Creative Writing

Joanne H. Medina
Teacher II
VPHS SHS Department
Sensory Details
• Sensory Details include sight, sound, touch, smell and taste. Writers
employ the five senses to engage to reader’s interest. If you want your
writing to jump off the page, then bring your reader into the world you
are creating. When describing a past event, try and remember what you
saw , heard, touched, smelled, and tasted, then incorporate that into
your writing.
• Sensory details are used in any great story , literary or not . Think about
you favorite movie or video game. What types of sounds and images are
used? What do your favorite characters taste, smell and touch? Without
sensory details, stories would fail to come to life.
• When sensory details are used , your readers can personally experience
whatever you’re trying to describe , reminding them of their own
experiences, giving your writing a universal feel. A universal quality is
conveyed when the writer is able to personally connect with the readers.
Language use in Creative Writing
What is Imagery

• Imagery is language used by poets, novelists and

other writers to create images in the mind of the
reader.

• Imagery includes figurative and metaphorical

language to improve the reader’s experience
through their senses.
Examples of Imagery

• Imagery using visuals:

The night was black as ever, but bright stars lit
up the sky in beautiful and varied
constellations which were sprinkled across the
astronomical landscape.
 In the example, the experience of the night sky is described in depth with
color (black as ever, bright), shape (varied constellations), and pattern
(sprinkled).
• Imagery using sounds:
Silence was broken by the peal of piano
keys as Genesis began practicing his
concerto.

 Auditory imagery breaks silence with beautiful souncd of piano keys.

• Imagery using scent:
She smelled the sweet hibiscus wafting
through the air, its tropical smell a reminder
that she was on vacation in a beautiful place.

 The scent of hibiscus helps describe a scene which is relaxing,

warm and welcoming.
• Imagery using taste:
The candy melted in her mouth and swirls of
bittersweet chocolate and slightly sweet but
salty caramel blended together on her tongue.

• Thanks to an in-depth description of the candy’s various flavors, the reader can
almost experience the deliciousness directly.
• Imagery using touch:
After the long run, he collapsed in the grass
with tired and burning muscles. The grass
tickled his skin and sweat cooled on his
brow.

• Imagery is used to describe the feeling of strained muscles, grass’s

tickle and sweat cooling on skin.
Visual Imagery

• Describes what we see: comic book images, paintings or images

directly experienced through the narrator’s eyes . Visual imagery
may include:
Color- such as burnt red, bright orange, dull yellow, verdant
green.
Shapes- such as square, tubular, rectangular and conical.
Size- such as miniscule, tiny, small, medium-sized, large,
gigantic.
Pattern- such as polka-dotted, stripped, zig-zagged, jagged
and straight.
Auditory Imagery

• Describes what we hear, from music to noise to pure

silence. Auditory imagery may include:
Enjoyable sounds –such as beautiful music, birdsong,
and the voices of a chorus.
Noises- such as the bang of a gun, the sound of a
broom moving across the floor, and the sound of
broken glass shattering on the hard floor.
The lack of noise-describing a peaceful calm or eerie
silence.
Olfactory Imagery

• Describes what we smell. Olfactory imagery may include:

Fragrances- such as perfumes, enticing food and
drink, and blooming flowers.
Odors – such as rotting trash, body odors or a stinky
wet dog.
Gustatory Imagery

• Describes what we taste. Gustatory imagery may include:

Sweetness- candies, cookies and desserts.
Sourness, bitterness and tartness- such as lemons
and limes.
Saltiness-chicaron, french-fries, pepperonis.
Spiciness- salsas, curries, chillis.
Savoriness- Steak dinner or thick soup, umami.
Tactile Imagery

• Describes what we feel or touch. Tactile imagery includes:

Temperature- bitter cold, humidity, mildness, stifling heat.
Texture- rough, ragged, seamless andsmooth.
Touch – hand-holding, the feeling of starched facbric on one’s
skin.
Movement- burning muscle from exertion, swimming in cold
water, or kicking a soccer ball.
Importance of using Imagery

• We experience life through our senses, a strong composition should

appeal to them through the use of imagery.
• Descriptive imagery launches the reader into the experience of
warm spring day, scorching hot summer, harsh lightning and
thunderstorm.
• It allows readers to directly sympathize with characters and
narrators as they imagine having the same sense experiences.
• Imagery commonly helps build compelling poetry, convincing
narratives, vivid plays, well-designed film sets and descriptive
songs.
Imagery in Literature

• Imagery is found throughout literature in

poems, plays, stories, novels and other
creative compositions.