Vocabulary to describe a winter scene

Brrrrrr! 

It is freezing where I live today, so I just had to write a post on using wintery language in creative writing.

I am a big fan of learning language and then working out how it can be used in various ways for 11+ writing.

For example, we can use wintery language not just to describe a winter scene but also a character with a cold heart or icy temperament.

Below are some tasks to try at home.

Happy winter writing!

Anna

Tasks

Task 1 

First, use this list of wintery language to write a short descriptive paragraph for the image on this post. The word list is deliberately created to give the description a haunting feel.

Snow colour: skull-white, polar-white, whalebone-white

Sky colour: shackle-grey skies, grit-grey skies

Winter sky: blanched skies, skeletal skies, bitter skies

Sound: razing snowstorms, the whining clutches of winter, mangling wind, an unearthly soundlessness, an eerie tranquillity

Smell: metallic iciness, a sharp saltiness, a heavy scent of cruelty

Touch: skin-seeping cold, chattering flakes of snow

Task 2 

Use some of the language to create a few sentences about a character with a cold heart or icy temperament. This character does not have to be in a cold place; they could be anywhere – even on a beach!

Examples:

• His polar white anger lay like a sheet of ice in the room.
• Throwing the bag on the floor, Sami’s grit-grey infuriation began to rise in her stomach.