Part of what brings up resistance to write is that writing asks you to switch to a sensory mode, to track the progress of the world or a scene through sights, smells, tastes, textures and sounds. Collectively, we discuss these as “imagery,” taking the word beyond its visual limitations. In this expanded sense, “imagery” is at the heart of our enterprise. A great way to start can be simply to tune into each sense: what do you (or your character) see, smell, taste, touch, and hear in a given moment–this one ot the one into which you are about to dive to create a scene? To bring imagery alive in your writing, you’ll want to incorporate your descriptions into the action. Rather than stepping outside of the flow of time to tell us that a character is wearing a flamboyant red hat, show it: Your character lifted the red hat from his head, feathers fluttering as if from the effort of hovering there for a moment before he clapped it down again and turned, his matching cape swirling at his ankles. “Follow me,” he said.

The details of description create and enliven the scene. They let us imagine in and through imagery, to experience it. This is the magic of story.

A Practical Alphabet for Writers: Find all the letters so far at https://bookwritingworld.com/blogs/