The Mind’s Eye: Part 5 of Writing with Sensory Details – Sandi Somers
I had read the book Pride and Prejudice, noting that the author, Jane Austen, didn’t give many visual cues as to clothing, body language or even where the scene was located. Instead, she focused more on dialogue. The movie, in contrast, contained a lot of visual cues, showing the Bennet family home, the family at dinner and dances. I particularly noticed subtle eye signals that the book didn’t convey: raised eyebrows, a terse look, and secret motions or glances between characters.
Sound Bytes: Part 4 of Writing with Sensory Details – Sandi Somers
Beethoven discovered he was losing his hearing as early as age 25. For a musician, nothing could be more disastrous.
In his depression he wrote,
“Alas! How could I possibly refer to the impairing of a sense which in me should have been more perfectly developed than in other people, a sense which at one time I possessed in the greatest perfection…”
And yet Beethoven composed the Ninth Symphony while totally deaf. It is a joyous work and includes the well-known song, “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee.”
Following the premiere of this symphony, which Beethoven conducted, the audience broke into thunderous applause. Only when his solo contralto turned him around did he realize how appreciative his audience was.
Touch, The Intimate Sense: Part 3 of Writing with Sensory Details – Sandi Somers
Blind and deaf, Helen Keller developed a very refined sense of touch, even able to know that a person was approaching as she felt vibrations on the floor. She learned to “see” people and discern their character through touching different parts of the face.
Helen learned to understand speech through feeling the vibrations on a person’s neck, lips, nose and cheek. She gradually used this technique to learn to speak.