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Writing with the five senses gives your story or article depth. Sensory details make your story come alive. Try looking at the sun, a tree, a flower or even a leaf and describe it using your five senses.

   Here are three samples of descriptive writing written by my ex-students who are also members of the ‘Writestuff Writers’ Club.’ The first one is a description of a tree.

Tree-d softly, for you tread on my dreams   -  by Phorum Pandya

The sunrays maze their way through his sleepy leaves every morning, as the wind tickles the branches, sending goose bumps down his bark. He tries to catch the wind  but she escapes – each time. She calls him an old man. ‘I’ll catch you one day,” he  whistles through the rustling leaves.

He loves the summers, for no one can scold him for skipping his bath. He stretches out his branches, and a tiny little pink leaf flutters open.
Like a hammer that hits the nail, a woodpecker’s beak pecks upon his dark, rusty bark. Just what I needed, he smiles to himself, as he beckons it to scratch harder. In minutes, his spa treatment is in full swing:  crows twirl their feet around his branches; the cuckoo pokes straws, twigs and wires to make its nest, and the barbets flap about squealing lustily.

Rolling his tongue on his dry lips, he wriggles his toes. A fresh, cool drink of water from the earth rises up his xylem, quenching his green thirst. He wonders what nutrients the pantry will serve him today. His roots have been the victim of cost-cutting these days. Thank god the rains will be here soon, for he misses the curries and soups.

Noontime, he looks up at the sun, staring right into its face, soaking all the Vitamin D he can. If he does his job well, may be the roots will send something delicious up my phloem, he prays.  

He looks down on the ground at his shadow: “I seem to have lost weight,” he announces aloud. Life in the woods is good, in all its seasons - when the winter makes fun of his nakedness and the spring dresses him up like a participant of a queer parade, the rains soak him from head to toe.

He looks around, basking in the happy thought that makes every little thing seems perfect. His gaze falls on the rusty saw - sitting on the shoulder of a woodcutter - laughing at him. He closes his eyes, allowing the beautiful life to lurk just a little longer. The woodcutter stops right in front of him.  

Phorum is a Senior Features writer at Hindustan Times.

   In the following passage Ahil Amar describes a fresh mint leaf

Light, small like a feather fits in your palm. Smooth like a baby’s cheek yet wrinkly as an old man’s skin.
Take a smell and it fills your lungs with freshness and in you want some more. Besides the lungs it gives a fresh-shot to your brains and it stays there lingering, opens up your mind with one whiff!
Chew it, it’s a mint blast, freshens your mouth and with a gulp you feel the freshness right to your stomach, highlighting every internal organ on it way…
It looks like the map of Mumbai pointing out the roads and the three railway life lines of Mumbai city stretching all the way through the ends of the leaf.
It is green in color, the color of prosperity, the color of money. The color of morning freshness, when you walk in the park and everything feels like and smells like the first rain!
The rustling of its leaves, when attached to the branches,  sounds like the waterfall fiercely hitting the rocks a hundred feet below except this is a thousand times softer.

Ahil has recently joined FCB Ulka Advertising as a junior copywriter.

 Anuradha Iyer describes a mint leaf to a blind friend.

Sandeep, the mint leaf is shaped like a baby’s eye, large and round like a grape, with soft little grooves and a pointed end.

It’s crisscrossed with tender veins that look like your hand with its palms outstretched.

Can you smell the clarifying fragrance of the mint? Crush some of it and inhale the aroma for an instant pick me up, no matter what your mood.

Bite into a crunchy leaf, Sandeep, and let the tingly crisp taste of mint linger on your tastebuds, even as it shoots a pleasant shock to your nervous system.

Sandeep, the softness of its *body* is like a woman’s skin, tender to touch and incredibly soft like the finest silk.

 Can you hear the tart sound of a knife slicing through a crisp apple? That’s how the leaves sound when they rustle in the breeze. Crush the tender leaf in your palm and it sounds like a warm soft whisper in the dark.

Anuradha has just finished a course in Advertising and Marketing at XIC.

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Thought for the Day

Close the door. Write with no one looking over your shoulder. Don't try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It's the one and only thing you have to offer - Barbara Kingsolver

Writing with the Five Senses.

