Class presentation, Jan. 30, SFCC

1. imagery
Using words to evoke one or more of the senses

2. Image/
imagination
“What all imaginative writing has in common is that it
calls up pictures in the mind.” —Janet Burroway
This doesn’t mean that all imaginative writing must be
fabricated. Rather, that the words evoke physicality
through the senses
Very simply, sensory writing replaces abstract thought
with images.
So: Love (abstract thought)
A parent hugging their child (imagery conveying love)
The image doesn’t define the idea, but conveys it through
physical imagery. Think about other abstract words:
poverty, shame, fear, desire. What are images that convey
those ideas with sense detail?

3. Visceraland
meaningful
details
Concrete and significant details means
 Concrete = tactile, visceral, substantive, sensory, can
be touched, felt, tasted
 Significant = connects to the larger abstract idea or
feeling you wish to convey
 Detail – uses focused language

4.  Russell Banks: Prolific writer. Books include:
include The Darling, The Sweet
Hereafter, Cloudsplitter, Rule of the
Bone, Affliction, Success Stories, Continental Drift,
Searching for Survivors, Trailerpark, The Book of
Jamaica, The New World, Hamilton Stark, The
Reserve, Lost Memory of Skin
 Affliction and The Sweet Hereafter adapted into
feature films.
 Numerous literary awards, including Ingram Merrill
Award, the John Dos Passos Award, the Literature
Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters
 “Lobster Night” has been anthologized many times.
First appeared in Esquire, later in The Angel on the
Roof

5. “LobsterNight”
 Guiding questions: when we read:
 “What is this story about?” A way of asking what
happens in the story, what is the story?
 What is this story about about? A way of asking: What
are the larger themes/issues/ideas at play in the story?
 From here, we can query language, imagery and other
elements to see how they bolster the deeper themes
and issues at play in a piece of writing.

6. ”LobsterNight”
 What is this story about?
 What is this story about about?
 To start answering the second question, what are the
emotions it evokes?
 What are the abstract ideas/issues in the story?

7. “LobsterNight”
Using examples from the text:
 How is Stacy described?
 How is Noonan described?
 Why lobsters?
 Why lightening?
 Why bears?
 What do we know about the place where this story
takes place?

8. Exercisewith
thesenses
 Taste: one of the senses we likely consider on a daily basis
(hopefully). Taste already has familiar types: sweet, sour,
salty, bitter, and all the words that accompany those
categories: sugary, tart, acidy etc).
 Take 10 minutes
 1. Pick a feeling or idea and write it at the top of the page
 Now describe, as specifically as possible, your favorite (or
last favorite) dish. But don’t limit yourself to taste words.
Play with the other senses. Can a bowl of grapes taste like
the last grey purple clouds lingering behind the Sangre de
Cristos in the final days of Fall? Use concrete significant
detail. Evoke the feeling or idea but don’t name it.
 —Adapted from “Writing Fiction,” by Janet Burroway

9. Finalthoughts
 Kate Chopin’s “My Writing Method” (1899)
 The reason we love hearing about other writers’ habits
and processes?
 Finding modes and habits of inspiration and discipline
is a highly individualized practice. But there are some
relatively sure-fire means to at least training your
writing muscles.
 Exercises, classes and assignments! 
 A writer’s notebook is another. Carry it with you.
Record observations when you have them, write down
your passing ideas, describe interesting people, places,
objects that you see. Nothing is lost on a writer. Also,
more interesting than whipping our your phone.

10. Nextweek
 On Monday, Feb. 4, I will discuss the elements
characterization, and we will start our unit on
dialogue.
 Please bring in your mind an example of a favorite
character and bring a short (no more than a few
sentences or one paragraph) description from a piece of
writing in which that character appears (Example:
Elizabeth Bennett in Jane Austen’s Pride and
Prejudice)