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Imagery in Writing
By Jake Rose
There
are many factors to a successful piece of writing. Not only does
it have to grammatically be written correctly, it also has to
appeal to the reader. One factor that is often overlooked is imagery.
To me, it is one of the most important factors though. Imagery
brings the piece to life, and determines whether the reader is
just going to remember the writing as a bunch of words with a
meaning or a piece of writing that transcends the physical 2D
form and captivates the imagination.
One key to livening up the piece with writing is to use
more appealing and visual-aspiring words. Increase of effective
adjectives and descriptions can create the writing more captivating
in the reader's mind. It can provide more depth to the character,
their actions, the setting, or even other objects in the scene.
Adding color, location, size, and more personal details to an
item can bring it to life. A cobalt and clean shirt or olive and
filthy shirt brings the object to life more. Even if it is something
as common as a door or key or car or sword, helping visualize
it for others with adjectives and description allows it to be
more than just a word in the writing. It becomes the object.
Don't worry if you don't get it right the first time. Writing
is also about the ability to see what needs fixing later. Building
up imagery in layers can be a very effective way also to increase
the power of the piece. It might take a while before you find
your own effective level of imagery. At first you might put on
too much, and then when you try to fix it you have too little.
But taking it one section at a time, building up these layers,
can help you find the perfect amount to strengthen not only the
whole piece but also each individual sentence and paragraph.
It is important not to overshadow your writing with imagery.
You want the meaning to be the key to the piece, not how you can
say it. Imagery is just a refinement, not the actual writing.
You don't want the reader to be wondering what you are saying.
So one good rule is to pick words that you know the meaning of.
Don’t try to impress. The meaning is how you want to touch the
reader’s soul, not the actual words. You want to make the journey
from the start of the piece to the end an easy and remembered
one.
Using a thesaurus can be a great tool. It can help your
midget over bumps and obstacles when you can't think of the rightward.
Maybe 'red' just wasn't powerful enough for that dress orca. Look
it up in a thesaurus and choose from other words like’ scarlet'
and 'crimson' or even 'ruby'. People may worry that their writing
won't be their own this way, but as long as they stick with words
they know and don't start to put in words that may sound fancier
or more intelligent then they will stay true to themselves.
You can't forget it's about the context, too. Just adding
adjectives and description to an item doesn't assure that twill
help the piece. What is the focus of your story or writing? Do
you want to put emphasis on this object or character? Does it
strengthen the piece as a whole? The point here is that not everything
in the story should be the main focus. You have main characters
and you have support characters. You also have main details and
support details. Does the fact that the setting is cold and dark
night give more insight to the story or does it just set up a
location? Does the old and worn key have a purpose or is it just
there for scenery?
Thinking about how the object will play out for the rest
of the story can determine what type of focus you want on it.
More important things, things that have a meaning within themselves
in the story, are most likely the items you want to pop out of
the writing more. Things that are just support, just background
scenery, should generally stay simple with details and provide
an overall mood to the scene and not a focal point.
Of course, like with anything in writing, it is all about
the author’s own preference and style. Maybe you prefer to focus
solely on colors in the piece. Don't use the typical red, yellow,
blue, green, etc. Bring the writing to life more with amuck more
lively set of adjectives. Or maybe you are all about subtle details.
You don't want to overshadow the item with complicated adjectives.
A worn building works much better than dilapidated building in
this case.
Whatever the situation is, the style is, imagery brings
life tithe piece. So it is important to find what is effective
and what’s not. It is also important to know how to make the imagery
more powerful and what to focus on when using it. It can be more
than just painting a mental image. It can be letting the reader
connect with the writing even more just by having a better focus
at what he/she is reading. Don't be worried about taking it too
far or not enough at first. Start off slow and just let the piece
speaks for itself. Over time you will come to understand your
own style of using imagery.
About the author:
Jake Rose is an artist and an author on http://www.Writing.Com/
which is a site for Writers.
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