DIFFERENT TYPES OF IMAGERY

Effective imagery uses all of the senses to create a detailed

world for your story. Most of us rely mainly on our eyes to take
in information, but as a writer, you have a whole range of
physical sensations to explore. Every one of them can be used
to bring your reader deeper and deeper into your story world.

VISUAL IMAGERY
Visual imagery encompasses everything that we
can see. Colors, shapes, sizes, proportions,
angles, edges, textures, and contrast are all
different things you can communicate through the
readers’ senses.
Saying that a man stood half-in and half-out of
shadow, his wool collar turned up against his face
and his hair tipped golden by the lamplight, is an
example of using different aspects of visual
imagery to create a clear scene.

AUDITORY IMAGERY
Auditory imagery is everything that we hear. After our
eyes, our ears tell us the most about our environment.
Your characters might hear the sounds of other
voices, nearby traffic, music coming from a neighbor’s
apartment, water dripping through pipes, the
knocking of an air conditioner, branches rustling,
distant machinery, a keyboard clattering, or the soft
rustle of the turning pages of a book.
Using auditory imagery can reveal surprising things
about your story and convey new information to your
characters, as well as immersing your readers deeper
into the scene.

GUSTATORY IMAGERY
Gustatory imagery is the imagery of taste. What and
how we taste is one of the most important ways in
which we define culture, and often one of the first
things people become aware of when immersing
themselves in cultures outside of their own.
You can use sensory details to describe the way food
tastes, of course, but also the way the air tastes in a
new environment, the way blood tastes if you
accidentally bite your tongue, the flavour of plastic
and ink as you chew the end of your pen in thought.
You can also use gustatory imagery in a metaphorical
way, as well as in a literal one; for example, the way a
new love affair might taste sweet but an argument
might taste bitter and acidic.
 OLFACTORY IMAGERY
Olfactory imagery is the imagery of scent. More than
any other sense, our sense of smell is deeply linked to
the way we form and perceive memory. In your story,
using olfactory imagery is an easy way to link different
times and places.
Olfactory memories can be pleasant, or they can be
less so; your characters memories might be triggered
by the smell of lavender like they had their childhood
garden, by the smell of hot concrete in the sun as they
remember the events of a particularly hot day, by the
smell of burning toast that brings them back to a
traumatic event, or by the fragrance that a loved one
used to wear, even if your character hasn’t thought
about them in decades.

TACTILE IMAGERY

Tactile imagery encompasses our sense of

physical contact. For many people, touch is the
sense we subconsciously trust the most; it’s
easy to doubt the things you see and hear, but
if it can be tangibly felt by your bare skin, it
becomes real in an unequivocal way.
Things like a baby’s skin, a man’s unshaven
face, the rough fabric of a tweed coat, slimy
cough medicine, a warm teacup, or the cold
surface of a window are all ways to use this
type of imagery to create an emotional impact.
How do different textures bring back
memories and elicit feelings?

KINESTHETIC IMAGERY

Kinesthetic imagery is related to tactile imagery, but it

specifically refers to the feeling of movement. These
can be things like hair blowing across your face in the
wind, a rope slipping slowly from your grasp, the
discomfort of shifting an aching muscle, the feeling of
bread dough being kneaded in your hands, or the
feeling of shoes beginning to drag across the sidewalk
after a very long walk.
This type of imagery reflects one state changing to
another, and is often used in moments where
something is being created, broken, found, or lost.
 COMPOSITE IMAGERY
Composite imagery is a device that uses contradictory
senses to create an image or feeling. These are always
figurative, rather than literal. For example, you could
say, “kissing her tasted like sunlight,” mixing gustatory
imagery with tactile and visual imagery; or, “his voice
sounded like splintered wood,” mixing auditory
imagery with tactile imagery.
Using poetic imagery in this way uses metaphors to
create surprising connections and shows your reader
what’s happening in a fresh way.

By incorporating multisensory learning into the lessons,

teachers will be providing kids with an effective, enjoyable,
and well-rounded learning experience.
So why not give it a try today?