To see through your eyes
One of the best ways to bring a scene alive is to get your characters to use their senses. Your readers should be seeing each scene through the eyes of your viewpoint character, so get that character to tell the reader what things they sense.
For most of us, sight is the dominant sense. We can use it in our writing to show how large a building is, what the light is like in an outdoor scene, or perhaps give an impression of the dominant colour of a setting. In Eyemind, the planet Latoya has a green-blue sky and the foliage is jade green. These are some of the first things Keri notices.
You can tell the reader that someone is stressed or frightened by showing their harsh breathing, or their voice coming out in a squeak. The smell of decomposition could lead your characters to discover a dead body. A woodland setting is enhanced by describing the scent of pines, or the fusty smell of decaying fallen leaves.
If your characters are suddenly plunged into darkness and have to find their way out of somewhere, touch becomes all important. And if a character tastes something strange in their food they might later die of poisoning.
Adding sensory detail to a scene makes it far more rich and immediate. It draws the reader into the action and can help in making them care what happens to your characters.
For most of us, sight is the dominant sense. We can use it in our writing to show how large a building is, what the light is like in an outdoor scene, or perhaps give an impression of the dominant colour of a setting. In Eyemind, the planet Latoya has a green-blue sky and the foliage is jade green. These are some of the first things Keri notices.
You can tell the reader that someone is stressed or frightened by showing their harsh breathing, or their voice coming out in a squeak. The smell of decomposition could lead your characters to discover a dead body. A woodland setting is enhanced by describing the scent of pines, or the fusty smell of decaying fallen leaves.
If your characters are suddenly plunged into darkness and have to find their way out of somewhere, touch becomes all important. And if a character tastes something strange in their food they might later die of poisoning.
Adding sensory detail to a scene makes it far more rich and immediate. It draws the reader into the action and can help in making them care what happens to your characters.
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