I don't have trouble putting down a book. I can do it for an hour, a day, a month, a year, or never pick it up again. Eternal on the Water by Joseph Monninger (available from Simon and Schuster in February) is different. I couldn't put it down, not because of the tragic love story, the spunky heroine, or the honorable hero. Monniger's strong sensory images drew me into that world. I felt the fine spray of paddles dipping in the racing river, tasted the first bittersweet sip of hot coffee on a brisk morning, saw sunlight filter though the pines to awaken iridescent colors from a black bird wing.
To show rather than tell, we must use all five senses to draw the reader into the story. I love camping, so the images in Eternal on the Water, appealed to my senses stimulating emotion. Emotion drives the story. The more our senses are awakened to the emotions we once experienced, the more we feel a part of the story. Senses not only connect us to the story, they announce the emotion. Slimy things crawling on the floor hint at something unsavory afoot. Champagne bubbling on the tongue telegraphs happiness and celebration.
Fit the images into the story. Long paragraphs of description are unnecessary. The trick is to pick the exact image to bring the story to life. A shower of sparks erupting from the campfire when a pocket of sap in a pine log bursts, the murmur of the river drifting through the pines, the smell of bacon frying over a campfire on a windy morning, streams of water twisting like dark rope in the current: these images tucked into the movement of the story bring us into the world and make it ours.
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Nancy Famolari's stories and poems have appeared in Long Story Short, Flash Shot, Fiction Flyer, Lyrica, Alienskin Magazine Clockwise Cat, and Matters of the Heart from the Museitup Press. Her young adult novel, Unwelcome Guest at Fair Hill Farm, is available from Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Unwelcome-Guest-Fair-Hill-Farm/dp/1448697123/).
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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books for writers, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. Her FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal". Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog.
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Thanks for inviting me today, Carolyn. The post was great fun to write.
ReplyDeleteI already feel as if I'm there!
ReplyDeleteNancy, thanks for the advice. I'm going to take a look at my writings and apply what you mentioned
ReplyDeleteMartha Swirzinski
Always a good reminder, Carolyn--in both writing and life--to make full use of all our senses.
ReplyDeleteI focus on engaing the reader through the five senses. not just action, setting, or internal strugles. I use restaurants and Starbuks a lot as I can employ taste, smell, touch (use of the hans, is the food hot or cold and what is the texture) site, and sound (sizzling fajitas or cracking of crab legs).
ReplyDeleteStephen Tremp
I don't always use all five senses in each scene, but I do use them where they fit in the storyline. Sometimes there may be two or three. Another time a different one or two. But they all get used.
ReplyDeleteYour comment, Nancy, about not using long stretches of narrative discription is so true.
Thanks, Carolyn, for bringing Nancy's article to us.
A great reminder for all writers. Thanks, Nancy!
ReplyDeleteI like this interview and post. It's always nice to learn something about someone that isn't the traditional interview. Good job.
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone for visiting today. Carolyn's out of town. I know she'd say the same thing. I'm glad you enjoyed the article. I loved the images in the book.
ReplyDeleteI, too, love rich imagery in the stories I read and write. One of my favorite authers, Cornelia Funke, uses incredible imagery when describing landscapes and just about everything she writes.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's the never-ending challenge, isn't it? How to "put" the reader into the story with the characters. As Ross Perot once said, "I want to see it, taste it, touch it and run it through my small intestine." Or was that Dana Carvey? Anyway, great advice. Great interview. I loved it.
ReplyDeleteThis is a wonderful article, Nancy. It provides useful examples to show us writers descriptive sentences that are full of the five senses.
ReplyDeleteI'm copying and saving this as a resource when writing!
Thanks, Nancy and Carolyn.
Thanks for the post, Nancy!
ReplyDeleteRefreshing interview! What an innovative approach.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Valuable tips!
ReplyDeleteLiana