It can be difficult to pick a topic for a descriptive essay. You must find a topic that has interesting qualities to talk about, and one that you can dissect into distinct parts and reassemble with your words.
In your descriptive essay you must paint a picture with your words, but also generate emotions and visions within your reader’s heart and mind.
To help you decide which topic to cover in your descriptive essay, you can do a little assessment to figure out which subject can be broken down into “parts” to talk about, and which one has lots of evocative traits.
You can use a chart like the one above to narrow your choices.
- Start with a list of five or six possible topics.
- Make a chart with headings like colors, emotions, and parts.
- On the left column, write your potential topics.
- Fill in the boxes to see which topics have the most interesting qualities to talk about.
You will find that there are some topics that seem interesting to write about at first, but they are really difficult to describe. This exercise will help you narrow your choice and select the right topic.