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IWW Practice-W Exercise Archives
Exercise: Involving the senses (v. 4)

These exercises were written by IWW members and administrators to provide structured practice opportunities for its members. You are welcome to use them for practice as well. Please mention that you found them at the Internet Writers Workshop (http://www.internetwritingwor kshop.org/).

Prepared by: Rhéal Nadeau
Posted on: January 5, 2003
Reposted on: February 8, 2004
Reposted on: January 9, 2005
Reposted on: February 12, 2006
Reposted on:  November 23, 2008

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Exercise: In 400 words or less, describe a character entering a place  (familiar or not) and experiencing that location through all the senses. Let us see what effect those sensations have on the character.

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Does the character feel welcome or like an intruder? Relaxed or worried? Pleased or displeased? (Remember - let the description of the sensations tell us that!) Do not try to write a full story, just a single scene, to ensure that the focus remains on involving the senses, not on story-telling.

Any place will do for a setting--a woman enters her study, a man walks through the stacks in a  library, a bear chases a hunter into a cave. What counts for this exercise are the character's reactions to smells or tastes strange or familiar,
surfaces touched, sounds heard, visions seen.

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Exercise: In 400 words or less, describe a character entering a place (familiar or not) and experiencing that location through all the senses. Let us see what effect those sensations have on the character.

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When critiquing a submission, highlight good uses of the senses (especially senses other than sight and hearing), and point out opportunities to add sensory information.




Web site created by Rhéal Nadeau and the administrators of the Internet Writing Workshop.
Modified by Greg Gunther.