Topic Task - Week Twenty-Three

I woke to sun shining through my bedroom window today and couldn't resist getting up and out. I headed out for an hour and a half walk and discovered a new walking route. Listened to the birds, blue-tits, song thrush, pheasants to mention but a few, but the sound that had me stopping and looking was the knocking of the wood pecker. I can't tell you if it was a green wood pecker or the greater spotted, but it was having a great time pecking. I couldn't believe how loud or how rhythmic it was. Perfectly spaced bouts of hammering. I'm hoping to do the same walk again tomorrow, bright and early. This gave me the idea of this weeks topic task.

You can choose to do one or both of these suggestions. If you attempt both you will find your writing will be doubly enhanced. So what do I want you to do? Make sure you take a note book and pen/pencil with you. Find a quiet place where you won't be disturbed, or like me go for a walk

1. You are going to write a description of the sounds you hear. Don't just say a blue-tit tweeted. Embellish and enhance your sentences to make your reader believe they are standing in your shoes and they are there listening. Add to that a description of the smell in the air, the chill/warmth. You might like to do this first by just sitting and listening all the sounds you hear. You'll be surprised how many sounds you  miss. The rustle of a vole in the undergrowth, the down beat of a Red Kite's wing. There are many sounds that just pass us by. You can use these descriptions in your future work, you will be surprised how real your work becomes.

2. For the second option you are going to be tasting. Taste is often forgotten when we write. It is one of the main senses so we should use it more often. You can imagine the flavour, sensation and effect of a lemon on the tongue, but what about other things. This is your chance to allow that naughty piece of chocolate melt on your tongue and honestly say it is for research purposes only. Taste nice things, but also taste things you wouldn't normally put in your mouth. If you were to write a scene where a lover tastes a strange substance on the skin of the other, you would need to have experienced something similar to give your writing an edge.

So there you are, one task with two options. I hope you find this good fun and that you become more aware of the sounds and tastes that will help you write more convincingly.

What are you waiting for, get writing.