Five Senses Used In The Writing Process

Immediately after we are born, we start picking up sounds; the sound of our mother’s voice, the music playing in the elevator on the way to the car, and the happy cheers from a small child seeing their new sibling for the first time. We are always listening–picking up on conversations not meant for our ears, eavesdropping on the gossip of the adult world, and finding the meaning in the portentous silence. From all these auditory stimuli, we piece together the world around us to better understand what is happening to us, around us, and the secret happenings that were not for us to know. Great writers are the ones who listen and say nothing–who take it all in and save their classified information for a day when all the right words flow and form one epic story of the wondrous world we live in.

This chapter is important in a beginning writer’s process because it helps them to understand the basis of writing, connecting with the reader.

Writing varies from a text message to a novel. Writers often have a difficult task in creating a piece of work that truly identifies the meaning of good writing. Every good writer usually starts with the basics such as genre, audience, rhetorical situation, and reflection of the piece. Throughout this semester, we have gone through all of these key terms in great detail with each new assignment that has come our way. In doing this, not only as students but also as writers, we have come to create our own theory of writing. Every writer has a different theory of writing though most are very similar. Now, at this point in the semester after doing countless journals, in-class exercises, and final assignments, I think I have figured out my own

A good story is always structured with details that are easy to follow while intriguing readers with reality and emotions. Edwidge Danticat’s memoir has proven her ability to use descriptions that allows the text and the readers to connect. Through her writing, she is able to get the reader involved in her situation, so that it is as if they are experiencing it too. Adding on, Danticat cleverly writes each type of description in a way that makes them distinct from each other. This connects the two which adds to her message. Descriptions bring life to her story and stresses the real events that happened to her and her family which displays her message effectively. That being said, without objective and subjective descriptions, any piece

One of the first ways that the author uses descriptive language is to introduce a

of descriptive writing with a forbidding or positive tone, use of literary devices and strong

In her work Be Specific, Natalie Goldberg discusses the importance of specification in writing. By taking the time to put more thought into word choice and details in a person’s writing, they are more likely to create a more vivid and realistic image in his/her reader’s mind. Although this may be beneficial to some readers, others may argue that the mystery allows the reader to apply the story to his/her own life, allowing each reader to have a unique experience. Goldberg’s ideas on being specific can help writers who struggle with gaining connection to their audiences. Unsupportive of generic descriptions, Goldberg encourages writers to draw from the world around them to make their stories more animated and lively.

An example of description is on page three when Bradbury writes, “That sun. He could feel it like a hot paw. And the lions. And the smell of blood”(Bradbury 3). The description the author uses in this quote makes the reader paint such a clear picture in their head that they start feeling what the character is feeling.

Notes: What colors did you mark? What other descriptive words did you mark? Do these words help create a sense of how the narrator feels about his setting?

Engage and orient the reader using techniques such as dialogue and description to set up the situation and create a smooth progression of events. Use precise words and phrases, telling details, and sensory language to convey a vivid picture of the events. Athena was amused. The little human named Odysseus was lost. Again.

Each style has a distinctive purpose: some tell a story, some describes and others may persuade a viewpoint. I learned that descriptive essays have text which generally describes something in great detail. Whatever is being defined requires a broad research of trustworthy sources. The thing I liked most was researching and finding out new information on my topic. However, my greatest trouble was involving the reader’s emotion into my essays or writings. Nonetheless I realize that by involving the reader's emotions my writing gives a more vivid detail that makes the reader feel like he or she is actually there.

The descriptive diction used helped the reader get a feel for what was going on and they could imagine the scents and the imagery created.

The novel Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz uses description effectively. An example is, Alex hears a knock on the door, it was a butler named Mr.Grin, he told him to follow him and Mr.Grin begins to open a door.“There was a green glow as his fingerprints were read, and a moment later, the door slid soundlessly open. Everything was different on the other side of the door. From the art and elegance of the main house, Alex could have stepped in to the next century”(102) By using a lot of descriptions, is easier to picture what Alex is seeing and what is happening. Another example is, after alex got caught and punched by Mr.grin and alex waked up ‘His head was thumping and the side of his face was swollen where Mr. Grin had hit him. His arms were twisted behind him and the tendons in his shoulder were on fire.’(178) Especially in a book with action and some violence, being descriptive really helps because you are able to see and read what is happening and what they are feeling. Hence, the description used in Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz is effective. Description in a book can make very realistic, maybe too

The story “The Flowers” by Alice Walker was the best example of description. The author gives really good detail and makes it easy to picture the story in your head. An example of a point where she used good detail is in the first paragraph when she said, “... made each day a golden surprise that caused excited little tremors to run up her jaws.” the author could have just said that harvesting made her excited but she made us feel how excited she was. Another point where she used good detail was in the third paragraph when she described when she saw the water rising up and going down stream as “... tiny white bubbles disrupt the thin black scale of soil…”. Also another point that caught my attention where she used great description was when

Kevin has written a sensory/descriptive writing, independently. That is “focusing on describing something in such rich and clear detail.” (Cooper et al., 2012, p. 322)