One of things that new writers miss is showing smell, taste and touch. Don't just focus on what they see and hear.
A breeze whispered and cooled her cheeks, it blew back her hair tickling her long ears. It carryed with it the sweetness of the spring flowers below. To think down there a new beginning, it's all over. An effortless smile warmed her lips as she ran down into the meadow.
Add more when you want to slow and focus add less to kick up the pace. To speed up the pace just use sights and sounds as the brain understands references to sight and sound faster than it does to the other three.
The point of this is to convince the reader the story is real—doesn’t matter if it’s science fiction or horror—they need to be so immersed in the story that it feels real.
Round circle to 3D not 2D; we need to develop fully 3D characters. Don't just add the 5 senses in willy-nilly like they are window dressing. 😜 No, the sensory details have to be added in at the right time. Trust your gut it'll tell you when to.
Using these doesn't just tell readers about what the characters are experiencing, but turns an ordinary into that of many layers. With the visual arts this is called: Underpainting. So, build those layers and create a rich story.
Keep in mind that each character is affected by the world around them differently then the other characters, each one will have a different sense affecting them at any given time.
When you're doing it right reader's will feel like they are right next to the character or they are the character. I know this as I've been told they feel like they are in ghost fourm or something.
Off toppc: A reader's feedback is wanted and needed. Don't forget to leave comments, your kind comment could be the very one that helps the writer to finally believe in themself. We can't write in a vacuum; after all the stories are for you, dear reader. 🌹
It won’t take pages or even paragraphs to do this, a single sentence or a few words is plenty, so you also learn to be more concise simply by adding the 5.
It’s important because if you can't get your readers to feel something about the characters, it becomes easy for them to stop reading. We don't want that, we want them to read it all! So use the 5 and help them see the world within your story lin a new way.
A few prompts to help:
First person: 789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9j9wt0TR5f
I can't believe that aftershave! She waved her hand infront of her nose. Uck!
Close third:
She held her breath, the skunk stopped a moment later, but the air was so thick with skunk spray her eyes wattered. Oh, my god!
Third person limited:
After all this time did he really think she wouldn't notice? The flowery perfume stuck in her nose, just far too sweet. That cheating bastard is going to pay dearly, she thought.
Third person present tense:
The cats silky fur slips through her fingers, it hops off her lap and lands on the floor.
Omniscient:
Crystal didn't realize that the spikes were inside her clothing. She shreeked as they shredded her skin cutting painfully into her.
There's second person too, but haven't ever seen anyone use it so I'll skip it.
I'm not perfect at all of them, but you get the idea. 😉
Don't just stop after one page or the effect will become flat and worse then not using the senses. So around every 500 words or so remember to add them in, along with every time there's a scene or chapter break.
A point to remember and get into the habit of is not to take for granted that your character “sees” something. You have to describe what they see, use precise descriptions instead of being vague.
Don't let the characters simply see a plain flower. They see soft pink petals floating on the wind twisting and turning with the light shining through.
Not always mind you too much too often and at the wrong time can come off as strange.
Try not to forget taste, its hard to do sometimes, but not too bad. Using it can stick in a reads mind if done well.
The deep, rich roasted peanut butter stuck to the roof of his mouth.
Not bad, right? *Shrug* 😅789Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa2j1TMQBiZ
I need to go through my chapters as some are a bit bare of the 5 and body descriptions, especially when it's an action scene. I tend to put the bare bones in and layer in the rest during revisions.
ns 15.158.61.21da2
