Transcripts
1. SkillShare video 1 Introduction: Hey, my name is Flora.
Nice to meet you. I'm an interdisciplinary
artist, writer and performer. I tell personal stories
using visual arts, written and spoken word, theater and performance
and movement. In all of my stories, sensory story telling
plays a really big role. What are we going to
explore in this course. We'll start by diving
into what sense writing is demonstrated by an example
and several questions. After, we'll look at
how sensory information is processed and
perceived by our brain. To test this knowledge, you are invited to an
awareness exercise. Thirdly, we'll look closer at the five senses and the
matching sensory imagery. I have created a quiz, a little test that you can take to see if you can identify the different sensory
imagery used in stories. Fourthly, we'll look at the
show don't tell technique. This will help your own
sense writing exploration. I have created many fun and short writing prompts
to go along with this. We will also dive into the
free writing technique to gain inspiration and to work
through creative blocks. The course finale is, of course, a beautiful class
project in which all the information and
new acquired skills are put into practice by creating a one page story from
a sensory mood board. I have also designed
a workbook for you so you can keep all
the information together. Are you ready to dive in? Okay. Well, let's start by downloading the workbook and
doing the first assignment. Write down your intentions
for this course.
2. Video 2 What is Sense Writing: Sensory writing is writing
from the senses of sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste to create vivid imagery
in the reader's mind. I remember fabrics and colors. The rest of my personal
narrative seems gone, as if my childhood
never existed, as if I never existed
in these years. When describing a setting,
character, object, or relationship, sense writing can bring that extra
zest to your scene. The sensory language we use stimulates the
senses of the reader, which tickles their personal
associations and memories. We want to write
scenes that a reader can identify with
and that they for.
3. Video 3 Sense writing example: Close your eyes and try to
imagine the following scene. Janes stood there. The soft, gentle buzz of a dragonfly densed around her
pale porcelain face. The sun reflected on
its pearl blue tail. For a moment, it paused
and rested on her arm. Its feet tickled her skin, causing bumps to appear. The fresh water of
the lake reflected, and even brighter
clear blue sky. Surrounded by the
smell of pine trees, it was as if she had
stepped into a billboard. The warm water
embraced her feet. Yes. The worst was
now behind her. Jane let out a sigh of relief. The taste of hope,
a new day full of possibilities was stretched
right in front of her. From within a whisper arose. Mom, I wish you were here. She whispered, what only
the Dragonfly could hear. Now, try to bring this
setting to your mind's eye. And can you answer the
following questions? Where is Jane standing? What can you tell about
her surroundings? How does she feel? Which senses are
stimulated by the writing? And how does it make you feel? In your workbook, you can find these questions
and answer them.
4. Video 4 How do we process Sensory Information : A little theory on how sensory information is
processed by our brain. Just to give you an insight
on how medical our brain is. All day long, our brain
gets signals from our organs, eyes, nose, ears, our tongue and skin, and interprets this information to tell us what is
happening around us. Our brain tells us if we
are safe and which action to take or which
action not to take. As this is an
introductory course, we will only focus
on the classic five. Let's repeat them once more, so we don't forget site. Hearing, touch,
smell, and taste. Okay.
5. Video 5 Sensory Perception: We now understand that
sensory information from the outside world and
from inside our bodies is continuously
processed by our brain. What is interesting for us as creative writers is how we
perceive that information. The way sensory information
is organized, interpret, and consciously experienced is referred to as
sensory perception. Sensory perception
is the primary way through which we interact
with the world around us. Every person has a
unique bundle of life experiences that form their authentic outlook on life. What we like and dislike. What we perceive
to be good or bad. Through the senses, every person experiences their
unique reality. As a writer, it's your job to craft that unique experience
for your characters. But to do so, you also need to understand your
own perspective on life. What are your preferences? What are your dislikes? What are your blind spots? Let's do a little bit of self exploration in
the next exercise.
