When you are working on a story, you tend to rely on two of your five senses: sight predominately, as you seek to create visual impressions of the people and locations you are describing, but also sound -- you will have an ear out for your own narrative voice (but don't listen to hard or you will become too self-conscious) and the voices of your characters.
However, in order to fire on all literary cylinders, don't neglect the other three senses: touch, taste and smell, as each of them can be incredibly evocative in conjuring atmosphere or bringing familiar places and faces to mind. You might like to try a brief exercise to help you focus on them more strongly.
Spend a few moments taking stock of where you are now. Write a description of what you are looking out at -- both the near and the middle distance - and what effect the view has upon your mood. Next, describe what you can hear. Are the sounds sharp or muffled, intermittent or continuous, irritating or delightful? What are your physical feelings at the moment? What is your body in contact with (hard or soft surfaces?) Are you comfortable, or tense? What scents are wafting round your room? Are they indoor smells or have you got a whiff of the great out doors? Are they long established smells, or fresh ones? What can you taste? Anything? Remnants of lunch? The last cup of tea? Medicine, perhaps? Or strong whisky (same thing, ed)?
You get the picture; the full on, sensual, in-the-round picture. Try and keep it in your head, and the next time you are working on a scene, recall some of these details and observations and see how they might apply to your characters, because if they are in touch with their senses, they will come more easily to life.
No comments:
Post a Comment