Creating a Rich Environment
Posted on | May 6, 2010 | 4 Comments
Where are you? Go ahead, look around. What do you see? What do you hear? What does the air feel like? Smell like? What are you touching, and what’s touching you? It feels real, doesn’t it? It should because it’s what we call reality.
Now, think of a place you’ve been – on vacation or in your neighborhood, anywhere you’ve been that you aren’t at now. Imagine what you saw there. What did you hear? What did the air feel like? Smell like? What were you touching, what was touching you? Pretend you can actually see, hear, smell and feel those things in your body. Does it bring back more details as you imagine further? Does it feel real on any level? This is what we call memory.
Now think of a place you’ve never been. It can be on this planet or on a different one. It can be now or in the past or in the future, real, partly real or completely fictional. Now imagine what you might have seen there. What you would have heard. What the air would have felt like. Smelled like. Imagine what you would have been touching or what would have been touching you. Give each sense a moment. Give each sense more detail to play with. Can you get a visceral sense of the place? This is what we call imagination and is the basis for much good writing.
Whether you’re writing fiction or reports, a letter or an article, if you need to create a rich environment to communicate something to your reader, the easiest way to do it is to first imagine it for yourself, imagine yourself in it. Even if it is an environment you are very familiar with, take a moment to let your body, your five senses, experience it. Take a moment to pretend you are there right now.
Much of your writing will take care of itself at that point, and it will be filled with rich detail that more easily communicates to your reader.
~Geoff Hoff
Co-author of the how-to guide On Writing a Short Story.
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May 6th, 2010 @ 10:58 am
Great reminder. No better way to bring your writing alive than to incorporate sensory details. Also, in fiction, dialogue makes a huge difference. I saw that with a client’s novel.
Thanks!
Bobbye Middendorf
The Write Synergies Guru
Bobbye Middendorf´s last blog ..Write Synergies: What It Means — Blog Challenge Post 25
May 9th, 2010 @ 10:22 am
[...] often helps to get grounded in the physical world as part of your practice. Like the incomparable Geoff Hoff advised recently, bring in details from all your senses to make the surrounding environment come alive. [...]
May 9th, 2010 @ 12:28 pm
Thank you, Bobbye. I left a comment on your wonderful post on your blog. Not sure it took, as I don’t see it, yet, but suffice it to say it was a bravo!
June 20th, 2010 @ 3:20 am
[...] often helps to get grounded in the physical world as part of your practice. Like the incomparable Geoff Hoff advised recently, bring in details from all your senses to make the surrounding environment come alive. [...]