In a post on Writers in the Storm, Ellen Buikema continues her series on sensory writing, this time focusing on the sense of sight. “People are unique in that most use sight as their dominant sense, which may be why the sense of sight is so often used in describing scenes and characters,” Buikema says. “When using sight in writing, our characters are often guided by what they see.”
However, even as we describe what we – or our characters – see, we still miss a lot of the action. Buikema suggests we consider the following visual elements in our writing:
- Color. In addition to adding to our descriptions, color sets mood and adds context.
- Movement. “The way that characters move through a scene illuminates their qualities and emotions,” Buikema writes.
- Light. “Light affects mood, both inside and outdoors,” Buikema says. “Perhaps you have a character originally from a sunnier location that moves to the Pacific Northwest, maybe the Oregon coast. How do you think the change of light might affect the character’s frame of mind?”
Buikema also says visual description can support your theme and genre, and shares examples of descriptive language from romance, humor, and mystery novels.
