The power of observation

One of the most powerful tools a writer has is the power of observation. Study who you’re writing about and then paint a picture for the reader using description to make the personality portrait come alive. Use descriptive visual cues to make the reader see the person you’re writing about.

Below are a few examples from different feature stories when the writer uses colorful descriptions to flesh out the subject:

No. 1

Vyola Ortner, 95, has strong opinions and few regrets.

She’s petite and spry, with cat-eye glasses and thinning auburn hair combed into a clip behind her head. Recently, at her Palm Springs home, she wore a lime-green jacket over an equally bright blouse. The shade matched almost exactly the color of her kitchen walls.

Ortner is the oldest living member of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, an indigenous Southern California tribe with more than 450 members.

She chaired the tribal council during the turbulent 1950s, making regular trips to Washington, D.C. to secure the right for Caliente Band members to rent out land they owned for as long as 99 years.

No. 2

Richard Hudgins, barefoot on the driveway of the Durango house where he lives, inspects a newly acquired, junky 1986 Mitsubishi van that runs on propane.

It’s a hulking metal mass of gray, filled with odds and ends and a laughing hula Buddha jiggling on the dashboard.

Hudgins sees a potential “killer robot.”

The 68-year-old, known since his days with the U.S. Marines as “Hudge,” said he has transformed more than 30, but fewer than 50 old cars.

No. 3

A horseshoe-shaped scar near John Franco’s right ear covers an incision made during brain cancer surgery. Forty-seven staples in his skull gave shape to the scar resulting in Franco’s “Frankenstein look.”

More than five years later, Franco’s scar is hidden under a full head of hair. Today, there are no signs of Franco’s brain surgery even though he can still feel the titanium skulls in his skull.