Senses

Books I enjoy reading engage the senses as well as imagination. The trick is to get those descriptions onto paper.

Today was all about the senses. I've been following the California wildfires with interest because I've never seen the like in this country. Sure, I've been in danger from bushfires; I've seen the gouts of smoke and heat, seen the leap of flames, heard the strident wail of sirens, tasted the bitter tang of ash, smelled the acrid stench of burning wood and grass and felt the disturbing increase in heartbeat as I watched an ember take hold halfway up a tree at the front of my house. But I've never seen lakes and puddles of fire.

For all the tragedy, that was fascinating. Our fires aren't like that. They burn hot, fast and leave ash behind, yes, but the fire front is ten, maybe twenty metres wide. It is possible here to jump through a fire line and onto charred, hot ground and be safe; but only as a last, desperate resort. Not so from what I've seen in the U.S. Lakes of fire where the very soil burns is something truly scary. Visually spectacular, viscerally frightening.

I also listened to the disturbing - and potential-filled - sound of the internet connecting via dial-up. Old tech, sure, but the echoing, digital sound of one computer talking to another in squeaks, burps and hisses is another language; as if, if you listened hard enough, you'd understand. A little creepy, really.

I had to buy standard coffee for the machine this morning; the coffee was just as ordinary, lacking the flavour of my usual brew. Slightly insipid, leaning toward bland. A coffee I shan't be buying again.

As for touch, well, I did touch the new spiderwebs near the lid of the garbage bin and squicked myself out. Does that count? I'm still a little shuddery over that. Oh, the horror! The stickiness of the fine strands adhering to my fingers, stretching out and crackling as they break. Ickety-ick, ick, ICK!

Evoking emotions in a reader is a prime directive of authors, I think, especially if you can write the good and the bad.

With one more week to go before Nano, I'm settling into the thought patterns of various characters. This means getting down into how each character uses their senses. And I'm hoping it will work. I want this book to work - that's not to say the others don't, but I want this one to be a little more organised and focused.