Imagery

Week of January 13, 2013: Painting with Words

Friday, January 18—Imagery

Imagery: All language used to provoke a sensory (not just visual)

reaction in the reader

—Joyce Sweeney

Imagery can ground the reader.

—Joyce Sweeney

Most writers are good with visual details. (Interestingly, as picture book writers, we

use visual details less than novelists because we work with an illustrator who will be

showing those visual details.) However, when writing, don’t forget the other senses of

hearing, taste, touch, and smell. Joyce said, “Smells are evocative,” and that by using 

the sense of smell in our writing the reader can be transported to a place, time, or

memory.

Imagery is developed through revision and is seldom established in the first draft.

It’s something you consciously look for when revising.

For You To Do:

I’ve mentioned Owl Moon by Jane Yolen several times this week. The voice is so

strong in Yolen’s work that it can be a model for us of how to strengthen our own

writing. Type up the text of Owl Moon. Then use a colored pencil for each of the

senses (sight, smell, taste, touch, feeling). Using your colored pencils, underline

the imagery found in Yolen’s text. I think you’ll be amazed how “colorful” and

image-filled the piece is.