Touch in creative writing - by author Tom Afford
Description of touch in creative writing can help transport your reader. To share in your characters' pleasure or pain. To delight or repulse. Yet use of it is frequently too limited. Defined as just that which your fingers caress. Touch can and should be so much more. Find out how here.
This is part 3 of my running series on use of senses in creative writing.?
Intro
Of all the senses, touch is one of the most universal. It's thought that all people experience it similarly. Touch is undoubtedly a powerful tool for a writer. Describing textures can immediately evoke connections with readers. As if they too are experiencing it.?
Imagine running your hands through hot coarse sand, the granules sifting through fingers. The dryness, the heat. A few twigs and stones poking out, catching your skin, making you flinch. Imagine then dipping your hands in a bucket full of ice. The solidity of the ice, cracking. That sudden shock, a searing pain, almost heat, and then numbness. Goose pimples now running all over your arms and your neck. Perhaps you shiver. Effective description of touch, can be magical.
Why include touch??Including tactile quality allows readers to empathise. They share in that pleasure or pain. Excitement or fear. Touch helps to immerse your readers in settings and narratives. To get lost in your story. To transport. It turns two dimensional words into experience and feeling. As if reaching inside the book, spilling out.
Why is touch difficult to describe??Touch is arguably one of the easier senses to describe. And yet many writers fail to use it effectively. Instead of striking, sparing mention, they wallow about in how things feel, like hippos in mud. They drone on, relentlessly. For me, infrequent, intense description works better than writing a tome. Touch can be tricky to describe as much of it is fleeting. A hint or suggestion. It might arise only for a millisecond, one moment that passes. Reaction to touches can change and become surprisingly complex. An innocent feeling can soon become arousing, intriguing, disgusting. Look to the myriad of emotion behind it. Around it. How it changes depending on circumstances, and over time.
How can I improve??Being mindful of surroundings can help. To be completely present when feeling things around you. When describing them. Close your eyes. What are you actually feeling. Is the sense where you expect it or somewhere else? What aspects are surprising. Think beyond the obvious. Look to the emotion behind the touch. What memories it invokes, what feelings it arouses. What longings burst out.?
Top tips
See below for more top tips on using touch in your writing.
Think of the nature of touch. Some of it's momentary, fleeting, ethereal. Like a delicate spider web brushing your face. Some touch is much longer lasting. Think of knife chopping the end of your finger. You might still feel the cut, the shock, the pain even years later. You might have a scar to remember it by, reminding you constantly. Perhaps the old wound tingles when cold. Is the touch you're describing permanent or passing. How does it change over time? That first kiss might be electric and linger at first, but when all's lost, or if it's the last, it might now feel terribly painful.?
Effective description of touch results from a heightened awareness. Of being fully present, immersed. Being able to transport your reader similarly is half of the battle. Try and bring out surprising effects of the touch. For example, with ice, although usually wet and cold, it might at first bite and be difficult to slide across. Friction might cause heat, not cold. It might hurt. Really think of the object or medium and try and get to its essence, how might it change. What about it is perhaps surprising?
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As a writer it's easy to get lost in your writing. Writing purely for the sake of it, for the sound of the words, for the sense they evoke. But if you meander around aimlessly, eventually the reader will realise. That you're wallowing about, that the direction is lost. This isn't some poignant moment, part of a deeper narrative, it's just you going off on one. I think this is a real risk when describing touch. You start describing everything around you. If it happens and you get lost, think back to why you are mentioning touch at all. What are you trying to emote or evoke. And that might help bring you back from the brink.?
Touch is often thought of as being in the present. But what about future or past touches? The imagined, foreseeable touch of that first kiss. The drop of the guillotine. The last hug with a loved one who died. What about thoughts of a forthcoming injection. Or that time when you fell in those cacti. Ouch. Touch isn't just present, it's what came before and what might lay in store for us in the future. Use memory and anticipation, as well as the present. What elements of touch are perhaps misremembered, exaggerated or overthought? Do they disappoint. Why might that be? How might a character react differently to touch over time.?
Just like onomatopoeia for sound, alliteration for touch can assist. The silky sibilance of that silky lace. The grating, grinding, gate in graveyard. Get creative. Use literary devices. Onomatopoeia can work wonders for touch also. The searing sizzling steak on the barbecue, spitting. Experiment widely, freely.?
Think beyond just the touch of your fingers! Think of effects on your skin much more widely. On your whole body. What senses it picks up. The wind caressing the hairs on your neck. The smooth silk against freshly shaved legs. The heat from the forest fire, that scorches your arms. That music that makes you shudder and tingle. Where does the touch manifest?
As with most senses, it's less the immediate sense itself, but the emotions it evokes that's important, what's left behind when they linger. What memories might they evoke, what trauma might they uproot. Does the touch cause the character to fear something, miss something. Look to what the touch might mean, and why. Is the reaction surprising or predictable. Make touch much more poignant. Not just physical, but emotional. Look within.
Use touch to enhance different perspectives of characters. For one person, the touch from another might tease and delight. For another it might terrify and disgust. A kiss from someone you love might seem magical. A kiss from someone you loath, might feel like abuse. Think how various characters might react to touch differently. What in their past might be to blame. Whilst touch itself might be felt universally, the reactions and emotions it stirs up may be entirely unique and surprising.
So there we go. Some top tips to think about when using touch in creative writing. Hope these help.