: Re: Explain something being written out I am working on a story where a character is witnessing something being written out but I don't know the correct way to write that. It will write out death

@Cugini967

First, this question seems to be in a vacuum. We know nothing about WHO or what is scratching out the message/letters. That's more important than anything. Let's say it's being done by an invisible hand and maybe someone else is nearby--


At my feet a straight line appeared, as though an invisible hand were
scratching the groove into the floor. But it wasn't just a line, now
it was a letter--D. I looked on in fascinated horror as more grooves appeared next to the first, and after
an agonizingly long time, it too became a letter. F. No. E. "Mary," I
called out through the doorway "come see." But Mary didn't answer. Looking back at the floor
again, I saw an A had appeared next to the first two letters. How had
it happened so quickly when the other letters had taken so long?


That description might be nothing like what you want, but it gives context to the letters. And that's what your description needs. If you're describing letters being scratched out on the floor, you need to actually describe the process of them being scratched out, and reactions as it occurs.

If it's a person scratching out the letters in front of your POV character, that will be important too. Describing the actual formation of the letters, what it's in answer to, what they hope the letters might form, all that, it's part of this description and the reaction to it.

If you're building suspense, just get inside the head of the person seeing the letters happen, what their reaction is, what they believe that the letters might spell out as @DPT says.

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