The cold paint cans in her hand, the texture of the wall or appliance serving as a blank canvas–your character is doing some home improvement. What emotions does she feel as she holds a can in her hand for the first stroke? Is she covering up past memories, good or bad? Is she starting a new phase of life? Is she reinventing herself?
Republished from Nooks & Cranberries, September 2010.
Tree climbing, fantasy tree houses, enchanted forests–everyone has a tree story. What’s yours? Return to your childhood and describe the feeling of bark on your hands as you climbed a tree. Or make a wildly enchanted forest seem believable by describing the feel of things your readers can relate to such as branches scraping one’s skin, fallen leaves crumbling under one’s feet, or the feeling of the sun shining through a break in the trees.
Republished from Nooks & Cranberries, September 2010.
What is your character afraid of? How does that fear physically manifest itself when she’s facing it? If she’s afraid of heights, does she grip the Ferris wheel seat for dear life until her knuckles turn white? If he’s afraid of spiders, does the sight of one send crawling feelings up his arms as if he were covered in them? What does your character fear, and what do the reactions say about him or her?
There’s no snow in sight–yet. So if you’re writing a scene that takes place outside in the winter, you have to imagine. Today describe the feelings of winter, from the sting of sleet on your exposed skin to to the feeling of a snowball sticking to your mittens. Make a list if you wish, or develop your descriptions into a scene or a poem.
Sometimes just the sight of something suggests the way it feels. Take a look at this apartment building, for example. There’s no doubt that its facade would feel damp and cold against your hand. Your assignment today: Take one of your visual descriptions and see if you can add a new dimension to it using the sense of touch.
It’s getting cold out there! Whether it’s itchy but stylish, the softest cashmere, or a heavy wool wool that blocks out the fiercest wind, what does your favorite sweater or coat say about you? Silly question, you may say, but think about it seriously. Now, if you’re a fiction writer, think about your characters’ clothes. Don’t waste a word describing something that doesn’t somehow clue your reader into your characters’ personalities or your plot.
The warm water circling your ankles, sand grinding between your toes, fish swimming by–think back to a trip to the beach and recapture that day in as much sensory detail as possible.
Click on one of the following photos and use that prompt for today’s Daily Writers’ Fix.