Writing can be one-sided, if you don’t write using your five senses.  Use similes and metaphors to make your descriptions vivid. Take different objects and describe them using the five senses. You could use a pebble, a pen, a flower, candy, a fruit, or anything around the house or classroom. You could even describe something that you’ve seen on the television. Take each object and write down at least three words related to each of the  five senses.

   Here is an interesting description of an apple by Ahil Amar, a student who just finished a course in Advertising and Marketing from XIC (Xavier’s Institute of Communications) in Mumbai.
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     I look at this shiny dark red globe that is always depicted in pictures of the Garden of Eden. It reminds me of Adam and Eve when I touch it. It smells as beautiful as the smell in the park at 6am when the grass and the leaves have bathed in the morning dew. The bright red color mixed with a tinge of orange from Mother Nature’s palette gives it life. When you hold it you can’t help but reminisce about the history its been through from Eve to Newton.
 It gave us an insight into gravity and Steve his Job. It is our best friend, and a Doctor’s worst enemy. A bite into the apple and you hear a crunch like the ball off the middle of Sehwag’s bat and then you hear it echo in your head every time you chew and the juices fill your mouth and take over your senses.  One gulp and it urges you for just one more leaving a lingering taste long after its done.
So slice it, dice it, cut it, crush it, peel it, eat it, savor it and put it on your diet list. It’s a faithful friend and a humble servant, a humble servant with its master throughout the year, unlike the king (the mango) who comes to visit his subjects for just three months of the year.
The seeds are like a gun pellet ready to fire up into an apple and destroy all diseases and help build a safer wall of immunity.

Thoughts for The Day:

"Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton was the one who asked why." -- Bernard M. Baruch
"Why not upset the apple cart? If you don't the apples will rot anyway." -- Frank A. Clark
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Creative Writing, Freewriting

     What is Creative Writing? Can it be learnt? I've been asked these questions over and over again. In journalistic writing and report writing you just need to convey basic information but when you need to express your thoughts, feelings and emotions then that's where Creative Writing comes in handy. And yes you can learn to be creative and write creatively. All you need to do is to start.

      In the first lesson on Creative Writing, I usually start by talking about the magic of words.  Students are encouraged to respond and not be afraid of giving wrong answers or saying something foolish. I usually start by saying "Words are magical. We see them everywhere, you hear them, in fact we're inundated with them and yet I say words are like magic”. Where do we see words? In the library, the newspapers, hoardings about, books, magazines, the internet. We hear words on television, the radio, in the cinema, when we talk to each other, and even in our heads.

     And why are words magical? The answers come tumbling out - "Because it helps you to communicate" "you can tell someone your thoughts".  Can you make someone feel good with your words? Yes. Can you make someone feel bad by making some remarks? Yes. Can words help you to mask your feelings? Yes. And if your words can be translated you can communicate with the whole world, books that you write can be read by the future generations just as we are able to read the works of great writers and poets of the past.

   

    

Freewriting

     Freewriting is a great tool to help overcome writers’ block. You could compare this to brainstorming. This is something that can be done everyday, particularly when you’re in a writing slump. This is a great exercise to help you declutter your mind and release your creativity. You can start writing about anything. The main thing is to write continuously without lifting the pen off the paper. Put all your thoughts down, even random ones and pay no attention to grammar, or sentence structure, punctuation etc.

   You can freewrite for five to fifteen minutes. You can use a word as a prompt or a picture or even a song lyric. Keep a timer and keep writing until the buzzer goes off. Freewriting can also help you at an emotional level. Feeling low, depressed, angry, ashamed? Freewrite about it and release the demons. If you can’t find pen and paper you could try typing it out.

     Those who’ve never tried freewriting will find it a little strange at first. Try it at least a couple of times during the week for about five to ten minutes each time. Keep writing every day, even if it’s just one page at a time. Let me know what the experience was like.

   The Secret of Happiness

   Words are magical, oh yes I’ve already said that right? But do you know that the secret of happiness lies in the following eight words? Oops the words are jumbled up. Here they are:

 Tomorrow - Today - Live - For - Better - Working - A – While

   If you figure it out (it’s quite easy) then let me know.

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   Thought for the Day:

 I write when I'm inspired, and I see to it that I'm inspired at nine o'clock every morning.' Peter De Vries).