7. Video 7 Show don't Tell: Okay. We all know the saying a picture tells
more than 1,000 words. But what is actually meant
by the term show don't tell? Instead of writing
an exposition, summarization, or
description that speaks to our rational brain, we use language focused on
sensory information and action that triggers
associations from our emotional,
creative brain. The reader can
feel and visualize the scene as if they are in
the room of the characters. To do this, we use imagery. Imagery is descriptive
language that creates a mental image of different
things such as experiences, places, objects and ideas. I
8. Video 8 The 5 senses: Our five senses. The five classical
senses are sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste. Let's have a look at
all of them separately. Starting with side, Well, just open your eyes
and look around. What do you see? If we break down the
image we are looking at, we see light and dark, depth, shapes, texture, and we
can identify colors. Did you know that the
same brain capacity is dedicated to your side, as is to the remaining
four senses combined. When we are awake, we use
our side all the time. As a writer, this is
something to be aware of. As there is a great chance, you will mainly focus on describing the scene from
a visual point of view. But it's important to harvest all the creative potential
sensory information to make this scene
more exciting. Okay. Let's move on to hearing. Our ears help us to
hear what is happening around us to perceive music, speech from a person and
environmental sounds. This acoustic
information like volume, pitch and timbre we perceive and receive
can awaken emotion. Well, think about
your favorite piece of music or the voice
of your partner. What does it make you feel? Our ears are even able to pick up warning signs
when we are asleep. Well, how cool is that? Maybe even some nice
information to use in a story. The next one is touch. Our skin, our
largest organ is in charge of collecting information
from the outside world. Thanks to the sense of touch, we feel the temperature
of a glass of tea, the texture of your
favorite sweater and the size of your new phone. It also communicates
the feeling of pressure, vibration, and pain. This information can create a strong tactile
connection to the reader. It can be felt on
the skin and evoke a powerful reaction and immerse the reader
into the scene. Smell. Yes, our beautiful noses help us to smell and taste food. The sense of smell helps us in warning and protection
from danger. No, don't eat that,
otherwise you'll die. It also assists in
determining what to eat and drink. Yes. Go for it. This milk is good.
Also not unimportant. It gives us social cues, cues. You really smell, yummy. Come closer. When you smell something, the same areas in your brain are used as in processing
emotions and memories. This is why smell can
bring you straight back to the place
from your childhood. Taste. Stick out your tongue. Yes, a little fertile. Come on. I look at your tongue. Do you see those tiny bumps? Well, they are your taste butts. These little spots help you to identify how different
foods taste. The basic tastes are sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and m. The experience of taste is personal and determines
whether you like what you eat and also what you find absolutely disgusting. The sense of taste also helps to protect our health from
foods that have gone bad. You see smell, and taste
are closely connected. Also keep that in
mind while writing. We have looked a bit
closer at sight, hearing, touch, smell, and
taste. Let's have some fun. In the workbook, you can find the exercise writing
from the senses. Don't forget to answer the reflection questions to
become aware which sense has your preference and
which one is in need of some extra love,
care and attention.
9. Video 9 Free Writing: Okay. While doing the exercises, free writing is an
amazing tool to use. It helps you to get the
creative juices flowing. When you stumble upon
a writer's block to bring movement
to stagnant energy, to move past self judgment. It's really easy.
Anyone can do it. Just grab a piece
of paper and a pen, and I'll show you how it works. In the workbook, you find
different writing problems. Any association and any sensory information,
you just write it down. It doesn't have to be logical. Just let your thoughts, feelings, ideas, emotions
flow onto the paper. Anything you associate with the writing prompt,
you write it down. Try to also think off to five different senses and write down any information
that comes to mind. Now it's your turn to put the
free writing into practice. Have a look at the workbook and the different
writing prompts. Put the pen on the
paper and don't stop and most of all, have fun.
10. Video 10 Glossary: During the course,
we have looked at several concepts and techniques. Repetition is key. Let's look at all
of them once more. Auditory language is language associated with our
sense of hearing. Free writing is a technique whereby you write down
all your thoughts, associations, feelings
without stopping. Good statory language, is the language associated
with our sense of taste. Hearing, the sense by
which a person hears. All factory language, is the language associated
with our sense of smell. Sensory information refers
to the input our senses. Sensory perception, the
organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory
information in order to represent and understand the presented information
or environment, sensory stimulation, the input, and sensation you receive when one or more of your
senses is activated. Sensory writing, a
writing technique used in creative writing that
involves the five senses, taste, touch, sight,
sound, and smell. Show don't tell a
narrative technique to allow the reader to experience
the story through action, words, subtext, thoughts,
senses and feelings. Site, the sense by
which a person sees. Smell the sense by
which a person smells. Tactile language is the language associated with our
sense of touch. Taste the sense that is perceived by us
through the tongue. Touch the sense that is perceived
by us through the skin. Visual language, the language associated with our
sense of sight. Writing prompt, a
brief statement or question that is designed to
inspire creative writing.
11. Video 11 Class project: For your class project, you'll be writing a
short one page story. Let's walk through
the steps together. I invite you to choose
the wear of your story. You can use one of the following as your setting inspiration. A old childhood picture, an image from a magazine that
sparks enough associations, a fantasy setting from
your imagination. Choose a character, the who
to place in this setting. Give him, her, they a name. You can decide on what, when and how after listening
to the sense meditation. Let yourself be inspired by
the associations you have for the setting and character and from there
unlevel the story. Once you're finished, use
the free writing technique to write down all the sensory information
that comes to mind. It doesn't have to
be structured yet. Just get the creative juices
flowing and keep writing. Try to writ from every sense. Is there another
interesting angle or sensory information you
haven't explored yet? Now, create a sensory mood
board from this information. This is optional.
