I have written about the senses before, here is something else on the same subject:
In my writing groups I try to plan something which is useful to me as well, I hope to the group! We have been looking at the senses and how we use them in our writing – sometimes in subtle ways by suggestion, rather than saying out right ‘It was a warm day’, ‘the wind was chill’, the scent of roses filled the air’ etc. However, as well as ‘the fab five’ which we all know sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch… how about thinking of other sense?
What about thermoception?
In plain English, thermoception is our sense of heat and cold. When you’re writing, think of the setting you have situated your characters – Fair Isle in December? Truro in August? The sense of temperature will be an important part of what your people do and how they behave. Inside or outside, up a mountain or in a valley, in the bath or in the sea…
We are aware of it but how do we show not tell our readers? Putting on or taking off hats and scarves, switching on or off a heater, lighting a fire or opening the windows – you don’t have to say it’s roasting hot or a bit chilly, show your readers that it is!
What about proprioception?
We know where we are, don’t we? We don’t have to be constantly checking I’m sitting on a chair, there’s someone standing close to me, I’m going down the stairs, I’m cycling up hill You not only know where you are, but you know where bits of you are in comparison to other bits – my hands are nearly touching, one foot is in front of the other, my head is tipped towards my left shoulder… It’s all about muscles, and effort and the weight of our limbs or head. So how can we incorporate this into our writing? By being aware of what are characters are doing – walking along a slippery path, lifting a fallen child, chasing the baddie!
What about time?
Some people are really good at judging time – I generally know roughly what time it is and i don’t wear a watch; I’m also quite good at judging how long has passed – when I was teaching, I knew pretty well where I was in the lesson without a watch or looking at a clock. However, I am also really good at letting time run away! I’m thinking her not about the amount of time we spend writing, but about time in our stories; it can be several things and for our characters there will be different aspects of time.There is measured time – do they catch the train? do they hang about waiting because they are early? do they go for a drink and meet the person of their dreams because they have time on their hands? There can be time as in setting – when the story takes place and also over what amount of time in which it takes place. Time can be the past the now and the future/
What else?
Our senses are not just ‘the fab five’, plus thermoception, plus proprioception, plus a sense of time, there are others, as I discovered in an interesting article; others such as pressure, itching/irritation, tension, balance, thirst, hunger, and animals of course have magnetoception! Since I read about these, I really have tried to use the ideas in my writing… showing not telling!
Here is a link to that article:
http://io9.com/sensing-your-own-body-is-more-complicated-than-you-real-1473461740
… and here is a link to my books… do I get my sense of senses right? I hope so:
Lois Elsden 