“If you write in words that evoke the senses, if your language is full of things that can be seen, heard, smelled, tasted and touched, you create a world your reader can enter.” – Janet Burroway, Imaginative Writing: The Elements of Craft
Writers are told, “Show don’t tell.” A bit of telling is often necessary, but to fully engage your reader, use multisensory images that stimulate the reader’s imagination and affect their emotions.
A thought without an image is flat and cerebral. “It is best to consider consequences before proceeding.” Add an image and you’ve got a saying with a clear message that’s worth repeating: “Look before you leap.”
“Images are the difference between boring stale fact and living breathing experience. The image lets the reader experience what you did, rather than be told about it. You can start with a statement: ‘The house burned down when I was ten.’ But don’t leave it there. Ask yourself questions about that day (Where was I when it happened? What did I see?) until a scene emerges of a boy trembling in a cornfield, watching his mother come out of burning house with a baby in her arms, kicking a rolled-up Persian rug in front of her.” – Adair Lara, Naked, Drunk and Writing.
Use all five senses
The senses of smell and taste are particularly important because they travel directly to the amygdala and hippocampus, parts of the brain strongly associated with emotion and memory.
Patti Miller in The Memoir Book says, “I smell exhaust from a passing Muni bus on Market Street in San Francisco and for an instant I am nine again, standing in front of the post office with my thin white socks already disappearing into my shoes, as the school bus whooshes up in a cloud of exhaust and wavy air.”
Use the senses to ground your reader into the reality of your story. Show people in action, using active verbs. Let us see, hear and feel what’s going on in the scene: music, clothing, food, weather, background noise, conversations. Show us concrete, significant specifics. Especially those that are unique and surprising. You don’t want to bog down your story with trivia, but important characters and scenes need images and meaningful details.
Beginner’s Mind
When I’m stuck—in life, and while writing— returning to what I see, hear, feel, taste, and smell helps me move forward.
What about you? What helps you escape the blues?
There's a joy in crystalizing your thoughts on paper and laughing at life's follies.