Writing with Stardust: The Ultimate Descriptive Guide for students, parents, teachers and writers (33 page)

1. He had a lantern jaw that was
square and firm
.

2. He had a craggy jaw that was
strong and hard
.

3. He had a marble jaw that was
rugged and masculine
.

4. He had a granite jaw that was
gritty and tough
.

5. He had an obsidian jaw that was
obdurate and unyielding
.

                                                      
SHOULDERS

1. He had Atlas shoulders above a
six-pack
.

2. He had taurine shoulders above a
barrel chest
.

3. He had simian shoulders and an
Olympian’s chest
.

4. He had Corinthian shoulders and a
horizon flat stomach
.

5. He had ox yoke shoulders and a
washboard stomach
.

                                                        
STRENGTH

1. He had a gladiator’s biceps and
iron muscles
.

2. He had a goliath’s body and
ironbound muscles
.

3. He had Popeye forearms and
ironclad muscles
.

4. He had a Spartan’s muscles and
cast iron muscles
.

5. He had a gym honed physique and muscles
wrought from iron
.

                                                   
MASCULINITY

1. He was dashing with
a
rascal’s smile
.

2. He was brawny with
a roguish smile
.

3. He was strapping with
a scamp’s smile
.

4. He was hunky with
a scallywag’s smile
.

5. He was hale and hearty with
a rapscallion’s smile
.

                                                     MOVEMENT

1. He
moved
with a cat like grace.

2. He
walked
with sure-footed purpose.

3. He
eased about
the room with a balletic grace.

4. He
prowled
around with a lion-like power.

5. He
padded
through the room like a panther in slow-mo.

     
                   
USING FORMULAS   

The purpose of the grid system is not to reduce the English language to a system of learning by rote exercises. Its function is fourfold.

1. To capture the
essence
of each scene, person, season or feature of nature.

2. To enable students to see the
patterns of writing
which govern English.

3. To expose them to the greatest possible amount of words that can help them
express
themselves.

4. To reintroduce a
love of nature
to a world that is increasingly technocratic.

There are most definitely faults in the book. By reducing any overlap of words to the barest possible minimum, I shackled myself in some of the chapters. Notable exceptions include the words ‘sorcery’ and ‘sparkling’, which probably occurred four or five times throughout the book. That is because they have an extraordinary ability to transform a text. It must be borne in mind, however, that I was confined to writing purely descriptive passages and essays. This brings its own problems when you are trying to avoid the monotony of starting sentences with ‘It’, ‘The’ or ‘A’. I had to leave out some important factors because of the format of the book. I hope to clear those up now.

The inspiration behind the book was a question that had been burning inside me for a long time. Are people aware of the patterns of English? Do people know that lips can be described with the four ‘f’s’? Are they aware of the link between bells, armour, rivers and waterfalls? Do they know that fabrics can be applied to descriptions of mist, snow and darkness? I knew that the weaker the student put in front of me, the more beneficial it was for them to be able to put a structure to their work. Higher ability students also found patterns helpful when they were analysing poetry, Shakespeare and trying to compare three texts as a unit. I always showed them why and how a writer wrote what he did, not just dissecting what he wrote.

On a different note, the last century has seen three quantum technological leaps. Those were: the car, the airplane and the television/mobile phone/computer. This century shall see
nine
. The world is not an easy place for the modern student. Anything we can do as educators to help them understand and analyse the challenges ahead is a gift to them. Patterns of thought fall into this category. In a faster world, sometimes it’s better to take a deep breath, slow down and try to figure out the reason behind things rather than rush headlong into the future. Then, and only then, can you say that you are thinking with stardust.

                            
THE FORMULA FOR LIPS

       FABRIC                     FLOWERS                      FIRE                          FRUIT

CLOUD, MIST, SNOW, LEAVES AND DARKNESS

It sounds better to the ear to use some of these words in a metaphor. For example,
a veil of
darkness
might be more appropriate than darkness-veiled. Whichever way a student decides, it should add to the value of a story or essay to use these terms.

                                
DESCRIBING MALES

                                                       
BEARDS

LEVEL 1         LEVEL 2         LEVEL 3         LEVEL 4         LEVEL 5           OTHERS

1. He had a
shiny
goatee.

2. He had a
smooth
, spade shaped beard.

3. He wore a
glossy
, Abe Lincoln beard.

4. He boasted a
flowing
, Socratic beard.

5. He sported a
sartorial
, Methuselah beard.

                                                
MOUSTACHES

1. He had a
dark
, bristly moustache.

2. He had a
dapper
, military moustache.

3. He wore a
dandy
, toothbrush moustache.

4. He wore a
drooping
, walrus moustache.

5. He sported a
dashing
, D’Artegnan moustache, the emblem of a true musketeer.

                                                       STUBBLE

1. He had
manly
, peppered stubble.

2. He had
manful
, gritty stubble.

3. He had
mannish
, designer stubble.

4. His face was grizzled with
manlike
, five o’ clock shadow.

5. His face was grafted with a
masculine
rime of grey.

                                                  
BLUE EYES

1. His Rasputin-blue eyes were
as clear as a calm lake
.

2. His nautical-blue eyes were
as clear as a summer brook
.

3. His voyager-blue eyes were
as clear as a fresh pond
.

4. His seafarer-blue eyes were
as clear as a spring stream
.

5. His trailblazer-blue eyes were
as clear as a mountain stream
.

                                
DIFFERENT EYE COLOURS

1. He had
lambent
, meltwater-blue eyes

2. He had
fulgent
, smaragdine-green eyes.

3. He had
bedazzling
, tourmaline-green eyes.

4. He had
effulgent
, molten-brown eyes.

5. He had
scintillating
, loam-grey eyes.