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Beyond the Textbook
Writing Tips Made Easy

Laurie Lupold

The Six Senses

Sight: When you view the world you can take into account its variety. Perhaps from something as subtle as summer day to a more distinct looking gentleman sitting on a park bench feeding pieces of bread to the hungry ducks. You might describe his withered jacket and worn boots as that which would appear on someone less fortunate. But sight at times is deceiving. This man very well could be extremely well off but chooses to appear otherwise because he doesn't want family and friends to depend on him for their obligations.

Sound: What is heard in your observance of your story? Sounds should offer your story moods, tones, effects. They should nurture your story. Help it to progress, award it structure, giving it a sense of life. The wrong dialogue or description of sound would surely decrease the stories potential therefore leaving the writer and reader disappointed.

Smell: Scents are one of the most amazing ways we can tell a story, from the scent of a sweet perfume to the freshness of a warm spring rain. We can give a lot to a story by adding hints of fragrance throughout it. Although at times it may not be fresh and delightful, it is important to the story nonetheless.

Taste: When we speak of taste we are not merely describing in the context of food. We might describe rain we catch on our tongue, sweat, dirt and the list goes on. If we were writing as a child, perhaps we'd reflect on our own childhood expressing our love for those flowers with sweet juices and the tiny plant that looked like a clover and tasted so sweet and tart, in fact, that's what we called them, sweet tarts. Imagine describing that motorcycle ride where you got your first taste of a bug. Now how would you describe that?

Touch: I think the best way to describe how something feels to us is to close our eyes and then touch the object we want to explore. Examine slowly, being careful to capture the details of that particular object. What is its texture? It's depth? Size? Is there more than one? The list of questions could go on, but I suggest if you choose to use this method you keep records of your questions and the results of your research.

Imagine: This process brings the whole story together. It tells you who your characters are going to be; what their conflicts, defeats and triumphs are going to be and what plots will be created, the climax, and then eventually, the conclusion.

As I said in the beginning, this is not textbook. These are just some ideas and thoughts I have discovered on my own. In this column I hope to be able to offer you writing tips that might enlighten you. If you have anything to offer be sure to send it in. I'm always interested in new ideas.