Using Images to Support Non-Fiction Writing
A writer wants to convey or create images in the reader’s mind. In fiction this image is the writer’s creation which can be conjured up in the reader using any number of devices. In non-fiction it is not an imagined image which is being conveyed but an actual image. When writing a non-chronological report about tigers and their conservation it is not enough to describe the image in the writer’s head. It must be accurate and the language and devices used must be to convey clarity and precision. It must also out of necessity be technical.
In fiction an activity freqeuntly used it to take a piece of text, even that which is well written, and look at word choice and offer alternatives that could be used. In a piece of well written non-fiction this activity is almost impossible. To say that a bird ’swoops’ when it siezes prey should describe exactly the shape of the flight path taken by the bird and also conveys something about the speed of it. It would be hard to replace this word with any other that so precisely describes both aspects. If the word ‘dives’ were used it would bring an image of a different flight path and speed.
To support non-fiction writing it is therefore essential that we use first-hand experiences but also capture images to help us describe what we see accurately. These images may be still or moving depending upon what is being written about.
The purpose of the image is to be able to look at it again and again to find the exact words that can be used to describe precisely so that the reader can ’see’ the object, process, activity with clarity. For example in instrucions you may say something such as ‘Whisk the batter until it has the consistency of thick milk.’ The addition of the batter’s consistency helps the maker of the batter to be really clear about what their batter should look like and implicit in it is the fact that there are no lumps. Children do not always include this type of detail in their writing and so we need to use images to revisit the experience to draw out the particular type of language needed.
One of the most successful activities to develop this type of language is to use the phrase ’say what you see’. Children could look at a picture and be given a short amount of time to jot down what they can see in the picture to describe it. The teacher can then intervene and take the children on a journey around the picture asking questions – how could you describe the……, what shape are they making, look at the …….., could you use a simile here to say what this looks like, what pattern would you call this ? The children can then look again at the picture and spend 3 or 4 minutes jotting down further phrases. The time element (or lack of it) is important here as it creates a tension which produces unusual combinations which can be played with later. Words and phrases can be shared and a zone of relevance can be used to plot the examples.
A zone of relevance is a series of concentric circles arranged to look like a bulls-eye target. The bulls-eye has the highest relevance which decreases as you move out. A part of the image is chosen such as the way the tiger moves when hunting and all the words and phrases for that are measured for clarity and precision and are placed in the circles with the best on the bulls-eye.
Add comment February 22nd, 2009
