Written by September 26th, 2013

Writing Prompt: Four Senses

Most people have five senses: Taste, touch, smell, sight, and hearing. However when we write we tend to focus on only one of those, sight.

This exercise is designed to focus on improving the diversity of our senses when it comes to writing. Set a timer for 15 minutes. This is a short exercise.

Now focus on writing without mentioning sight at all. You can write from the point of view of a blind person, or just not mention what anything looks like.

If you are writing from a first person perspective this exercise is much easier. After all, you spend much of your life listening, tasting, touching, and smelling the world around you.

This is a great exercise for two reasons. The first is that it generally gets the writer out of the rut of relying heavily on visual images and opens up a number of other options for them. The second is that you often find yourself noticing your other senses more after it.

 

 

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