♦Welcome to another edition of the Open Book Blog Hop!♦
Topic #65
Infusing sensory details into writing – how do you do it or do you do it? Does it just flow as you write or is it part of the rewrite process, a deliberate choice? Does too much sensory detail in writing bother you or do you wish there was more in today’s writing?
Welcome back to another edition of the Open Book Blog Hop! If you’re new to the series, the authors included are grateful for your reads and appreciate, even more so, when you share our writings with your friends. If you’re new to the series, welcome aboard. The authors engage and impress weekly. Be prepared to become a regular reader.
Writing is hard. All the way around, there are so many questions to ask and have answered. The overwhelming part is just starting in the face of all that you’ll need to accomplish. If you let that stop you, though, you’ll never get to the goal of having written a book. Hopefully, this blog hop has helped a few of you out there to overcome the anxiety and get to work.
If you ever have questions, please leave them in the comments! Me and my fellow authors would love to hear from you and find out what’s on your minds about the process, or just to chat about interests.
In late 2014 I started a series covering how to write historical fiction. In that series, I covered the need to research physical items. Physical objects have more than just tactile attributes. They may have scent, a taste, or a sound. Each has a visual appearance.
Personally, I find the use of sensory details quite enhancing to a story. With all good things, one should seek proper moderation. You can’t just fill up your pages with descriptions of things. A rookie mistake is to overdo the description of a character’s garb for instance. Why does this matter in such detail? Is the outfit a character of it’s own? You might see it vividly in your mind’s eye, but that doesn’t mean it has to be vomited on the page in one giant annoyance to your readers.
Still feel the need to drop descriptions of outfits? Try spreading it out and keeping it minimal. Don’t be wordy.
The same rules go for any object. Unless their is a story plot reason to include the description, generally avoiding the exposition of spaces is a good rule. To do this, have a serious conversation with yourself: Does this matter to the unfolding of the story? Is my genre more accepting of descriptions of this kind (SciFi, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery), or less accepting (Historical, Contemporary, Drama)? What is the consensus of readers for my type of book: less is more, or more is great?
Yes. It does appear that this decision requires a little effort researching your audience and genre, but that will be required at some point anyway (you’ll be marketing on your own).
When done right, using sensory details can make the reading experience luxurious. Just be sure not to overwhelm your readers.
Writing is just like cooking. You’ll use your knowledge of the art-form to concoct a new recipe every time. Just like in cooking, some flavors go well together, and the use of spices must be careful thought out. Less is more in many cases.
Let’s hop on over to see what the other authors have to say about writing sensory details…
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