mood in his opening paragraph when he describes his hero, Raoul Duke, imagining that he and his attorney are being chased by huge bats, "all swooping and screeching and diving around the car." In the science fiction novel "Dune," Frank Herbert establishes a sense of anxiety, danger and excitement with his descriptions of the Atreides family preparing to leave their temperate home planet for the desert planet Arrakis.
Some beginning writers give only visual descriptions. However, solid descriptive writing involves all five senses. For example, if your story features a character eating a piece of pie, you shouldn't just describe what the pie looks like; you should describe how it smells, how it tastes, how it feels and even how it sounds. Descriptive writing also uses concrete language that gives readers a clear picture of the things happening in the story rather than abstract language that readers find confusing. Instead of saying that Joe ate some pie, you might say he ate some cherry pie. Instead of saying that the pie tasted good, you might say it tasted sugary.
If you are working on becoming a better writer, remember that solid descriptive writing comes from observing and then remembering details. Pay attention to the events happening in your life, even seemingly insignificant details. Write these details down in an ever-present notebook. You can refer to these notes later when you work on your stories. Keep your writing simple. Try using the journalist's questions "What?" "Who?" "When?" "Where?" "Why?" and "How?" as a guide.