The (Unofficial) Wattpad Writer's Manual

SECTION 5: Use the Force Luke

SECTION 5: Use the Force Luke

The 5 senses come in handy whenever you're writing. You must be able to feel whatever the character feels and see whatever the character sees. Think about how you would react to a particular situation. Or what it feels like to walk into an awkward moment. When that really, reallllly hot guy is staring you down, do you feel like blushing? ...get nervous? ...start rambling? ...sweat? ...run? ...feel hot? ...meet his eyes? ...giggle? ...fidget? WHAT?!

Another way I "get into character" is to pretend I'm talking to a friend. What would they say to me if I shocked them by telling them this particular sentence? Would they laugh? Cry? Look at me like I'm crazy?

To better describe things you can see, touch, smell, hear or taste, try to think about texture, shapes, depth, consistency, density. For non-tangible items (eh hem, things you can't touch), imagine your expressions and reactions. How would you react if you were to smell a fish vs. smelling a chocolate chip cookie? ...taste a sour lemon as compared to a sweet candy? Pretend there is a mirror in front of you. See each expression on your face. Feel each emotion as it passes through your mind. Connect the ideas together.

My face would scrunch up, my nose would wrinkle and my toes would want to curl as my muscles tensed up if I were to eat a sour lemon right now, shaking my head in distaste. I would feel disgusted, sick and like I wanted to throw up! Get the picture?!

If you need to see, touch, smell, hear or taste the real thing, then by all means, go do it - if it's safe and it's something you have access to. Visualizing or stimulating the senses ALWAYS helps me write better.

Here's an example!

Initial Idea:

"I looked above my head and saw a chandelier" is pretty vague. Depending on where you want to go with it, you can think about what kind of chandelier? What color? Big or small? Dusty or spotless? Broken or pristine?

Edit One:

"I looked above my head and saw sparkles of light splitting into a million pieces" is a good way to start editing this sentence. I'm no longer describing the physical chandelier. Not just yet. I'm describing what I SEE looking at it. It's taking the light and breaking it up. I'm only detailing a chandelier's most basic function, so hardly any creative juices there! J

Edit Two:

Develop the idea further. Use the phrase 'and then what happened?' as your guide. "I looked above my head and saw sparkles of light splitting into a million pieces from a beautiful, crystal chandelier." Here, I'm just adding a description of the chandelier with two adjectives: beautiful and crystal.

Edit Three:

"I looked above my head and saw sparkles of light splitting into a million pieces from a beautiful crystal chandelier. It cascaded down the walls and showered me." Here, I'm adding a second sentence which describes the FEELing I get when looking at the chandelier. Notice that I touched on both the visual and the emotional. I'm also describing light as if it were a waterfall! And what do waterfalls do? Yep. Cascade down and shower me if I'm too close.

Side Note about Personification: What is that exactly? Personification is the act of giving human characteristics to otherwise inanimate, emotionless objects to magnify an emotion, feeling or to highlight the mood. So for example: "The wall loomed before me, staring down at me threateningly". Now, we obviously know that walls do NOT stare at you. I know you think they do, but they don't, sorry!

You can see how personification highlights the magnitude of the wall standing before the character. I threw in the verb (a content word denoting an action, occurrence or state of existence) "looming" to showcase the emotion of feeling small as compared to the wall, and the word "threateningly" to showcase the apprehension about getting closer. If you look up the word "loom" in the dictionary, you will often find that it goes hand in hand with the word "threatening". I'm just literally pointing out an obvious characteristic of the word "loom" in my writing so that the reader will feel what the character feels.