Kate Flora: Today I’m sharing an exercise I used to do in my writing class. It’s fun one to make yourself do.

Tuning Up the Senses/Learning to Observe/Exploring the language of the senses and observation/Amassing the details to create a sense of place

 Write a series of Three descriptive paragraphs about the same place—a street corner, a busy restaurant, sitting on a beach, plunging into a pool, or even being by yourself on a park bench—in each case writing your description using only ONE of your senses.

For example, for the first paragraph, use only your sense of sight; for the second, use only things you hear; for the third, use only your sense of smell or touch, etc. Dig deep. Be elaborate. Overwrite. Accept the challenge of finding better descriptive words. Remember—this is first draft. You can always edit later.

You may find one of these much harder than the others.  Observe yourself while you do the exercise and notice what feels easy and what feels like a struggle.

Here’s a sample of these sensory exercises combined:

From Michael Pollan, The Botany of Desire:

And that’s just my eyes.  My sense of touch meanwhile presents to my attention a low background drone of shoulder ache, a slight burning sensation in the tip of my right middle finger (where it was cut the other day), and the cool rush of air through my nostrils. Taste? Black tea and bergamot (Earl Gray), slightly briny breakfast residue on tongue (smoked salmon). Soundtrack: Red Hot Chili Peppers in the foreground, backed by heater whoosh on the right, computer cooling fan whoosh on the lower left, mouse clicks, keyboard clatter, creak-crack of those knuckle-like things deep in the neck when I cant my head to one side; and then, outside, a scatter of birdsong, methodical drips on the roof, and the slow sky tear of a propeller plane. Smell: Lemon Pledge mixed with woodsy damp.