In your workbook, you'll find a page with
what, where and when. You can fill those in by
answering these questions. What is your character doing? When is the event happening and why is
the event happening? Now, look at all the
sensory information you wrote down and try to use yourself as a test
instrument. What moves you? What makes you feel something? What is interesting. Use this information in your description of setting
character, and emotion. Time to take a break
for 5 minutes. Maybe drink a glass of water, have a straw or stretch, and then start writing
your one page story. Once you're done, upload it
to the class space so we can review enjoy and lovingly
feedback each other's work. If you have any questions, please shoot me a message. Above all, keep
writing and have fun.
12. Video 12 Sensory Meditation: For the finalitercise,
I've made this meditation, just to get you into the sensory imagery that you can use for
your final scene. Let's sit down somewhere,
either on your bed, a couch or a chair, with your spine up straight. Breathe in a few times. Also, just breathe out
through your mouth. Breathe out all the air
that down the system. Close your eyes and
just feel how you are supported by the chair, the bed or the couch. You don't have to do anything, you don't have to go anywhere. You can just be
here and be still. Now, bring to mind either the picture from your childhood, the image from the magazine or a fantasy setting from
your imagination. Okay. Can you hear what is
happening in this setting, in this particular scene, bring your attention
to your ears, and try to hear what kind of sounds are available
in this scene? There is no right or wrong. It's only the information
that comes to you. You might actually
hear the sounds. Some people just get the words, other people get images. An information is okay. What are the sounds that are
available in this scene? Just keep your
attention at your ears. Maybe there's a cat
or a car passing by, or there is the sound of the
mower from the neighbors. What are the sounds that are
available in this scene? Just bring them to
your mind and then let them go later on
we'll write them down. Okay. What can you touch
in this scene? What can you feel
with your skin, your hands, the skin and
your legs, your face? So for example, maybe the character is sitting
on something maybe there's something
brushing against the legs or or the leg? Maybe the sweater
they are wearing. Any information that can be
perceived through touch? Which information is
available in this scene. Don't try to force
it, let it come, either comes or doesn't. Keep breathing, keep your
eyes, see what happens. Which information can
be perceived by touch? Okay. All right. Move your attention
to your nose. Try to feel the breath
going out of the nostrils. Really closely observe. Once you feel your attention
is fly at your nose. Ask yourself the question smells are available in this scene. Which smells are
available in this scene? Maybe the smell of flowers,
freshly baked bread, coffee, maybe a rotten
tomato or other food. Okay. And even smells that
are less familiar. There is no right or wrong. Whatever information comes, some of it is useful,
some of it isn't. Just let it be. Which
information is available to us? Smell. Move your attention
to your tongue. The way your tongue is
laying in your mouth. Which tastes are
available in this scene. Maybe the main character
had just had a glass of wine or maybe
the taste of blood. Which tastes are
available in this scene. Sometimes it can be the taste
of the sourness in the air. Okay. What other tastes are
available in this scene? Be open to the information that comes and let yourself
be surprised. There is no right or wrong. There's only the
information that comes. And then, but
definitely not site. What do you see in this scene, which visual images
are available. And that can be literally
what's seen on the picture, but maybe you can explore
more in the scene. What are the colors
of the objects? What is the character wearing? What is the surrounding? Everything you can
perceive with your eyes. What is available in this scene? What is the imagery
that is available? And now try to
combine all of them. What are you hearing?
What are you feeling? What are you smelling? What are you tasting? And what are you seeing? Just let it all be there and see how all the
information weaves together. If you don't have any images or sensory information
coming up, don't force it, then
maybe next time. Slowly open your eyes. How do you feel? How does it feel to be in this
particular setting? How do you feel?
Do you feel happy? Or do you feel
angry and annoyed. Then now go to your workbook and try to write down as
much information as possible about the
sensory information that came to you while
doing this meditation.
13. Video 13 You did it: You did it. You made it
to the end of the course. I'm so proud of you. What
have you actually learned? Well, you have learned
what sensor writing is, how sensory information is processed in our
brain and hopefully started to become more aware of your own sensory
perception and bias. We looked at the five
senses at sensory imagery, and we explored several writing
techniques and prompts. By now, I hope you're falling
in love with sense writing, and that it will become an integrated part of your
creative writing practice. I really hope you found
the scores valuable. Please leave a review and
share your experience. Don't forget to follow
me on skill share, and if you have any questions, don't hesitate,
shoot me a message. For now, keep
training the senses. Use the exercises from the
workbook in your daily life. And become more aware of
how you perceive the world, so you can pour
that yumminess onto the paper until next time. Chou. Okay.
Frouwke Florentina
