Use of adjectives is effective. One way is thinking long and hard about what adjectives you’re using. Don’t talk about a ‘smile’; make it a ‘sad smile’, a ‘fake smile’, a ‘hard smile’, a ‘chiseled smile’, a ‘phony smile’, a ‘mean smile’, a ‘shallow smile’, a ‘smoldering smile’, ‘a ‘runway smile’, or a ‘passionate smile’.
Continuing with our ‘smile’ theme, consider these: a ‘New York smile’, an ‘LA smile’, a ‘small town smile’, a ‘big city smile’, a ‘Nashville smile’ or a ‘Denver smile’. One benefit of using places as adjectives is that it allows the listener to transfer all their preconceived perceptions and emotions about a place to the smile you’re describing. I mean, what is a “New York smile”? The answer is whatever your listener thinks it is. The listener fills in the blanks. There may be other clues in the song that let the listener in on what our definition is, but there may not be.
Hopefully by now you’ll see what I’m getting at here. By being descriptive, you bring a certain credibility to what you’re saying. Think of yourself as a movie set designer or, better yet, a cinematographer. Pay attention to detail. Look at the picture you’re painting in your listener’s mind, and understand that without detail and adjectives you have no color, no vibrancy and no life.
Page 6/4
Jim Bruno's Songwriting Class 