Tag: Touch

Soft feathers? Coarse fur? Sharp claws? Write about your character’s favorite pet.

Get your character’s hands dirty today. Describe the feel of the dirt in the gardener’s hands, the dough between the fingers of the baker, the wet clay in the hands of the artist. This might relate to your character’s hobby or something he’s cooking, or maybe it’s a way to add texture to a scene you’ve already begun.

One of your primary characters knows exactly where he’s going. Or does he? Does he tighten his grip on the wheel when familiar terrain suddenly looks foreign? Does he stomp his foot on the brake pedal as he approaches an unexpected roadblock? Explore an obstacle or a case of bad directions, not forgetting to use the sense of touch to ground your character in his setting and heighten emotion or tension.

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?

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.