Day 10 Writing Workout

Welcome to Day 10 of our 30-day writing workout, and it’s focused on… IMAGINATIVE IMAGERY. Let’s begin by looking at a great example:

Mono no aware is the sigh at the end of a savory meal, when the mouth still waters, glistening the lips. It’s the softening of shoulders when the sun sets and spills purple bronze across the sky. It’s looking at an old photograph of someone and hearing her laugh and then half-smiling. (From “Tangle of Lines,” by Brenna Fitzgerald)

Now let’s look at what’s so great about the imagery here:

Sensory immersion. Yes, there are details involving four of the senses: taste, touch, sight, and sound. That’s the usual. But let’s dig a bit deeper…

Emotional Nuance. The purpose behind using imagery is to create emotion. Mono no aware is like a sadness as something good comes to an end. The details the author is choosing to include here creates that very feeling. The sunset description uses “softened shoulders” to connect external beauty to inner calm. You can feel the longing and the loss, the desire outlasting the experience.

Metaphorical Precision.

Three concrete examples? Not an accident—we love that rule of three, hearing sequences in trios. The MEAL is immediate, body-related transience. The SUNSET is natural, cyclical transience. The PHOTO is personal, emotional transience. Three different approaches to create the same effect.

Rhythmic Elegance. “It’s the softening…. It’s looking….” The repetition of that one word, “It’s,” creates an echo, almost like a poetic refrain. Notice how the sentences lengthen and soften in sound throughout the paragraph. The cadence, rhythm, and soft sounds are like the feeling, mono no aware, that the passage describes. Structure mirrors content.

This is imagery that goes beyond sight, sound, taste, touch, smell. It is writing that is multi-sensory, emotionally nuanced, metaphorically layered, and rhythmically patterned.

For today’s exercise, think of an emotion you want to describe or evoke, and attack it from many angles, many approaches. Go beyond the senses alone to make it sing!

And join the workout next time when we look at MAGICAL METAPHORS!

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