Search Results for: sensory detail

Chug, Chuff, Hiss, Squeal, Off We Go

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Today’s post is inspired by Nancy Julien Kopp’s blog post about using sound in writing. Nancy wrote: This morning, I was catching up on email when I heard the whine of a train whistle, blown several times. I wondered if it was the historic Union Pacific train, known as Big Boy, making its way across Kansas this week in celebration of 150 years of the Transcontinental Railroad. It was due to stop here in our town at 9:30 a.m.  The sound of that whistle made me stop and listen. I always liked to hear train whistles when I was a child. We lived across the street from the railroad tracks, so we were treated to that arresting sound on a frequent basis. I can remember being in bed on a summer night, windows open, hoping for the train to come by and announce its presence. When I did hear it,…

Fire Up The Reader’s Brain 

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“Once you are clear about how to choose your scenes, develop them to create ‘the dream’ of your memoir. The term ‘fictional dream’ comes from John Garner’s The Art of Fiction in which he writes that we weave a world for our readers with every detail we include —every scene, description, character and piece of dialogue. When we fail to offer continuous cues to scenes in that world, the reader falls out of the dream. The best way to create this dream is to write vivid scenes that stimulate the brain to see, feel and taste that world. Research in the neuroscience of writing demonstrates that when we read a story with sensual details, our brain fires up in the areas of visualization, taste and sound.” Excerpted from “You Must Remember This” by Linda Joy Myers, The Writer February 2016 Posts about using sensory detail in writing: Use Sensory Detail…

Flash Fiction – What it is and is not.

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When I prepared this blog post, I neglected to note the source. I only have “White” as the author. I considered not posting this, but I love this definition of flash fiction. If you know who “White” is, please, let me know. Flash Fiction According to White, flash fiction “combines the narrative grip of traditional short fiction with the compression, imagery and allusiveness of poetry. A good flash tale instantly intrigues us, may also momentarily bewilder us, and delivers an emotional jolt to the solar plexus—all in fewer than 1,500 words.” White lays out the steps to writing flash fiction. Briefly: The best flash stories are bona fide stories in which a viewpoint character struggles with internal or external conflict. Aims for intrigue and complications. Includes unique ways the protagonist struggles with the problem. A lesson is learned or an epiphany experienced. Uses sensory detail. What Flash Fiction is not A flash story isn’t…

Smaller stories within larger stories – set the scene. Prompt #319

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Whether you are writing memoir or fiction, it’s all composed of people and things that happened. It’s smaller stories within larger stories. Today’s prompt is in two parts. Part 1: Make a list of people and factors that shaped you, during your childhood, teen years, young adult years. What has happened in your life that makes you who you are? We’ll be using these lists later. During your childhood/early years: Who helped shaped you? Who was influential in your life?  Who was important in your young life?    Family, family friends, teachers, your friends. Where did you grow up? Did you walk to/from school? What did you do after school? Who was home when you got there? What were weekends like?  Be brief. You can expand later. Anything else you want to add – important people and events in your childhood. During your teen years. Who was important during your teen years? …

Why should you use strong verbs?

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Action words “A French research team found that action words (kicked, stomped, raced) fire up the motor cortex, which governs how the body moves. Even more specific, describing body parts, such as an arm or a leg, activates the part of the brain that controls arm and leg movement. Using evocative language also wakes up a part of the brain called the hippocampus, which activates long-term memories and plays a significant role in how a reader’s mind turns language into a meaningful experience.” Writer’s Digest, Sept. 2016 And that’s why it’s important to use strong verbs. Make a list of strong verbs and action words.  Keep your list handy.  Use it like a thesaurus when you are stumbling for that strong verb that’s on the tip of your tongue, within your grasp, but not quite accessible. Or, use a thesaurus. To learn more about using strong words to convey emotion, action and…

Brevity publishes extremely brief essays.

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Brevity is an online journal,  publishing short narrative essays (750 words or less). Employing strong verbs and using sensory detail increase chances of your writing being selected. “There is no room for throat-clearing in search of a point. . . You need each sentence to do more than one thing . . . provide setting, forward the action and give insight into character, all at once.” Founder and editor Dinty W. Moore, interviewed by Kerrie Flanagan, The Writer August 2015 Information about using sensory detail can be found in the Just Write section on The Write Spot Blog. Good Luck!

What does “show rather than tell” mean?

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Writers have been told to “show” rather than “tell.” Do you wonder what that means? Barbara Poelle, “Funny You Should Ask,” Writer’s Digest, September 2015 says this about that: “Telling supplies information while showing explores information. In order to expand a narrative into more showing, think about the complete sensory experience of a scene.” If you rely on narrative, you run the risk of an “information dump,” where you give all the facts in a few sentences. Poelle suggests, and I agree, “Don’t fall into the trap of quickly getting information ‘out of the way’ so you can ‘get to the story.’ . . . Take your time to explore [the facts] through action, dialogue and the senses of the characters involved.”This way, you set the scene with a “kinetic feel.” All well and good, but what does this really mean? I played around with some scenarios: #1: I set…

Delicious! by Ruth Reichl

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We’re talking about sensory detail in writing this month on The Write Spot Blog. Delicious! by Ruth Reichl is rich in sensory detail: . . . I could taste the cake in my mind. Strong. Earthy. Fragrant. I remembered the nose-prickling aroma of cinnamon when it comes in fragile curls, and the startling power of crushed cloves. I imagined them into the batter.  Aunt Melba was grating the orange rind now, and the clean, friendly smell filled her airy kitchen. Delicious! is filled with this type of glorious descriptions about smells.  Reichl is a restaurant critic and cookbook author. No wonder she knows about smells! Delicious! is . . . well. . . delicious with lovable characters, a charming story, delightful scenes and interesting premise. Characters’ stories circle around one another, building upon detail until the end, when it all comes together in a satisfying scene. “Got any ginger?” “What…

The Healing Power of Images Prompt #139

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Today’s prompt is inspired from Poetic Medicine by John Fox, “The Healing Power of Images.” “A morning glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books” — Walt Whitman “Images are drawn from sensory experience and help us to feel what the writer or speaker is communicating. Whitman is more satisfied by the morning glory because it is real and alive, it communicates something to him about reality that is particular, clean and unmistakable. Images offer us direct experience. They can show themselves to us through any of the senses.” Think about the house you grew up in, or where you spent most of your childhood. Or, if you want to write from your fictional character’s point of view. . . picture a place where the protagonist spends a lot of  time. Now, think about routes you routinely took . . . to school. . . or…