Imagery and Details I Love
When it comes to imagery in storytelling, I am constantly thinking about things I want to specifically highlight or focus on. I find holding on to real images from real life helps to flesh out details within a story. Setting is also much more vibrant within a story when details are more thought out, it comes to life and doesn’t feel flat on the page. So, here are a few examples of some details that have been standing out to me lately and why!
Heat
I am currently writing a horror fiction short story set on a fictional tropical island in the ocean so, obviously, heat is a big focus of mine. I’m trying to create a claustrophobic environment for both character and the reader, which partially contributed to choosing an island as the setting, but also contributed to some details I wanted to focus on. Heat has a correlation with madness and tension, a recent example I saw being the film Do The Right Thing which focuses on the tensions building within a community. My vision for my story sees my protagonist essentially trapped within a house solely able to focus on the heat and how difficult it is to think through it. So, when I was thinking about the sort of imagery that could go with this I started thinking about flies, rotting food, sweat, condensation on walls, heat shimmer/mirage, etc. Anything that would emphasize the heat and make the protagonist feel more trapped.
Hands
Holding hands is just a classic example of intimacy in all honesty. When writing romance, focusing on hands is so important I think. It’s a very simple but universal sign of affection whether it be romantically, platonically, even familially. Hand-holding is also ripe for more literary elements, obviously connection is an obvious theme but the symbolism of empty hands, where do I put my hands, carrying things, all of these are immensely popular. I think beyond this hands are good indicators of a lot of character things too, age, emotional state (shaking vs steady), marital status, etc. This isn’t really relevant to my current WIP besides more emotional stuff like shaking hands, but hands are truly such a good detail that I personally love. I’m a little bit of a rom-com lover as well so when I think about writing love stories I tend to also think about hands.
Water/Blue
This is especially relevant for me right now and I also grouped these all together because I find it really relevant. Water can represent a lot of things but it is especially connected with the color blue for obvious reasons, but also the feeling of being blue. Two albums this year, HIT ME HARD AND SOFT by Billie Eilish and Submarine by The Marías featured virtually the same cover design with both singers having blue underwater images to reflect a sadder mentality. During my undergraduate degree my university was right by the sea so I spent a lot of time looking at the water, walking by it, and even seeking it when I was feeling blue myself. I have always liked the water visually and I think utilizing it within a narrative can be incredibly effective. Personally, it is always a go-to when I want to talk about feeling sad, but also the idea of being cleansed. When going through personal difficulties I often find myself writing lots of imagery surrounding the water, being submerged, swimming through it. I remember writing a short image about someone swimming and as they swam the water behind them turned black, symbolizing a cleansing of the spirit/soul. Color is such an important facet of writing as well as it allows a reader to build a visual image, I find this particularly effective when it comes to clothing/decor. When I’m reading and an author takes the time to point out the color of an outfit I really keep that in mind. I’m wondering what this color says about the character’s current emotional state, the scene that’s about to follow this information, and I’ve also just got a better image of what the character looks like. Whenever I pick the color of something in my stories I’m always thinking about the connotations behind the color and what those are adding to the narrative. Recently both water and the color blue have been on my mind in regards to my WIP, albeit in a more negative light, however I love returning to both in general for calming/soothing imagery. Just this time everything’s going to be a bit more stormy.
Snow
Snow has always occupied something in my mind. With winter and Christmas break it’s been brought to the forefront. I like the calmness it can represent, the blank slate feeling of looking out into a yard piled with snow and leaving marks in it. I like how easily influenced it is to change from white to a gray slush, dirt brown, and blood red. Snow can lead to very striking imagery as because it is white, any other color layered on top stands out so deeply. I think in novels it can be used to paint such a serene image. The idea of being inside looking out when it comes to snow is so powerful because it builds up the sense of the home. The idea of a dark winter night inside a warm house while the snow sparkles under the moonlight is a classic one, and contrasts the warm indoors against the cold but beautiful outdoors. Beyond this the serene depiction of a clear snowy day can also be contrasted by violent action. The yard of clean snow being disrupted by some sort of spectacle. Those are just some examples, snow is genuinely such a gorgeous tool that can be utilized and I’ve personally really been obsessed with it lately. Whenever I have a wintery setting I love to fixate on the snow as you can write some really beautiful imagery around it.
Final Thoughts
This is all kind of making me debate writing a more romantic story alongside my WIP, this is really making me miss writing stuff like that. Which is funny because my current project started out as a love story and quickly evolved away from that. I definitely struggle with finding a way to write about love without thinking it’s cringey.
Anyways, those are just some short examples of stuff I’ve been thinking about lately in terms of writing, and why I like them/tend to use them. There are a ton more I could talk about as these are kind of reflective of my personal taste lately and not the style of writing I’ve been doing recently. I just wrote this down and then looked back at some writing and found a lot more gothic imagery so I could definitely do another about those and how I use those to represent things. So stay tuned!
