Five (or more?) Senses to Play With...

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original posting: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 09:34:11 EST

This could probably be considered a warm-up for writing, especially sensual or romantic or otherwise sensational pieces.

First, pick a number from one to six:

1. Morning
2. Work
3. Art
4. Belief
5. Play
6. Evening

Okay! You have a somewhat abstract little term there. Now, the next step is to take your term and make a list. Here are the categories--do them in order. Try to come up with at least five items for each one.

1. Taste:
2. Smell:
3. Touch:
4. Hearing:
5. Sight:
6. Motion/muscle:

So, for example, you might stop and think what morning tastes like. Is it the slimy film on your teeth before you brush? Or is it the gritty freshness of your mouth after you brush? What about the crunchiness of an English muffin, with the greasiness of melted butter? What does morning taste like to you?

Last, for the end game that makes you stretch, take a number from one to six:

1. Hate
2. Fear
3. Guilt
4. Pride
5. Anticipation
6. Love

And there we have an emotion. Step back and think about how a character might have such an emotion--perhaps guilt over where they spent last night?

Then write one paragraph using several (probably not all) of the sensory involvements you thought of earlier, in which the focal character is experiencing this emotional loading (the focal character may be the POV character or not, at your discretion--I'd suggest third person to avoid those "I"s). Oh, and don't tell us what your first abstraction was, or what the emotional wind is that is blowing--just show it to us, through the sensations and pin-pricks.

So, for example, give us a lyrical picture of the character, chomping through the cornflakes, slicing bananas and strawberries into a bowl (with a nick or two on the forefinger?) and inhaling that aroma, listening to the tiny white "pop" of creamy bubbles in the milk, swirling a spoon in a figure-eight until the coffee slops over the edge of the mug...give us that scene, replete with sensory detail, and make us feel your abstract theme, flavored with the emotional twist.

[yes, of course, the poetically inclined may write a verse, rather terse, instead of a paragraph full of laugh...]

(short start? how about:

I could feel my fingers wiggling in it.

and what did it feel like? smell like? go on...tell us all about it!]