Most of us are good about writing what we see. But there are four other senses we need to incorporate into our writing to give it more life. Touch, sound, smell and taste. This simple exercise is designed to help develop the use of all five sense.
Pick one item, subject, word, or idea and write about it for five minutes using all five senses to describe it.
Sunset
The sky was a golden yellow. The color permiated everything; the leaves, the rocks at my feet. When I breathed I breathed in a golden yellow that smelled and tasted of peach. The air carressed my skin, a warm glow of silken golden gause draped around me. And, when I closed my eyes and held my breath I heard the music of the spheres.
Here's something visual you can do when you are revising. Get yourself five different colored highlighters, one for each sense. As you read, highlight the sense described. You will soon "see" if you are heavy in one sense or light another.
Very good idea! It's a nice reminder because I tend to forget about smell and taste. The other three senses are promonent. Smell yes, but not so much. Taste I think must occur the least. Thanks, Bish!
ReplyDeleteI love the highlighter idea! I have a feeling I'll be killing one color though, LOL
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a fun exercise.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me a bit of the book, Word Painting. It challenges writers to take something bland and ordinary and use the 5 senses to make it pop off the page.
ReplyDelete