Seasons and Senses

 

            Basically there are four seasons in the year, yet it dawned on me that those four sections of a year are very subjective and are not at all the same for everyone. Not only are they in opposite months in some countries, but some countries and even some states within a country don’t have the unique changes in season that others do.

            This makes it somewhat difficult to write about the seasons. To express the joy of newly flowering trees in, say October, may confuse the reader unless they are fully aware of where the story is taking place. Getting roller skates and bicycles for Christmas is only exciting if you live in Florida at the time, as I did as a child.

            Yet there is so much to be said about each season even without knowing the “where” of it. Spring is often considered the time of rebirth and new beginnings. Opposite on the spectrum is winter, when we tend to hunker down and hibernate, staying close to home and hearth.

            Which is your favorite season? What is it about that time of year you enjoy? I moved to Tennessee in the summer of one year and so looked forward to exploring the Smoky Mountains. But I contracted cancer and spent September through early May in and out of the hospital. I was unable to enjoy the changing leaves or the beautiful sunsets. That year, 2010, was the worse year for snow that the Nashville area had seen in quite some time, and I missed that too. My view out of my hospital window was a parking garage.

            You can’t discuss the seasons without combining it with your senses. After all, there’s something unique about the smell of burning leaves in the fall; how the cold wind of winter makes your eyes water and your cheeks burn. What is the single most memorable sound of summer? For me, it’s the musical jingles of the ice cream truck. Every season has its particular tastes, smells, sounds and sights.

            Have you recently read a book (or in your writing) that pulls you irrevocably into the pages because of the use of senses? You could actually hear the squeak of carriage wheels or the pesky buzz of a bug. Take a book and open it to any page. Read and note any use of the senses. In your own writing, do the same. If you don’t hear, see, taste, feel or smell something, perhaps some edits are in order. And stop to consider – you don’t want to “taste the lemon slice in the ice tea”, but rather know “the zesty slice of lemon made my cheeks pucker.”

            To help and enhance writing, make a list using the seasons and the senses. For each season, list something unique for each of your senses. Do you find it harder to list things for one sense over the others? Are you seeing things aplenty but not feeling them? Have you become immune to certain smells? Keep your list handy because you will find more to add as you approach and inhabit each season or if you travel to an area where the seasons aren’t quite the same as you are used to.

            Another exercise using your senses and or the seasons is to jot down phrases that explain something or someone without exactly explaining them.

            It smelled like home.

            She was a sight for sore eyes.

            It feels like football season.

            Her hair was as bright as the autumn day.

            His demeanor was as bitter as the winter countryside.

            One thing I found when I began writing time travel is that I had to be aware of the difference in sensual things in today’s world and that of the 1800s, where my stories were set. In “Spinning Through Time”, one of the first things Jack notices when she’s thrown back in time is the silence. Where was the traffic noise; the constant calliope of voices? Look for more differences when you read this 5 star novel that one reviewer said is:

“A Gorgeous story, it was lovely from beginning to end. A keeper. One of the best time travel romances I've read!”

Barbara Baldwin

http://www.authorsden.com/barbarajbaldwin

http://www.bookswelove.com/baldwin-barbara/