Writers often focus on the content – the plot, the characters, character development. What is skipped is the sensory content of the writing, as to how you stimulate your readers, on how you make they participate in the experience of the story. Read this piece I wrote some years back. Do you sense the scene – do you see it, feel it?
When you think of your favourite writers and their works — what do you see/hear/feel?
“The most beautiful moment in Hampi was not in Hampi. It was in the hills around Sanapur Lake. The hills there are studded with amazing ancient rocks. I went one sunset to lie down on one such rock staring unfettered at the sky above, the lake waters lapping just below. It seemed as if my eyes could not open wide enough to see the fullness of sky, that the more I tried to see, the more I felt overwhelmed at the intensity of it all. A queasy fear, as if I had witnessed history beneath and future above intersecting; as if in this time warp, I would roll off the boulder into the lake below. I willed myself still.
The monsoon clouds gathered, spliced and poured right over me, into my open eyes. It burnt. Should I get up now and run? I stayed put, watching cloud over cloud burst. My gaze went to the boulders, now freshly drenched. The whole landscape dotted serene with these ancient beauties. No soul in sight for as far as I could see.
At a certain point, the setting sun gave a final huff and blew light across the rainy skies. And the boulders bloomed sudden in glistening orange, swaddling the entire area under its glow. I sat-stood watching this magic unfold right before me. And just like that, in moments, the sun retreated leaving behind a rosy-brown landscape, deepening now in its darkness, and leaving me dazed.
And then I realized no human-made monument can wholly compare to the everyday artistry of nature.”
#weaveyourlights #WritingAndBrain