Imagery

Imagery

A Lesson by Camille Corbett
"

How to create a world you wish to live in.......or not

"

Once upon a time, in a far away land there lived a girl who wished more than anything, to assist her fellow writers.Everyday she would read and think about ways to help her pupil's improve, and everyday she would write herself, to make sure that she was always improving as well.

When I think of imagery, I always tend to think of those  "once upon a time" stories that was read to me in my younger years. The sweeping hills, the looming castles, the beautiful princesses, all came alive to me in those stories, because of it's imagery. Oh glorious, crisp, imagery, with your hold on that naughty dame, language, I love you.

WARNING:If you a reading this lesson, please have a good understanding of what your voice is, if not, please look at the voice development series, then return to this lesson

First, let's define imagery.
Imagery:creates a mental picture through sensory launguage words or phrases that appeal to the five senses.

Now let's look at the five types of imagery:

Visual Imagery: You guys probably use this one the most in your writing, I know I do :D

examples:

The boring way: Sandra was pretty.

The beautiful way: Sandra's dark, tumbling curls, illuminated her rosy face, allowing the world to take her her soft prettiness.

Auditory Imagery: Dealing with sound.

examples:

The boring way: The music was too loud.

The orgasmic way: The music coming from the house sent cascades of noise into Aaron'sear drums, causing them to ring, which created a vibrating pain throughout his entire head.

Olfactory Imagery: Pertaining to smell

Examples: 

The boring way: The sock smelled bad.

The cool-attractive people way: As Katlin raised the yellowed sock to her face, her nose was attacked with the repugnant smell of sweat and citrus-like foot odor that seemed to reverberate in her dainty nostrils.

Gustatory Imagery: Can you taste it?

Examples:

The insipid-loser-fail way: The food was yummy.

The tantalizing-intellectual way: The chicken soup was filled with spices that intensified the natural flavor causing imaginary particles of richness to dance on Daniel's tongue.

Tactile Imagery: Touch it!

Examples:

The person who picks their nose in the back of the class way: The glass was cold.

The cool, intellectual, popular, most-likely-to-succeed person way: Ayn's fingers stuck to the frosty glass and as she pried them away, she began to feel the harsh pain of frost bite on her reddening fingers.

Now, I want you to write below, your 5 examples for each of the types of imagery. Or write a short work using good imagery. Continue writing my sweets! I love you!


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Comments

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Posted 13 Years Ago


I have to agree with prodigo. Well sometimes it sounds nice to have large, well worded and detailed bits of prose describing one thing or another, it can sometimes hinder the story. You have to have a mixture of both, if you want a true story to come to life. Over using imagery is a bad step. Because every scene calls for a a different level. You don't want to go into massive detail over something will not be a major portion of the story or maybe only be used once. Give a few simple descriptions of that and push on out of the way as it has served its purpose.

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Posted 14 Years Ago


*cough* Steinbeck *cough* I remember when reading a few of his books when he said occasionally, "(Someone) was pretty" If you use it right, simple descriptions let the reader fill it in. He did it, I try to and everyone else should give it a shot.

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Author

Camille Corbett
Camille Corbett

Marietta, GA



About
I'm a 21 year old Fulbright ETA writing to kill the time and find my sanity. I have been gone for a while. But I have returned, so watch out for some new stories.
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