Lesson Info
5. Using Your Five Senses to Build a World
Lessons
Class Introduction
01:13 2Reading, Listening and Participating
09:29 3Community Keeps You Writing
02:55 4Don't be Vague and Avoid Cliche
03:56 5Using Your Five Senses to Build a World
03:20 6Pacing: Write Slow, Write Strong
09:45 7Place is a Character
03:34 8Shame Will Shut You Down
07:12Lesson Info
Using Your Five Senses to Build a World
I have a three year old who I think I'm gonna show this to after this class is over. The five senses are so important in your writing. As I said, I started writing Memoir and when I was writing Memoir I didn't think too intensely about worldbuilding because the world I was writing about was already real. I knew it was real, I didn't think about it. But when I started writing my first novel, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the pressure of creating a world that felt realistic in a way that I hadn't thought of before and so I got really intense about the five senses and when I was writing about my character being in a particular place, what did she see when she looked around, you know? Did the air have a particular smell? Did the air have a certain weight, you know? Is she in a swampy environment? Is she in a dry environment? What is she hearing, what does her mouth taste like? You know, had she just had a cigarette? These are the sort of things that I think it's very helpful for those mo...
ments when you feel a little blocked in your writing, when you're at a little bit of standstill. Take stock of the five senses, like what can you have your character or your narrator, what can they observe about their world? It's always just good to check in with things like that. She created her presentation, that's what I was doing while I was thinking about this. Okay, that's boring. All was quiet, save the hum of the cars on the freeway outside her window. Okay, getting a little bit more of a picture of what this person's world looks like. Occasionally her eyes would would rise and linger on the tchotchkes on her windowsill. Maybe she's like an old woman. You see tchotchkes and you're just like, she's like an old, Eastern European woman. If she breathed deep, she could smell the Christmas tree slowly dying in the other room. Alright, we kind of know what time of the year it is. Her mouth tasted of sour lime from the zinc lozenges she'd taken to ward off a cold. Really getting the Eastern European huddled lady vibe from this. Her hands were cold as she typed, but she was too cheap to turn on the heat. So that was me writing this proposal. I mean, this (laughs) this presentation, and you can just see, like you just build it out a little by little, I mean it's not like this is a terribly exciting scene I've just set, but I've set a type of scene that now allows for something to happen, right? Something could happen, like somebody could storm into the room and yell at her, you know. We feel a little grounded, and that's something that readers are looking for when they're reading a book. You want a reader to feel grounded in your story, and for that to happen, you need to feel grounded in your story. It's not enough to only be talking about the interiority of your character. It's not enough to only be sort of recording almost in a reporting type of way. Like, this happened and then that happened. You need to make sure you're sewing it all together with these five senses. If you just keep that in mind, that can really be the glue and the connective tissue that really helps your story stay alive and carry forward. So I really recommend touching base with yourself with that.
Class Materials
Free Bonus Material
Ratings and Reviews
Bev
This was an inexpensive course that in my opinion offered great value. Michelle touched on a lot (operative word touched) of information that is informative and validating especially for those of us who are newbies in the world of writers. This is not a course of delving deep into specifics. For me this was a delightful afternoon spent with a writer who shared information and insights from her personal experience. I have some great notes from this course which I can actually apply. Thank You Michelle.
Tara
So i'm kind of in this place right now in my writing where I'm having a hard time moving forward and doing the work to finish. Listening to Michelle has helped me get more comfortable with realizing that if I ever want to get anything done I need to do that work. She left me feeling more amped up to continue my work. This is the kind of class that might help you come to the realization of what you need to do to finish your work or it might give you a different view of what you might need to do. I consider myself a novice writer so I think this course is definitely good for people who are starting there writing journey.