When thinking about writing, many people assume writers have a novel idea, or that they need to write a few short stories, but when it comes down to it, writing has much more than meets the eye.
Novels are huge projects. Writing one is a feat in itself, and starting off with a major project before you know you even want to write is counter productive.
Writing does not have to be hard, it may not even be fun. I may enjoy it, but having a love for something does not mean that you want to do it all the time. It means you are willing to work on the days when there is no fire. No magic. No inspiration that would have you writing tirelessly.
That’s not human, its not realistic. Especially when you bring in literally any other time consuming factor that would distract you.
Its easier to try one or two writing exercises. Things that you can throw away while still making you feel accomplished.
So lets start something
When I first started writing, I had a teacher put a image with a specific tone and was told to write two hundred words.
I was twelve, two hundred words was a lot for me.
I remember the prompt was a picture of a creepy forest, and I wrote about a person walking through the forest who did not know they were being chased.
I don’t have the assignment, I honestly have no idea what I actually wrote but I do remember feeling like I was having a lot of fun exploring that concept.
That is one thing you can try. Find a picture, a setting that you think would be fun to play around with, and make your own prompt.
Remember a prompt is only one sentence. Don’t go too crazy from the start.
This is mine: You are on an old wooden ship, and you cannot see your destination.
The Five Senses
When getting into descriptive writing, you want to engage the audience by making it feel realistic.
See, hear, smell, taste, touch.
Take the image in your head and write at least one sentence about what you see. In the boat prompt, I said, “you cannot see your destination”. This brings questions that you can answer.
- Do you know your destination?
- Do you see something else?
- Where one the ship are you?
- Why are you there?
- What is that character seeing that would make the image change?
If you really want to play around, you can say the protagonist lost their ability to see. They are blindfolded, or maybe even have impaired vision.
All of these things build instant context that the reader will find engaging.
For every sense, ask yourself three questions relating to it, and answer it in the prompt.
Let me say for this prompt, the protagonist is blindfolded, and can only see a little bit of the ship because the fabric is thin in the sunlight.
Now this protagonist is listening to the others on the ship. They are on the deck, sitting in a corner, being watched. They are listening to the person closest to them as they pace.
So now that one sense is limited, our narrator is relying on all other senses. They smell smoke, and they don’t know where it is coming from. They smell the salt water, and are now reminded that it has been many years since they have been on the coast. And now, they are in the middle of the ocean, as vulnerable as can be.
Smell and taste are fun, since when a smell is very strong, they can taste it.
So now the smoke, the smoke get so strong, they taste it. Now, we have a sense of urgency. I don’t like going into taste as much as a personal preference without it being too relevant. I will get into writing rules about how to be concise with scene building in another post.
Now we have a few questions about touch.
- What are they touching?
- What are they feeling?
- What is near their reach?
This does not always mean hands. It can mean legs, head, elbows, etc. You get the point.
What is that protagonist feeling at every point of contact, and what are the points of contact?
This is how to play with a prompt, with absolutely nothing.
For writing, we are not always given a canvas. We have to make our own to paint a picture in someone else’s head.
Try it
When you try to write, and when you have these questions asked of you, it becomes a part of how you will dissect other scenes that you read in the future.
The sensory detail is an exercise to get something on a paper, or a word document. But it also is an exercise of immersion and interest.
When you read this, I advise you.
Look at some of your favorite scenes that you remember. And see what sensory details the authors used to help you feel as if you were either in that world, or as if you were the narrator yourself.
There will be another post where I talk about scenes in literature that created a deep foundation for this style of writing.
I hope you all can have a fun time with this.
Until next time,
Trinity