SUPPLEMENTARY READING AND EXERCISE TO FOLLOW LECTURE 5

Welcome back.

In video Lecture 5, we learned that The 6 Senses are the key to bringing the scenic moments in
your story to life. We looked at the first four of the six. If you bring sights, sounds, smells, and
tastes into the minds and hearts of your listeners, you're sure to tap into their emotions, because
sensory details are the simplest and surest way to re-create felt experience.

I gave some examples in the video, but letʼs review some more.

SIGHT

Remember how outward appearances of people, places and things created a visceral reaction in
you.

Instead of saying, “It was poorly funded hospital.”


You could say, “As I was being wheeled in on the gurney, I saw the lights in the ceiling were half
as bright as the lights in hospitals back home.”

Instead of saying, “She came off angrier than she meant to.”

You could say, “Her smile was so forced, she bared her teeth like a growling dog.”

Notice how, in these examples, the first way of stating the idea and the alternate way of stating
the idea are covering the same ground. But the alternate way of stating the idea is showing us
observable experience rather than simply telling us something in a conceptual, explanatory way.

SOUND

!
The tone of someone's voice, the ambience of a room, the music off in the distance and other
sounds are mood triggers.

Instead of saying, “He didnʼt like my ideas.”


You could say, “After finishing the pitch, I said, ʻWell???ʼ His silence made everyone shift
awkwardly in their seats.”

Instead of saying, “My father was a cultured man.”


You could say, “My father could often be found reading the classics by the fire while Bach,
Beethoven and Mozart came floating out the stereo to swirl around his head.”

SMELL

Donʼt forget how emotionally evocative smell can be.

Instead of saying, “She was dying.”

You could say, “In her breath was a rotting odor, as if parts of her inside had already begun to
decay.”

TASTE

And taste can be even more intimate seeming than smell.

Instead of saying, "He was a brutal guy.”


You could say, “He smacked his lips like a shark tasting blood in the water.”

Now that youʼve reviewed some examples of how Sight, Sound, Smell and Taste can be
incorporated into scenes to show us emotionally resonant experience, take some time to consider
how these sensory details can be added to your own story.

EXERCISE

Go to a quiet place again where you can jot things down or type without distractions. Set a timer
to go off in 15 minutes... or even 20 if you want to be extra thorough.

Think of one of the stories youʼve been working on here in the course so far. Now jot down some
sentences that you may (or may not) end up using in the final draft of your story. Think of
specific characters in the story, specific incidents that took place, or specific environments or
objects that might play a role in the action, and jot down two sentences including Sight details,
two sentences including Sound details, two sentences including Smell details and two sentences
including Taste details.

Remember, youʼre just brainstorming. Youʼre just trying to jog your memory of how and why
things looked, sounded, smelled or tasted (even if just figuratively, not literally) the way they
did. You won’t use all of these details in your final draft, but chances are, youʼll end up using a
few, and theyʼll really help bring scenes in your story to life.

Now. Set the timer and…



Write two sentences from your story that incorporate Sight details.

Write two sentences from your story that incorporate Sound details.

Write two sentences from your story that incorporate Smell details.

Write two sentences from your story that incorporate Taste details.

Did moments from these past experiences youʼre describing seem to become more clear and
present to you? Did engaging your own senses in your remembering of things seem to make the
memories more palpable?
Thatʼs all for now. In the next video, Lecture 6, weʼll look at how you can incorporate the fifth
and sixth of The 6 Senses in your story with Thinking Mind and Feeling Body details.