Powerful sensory description evokes images that take
the reader into the action of the story. When the reader is engaged in the
character’s plight, the story seems more real.
See: Providing visual details about how a character
looks and acts bring him/her to life. Some authors are reluctant to
describe details, such as long, brown hair. Instead, they choose other specifics:
a cross tattoo on an arm or a face roadmapped with wrinkles.
Hear: Almost no setting is completely void of sound.
Ducks quack, thunder booms, and wind whistles. Sounds are the second most frequently used
sensory descriptor, following visual. Certain sounds trigger personal memories.
Fingernails on a chalkboard still send shivers down my spine.
Touch: Allow
the reader to feel the damp morning mist as a character walks down the street.
Make it pleasurable with the feel of a dog’s soft fur or painful with the door
slamming on a hand. The tactile experience allows the character to explore the
world and its many textures, shapes, and sizes.
Smell:
This sense is used less often in writing. The delectable aroma of cornbread
baking fills grandma’s kitchen. The scent drifts through the house to the
bedroom where the character is holed up. This sense has the power over our
thoughts and emotions to transport us through time. The tangy scent of oranges
reminds me of the Christmas season.
Taste:
One whiff of chocolate cake and her mouth waters for a taste, a bite, a morsel. These vivid
descriptions resonate with readers, especially when we define a particular
sweet, sour, salty, or bitter palate.
Look
for opportunities to add smell and taste sensory descriptors to your writing. Those
are the most difficult to incorporate. You certainly don’t have to use all five
senses in every scene. That would be overkill. But used effectively, sensory
writing will connect your readers to your fictional world.
I
have a guest author/editor who will visit the next two weeks.
Call
for submissions for young writers:
The KET Young
Writers Contest is a terrific opportunity for young children to express their
creativity by writing for an authentic audience beyond the walls of their
school or home. Students in kindergarten through the 5th grade are invited to
send in their illustrated stories and, for the first time, students in the 3rd
through 5th grades can choose to enter a 400-600 word short story without
illustrations instead.
The contest
runs until April 15, 2014 and winners will be notified in
May. You can visit the Young Writers Contest website, which has links to the rules, scoring rubrics, and
entry forms.
Submission
guidelines at http://www.ket.org/writerscontest/
Call for submissions for adult
writers:
Hay House
Publishing is reviewing full-length nonfiction manuscripts for this year’s Hay
House Insights Nonfiction Writing Contest, which will award an author a
publishing contract and a $5,000 advance under its self-help imprint Balboa
Press.
This contest is
open to any subject, topic, or theme, as long as it is nonfiction. Submit only
unpublished, full-length works.
The judges will
evaluate manuscripts on creativity, story structure, expertise of the subject,
writing style, and obedience to the publisher’s editorial values.
Hay House
Publishing, along with its imprint Balboa Press, specialize in self-help and
inspirational books. The company also publishes a wide range of other subjects,
including children’s books, cookbooks, fiction, and poetry.
Deadline: May 1, 2013.
On June 3, 2013, the winners will be announced. All prize winners will
be notified and posted on www.balboapress.com and the Hay
House Facebook page, www.facebook.com/hayhouse.
Submission guidelines at
http://www.freelancewriting.com/freewritingcontests/FWC-hay-house-insights-nonfiction-writing-contest.php
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