The Key Role of Sounds in the World of Writing
After learning how to see like a writer, my journey took me to hear like a writer. Being a highly-visual person, I never paid much attention to sounds. Apart from listening to chirping of birds, nothing inspired me much.
The key reason behind this is we are so used to sounds that we often take them for granted. Like the “pon pon” sound coming from my window whenever a vehicle passes through the road, the whoosh whoosh of a washing machine, the humming of a fan, and much more.
The reason I noticed them today is because when I listened to the video without sound, I found myself deprived of feelings. I understood what’s going on in the video but couldn’t feel anything. It is then I realized the influence of sounds in our daily life.
But how do we listen to them like a writer or put them in words?
The upcoming experiment reflected its all about practice:
Experiment 1: block your ears completely with a muffler and perform some day to day activities.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anything that can completely block the external sounds. But you can perform this experiment by watching your favorite movie without sounds like I described at the beginning of this article.
Once completed, hop into the next experiment.
Experiment 2 : Cover your eyes with a mask and sit in a room where other people are talking and moving about.
I performed this experiment in a slightly different manner.
I took a stretchable T-shirt out of my closet and wrapped it on my eyes tightly.
My first conscious listening was the click clack sound of the closet that I closed after covering my eyes. With the help of my hands, I moved towards the door when the wind howled mixed with the humming of a fan. I entered out of the door where zooooo zooooo of a bee was waiting for me. Inching forward, I heard the chuck chuck chuck of a factory situated at the corner of our lane. All the while, children were arguing about something. Calling each other using hey hey. The dug dug dug signaled the arrival of the Royal Enfield. Horn sounds like pon pon was also coming from different sides.
And this way I completed one round of my room and the terrace without seeing but hearing almost everything.
It was such an ‘AHA’ moment as I became extra conscious of sounds around me during the experiment.
Next comes an exercise where we have to write a scene with people are moving and talking from two different viewpoints:
- From the viewpoint of a character whose eyes are open
- From the viewpoint of a character who is blindfolded
Let’s give it a try in a reverse order:
- From the viewpoint of a blind character
I was listening to the music when I heard a loud distant bang. Since it was a rainy day, I took the sound as a collision of clouds. But when I heard the shouts of my mother and sister-in-law, I got up from the bed asking “what happened”. They told me that the banyan tree had fallen on our father’s shop. I stood there in utter shock because of my uncle who takes care of the shop when my father comes home for rest. I requested my mother to dial my uncle’s number. My heart was beating fast till my mother dialed the number. Thankfully, uncle picked up the call at first ring. He said that he is safe and informed that the tree has fallen on the nearby shop which was closed so nobody was harmed. It is then I took the sigh of relief.
- From the viewpoint of character whose eyes are open
I was listening to the music when I heard a loud distant bang. I didn’t pay much attention as it was raining outside, so I considered it the collision of the clouds. The event took my serious attention when I saw my mother and sister-in-law running towards the window to see what happened. I stood up too to join them. We saw the ruins of the aged banyan tree. People were rushing towards the tree. Some of them told us that the tree has fallen on our father’s shop. Worried about our uncle, who was working at our shop, we dialed his number. Thankfully, he picked up the call and consoled us that everything is OK. He also said that the tree has fallen on the shop nearby ours which is fortunately closed. We took a sigh of relief but still preferred to join the crowd for a better view.
Felt any difference?
I felt the difference of emotions. This practice not only helped me see the things but also feel them with the help of sounds.
Isn’t it what we look for when we read a novel or write a novel?
This article first appeared on my blog LittleTicks where I hone my writing skills and share my learning experience.
About me: I am a freelance content writer, offering services to businesses of all types. In free time, I home my writing skills.