Engaging the Senses - Debbie Bennett
Senses. We have five of them (let's not get into psychic abilities here). One of the best pieces of writing advice I've ever come across was about engaging all five of them. If you can engage a reader with all five senses, you can pull them into your story and make them believe they are really there. Sight is the obvious one. What is your character seeing? Light patterns, colour, luminosity - it's not just about objects. So instead of it being dark outside, we could have: The surrounding buildings were dark. No, not dark, black - Hammer Horror black - with the few windows that weren’t broken reflecting the moonlight like eyes watching them. Cycling down the narrow alley and trying to avoid the split rubbish bags piled against the walls, Spike half-expected Christopher Lee to leap out of the shadows and sink fangs into his neck. Isn't that so much more evocative than just being dark outside? What other senses can we engage? Sound is another obvious one - the wi...