Have characters use their five senses. These senses include what a
character sees, hears, touches, tastes and smells. To expand sensory details
and freshen the narrative go consider a character walking on
a windy beach. Do the waves crash onto the shore? (hear) Do grains of sands
sting her cheek? (touch) Is the air salty? (taste) Is there a whiff of oiled
bodies baking in the sun? (smell)
The year she stopped eating and working and talking, she devolved, draping cloth over mirrors, not brushing her teeth. She went from Emily Dickinson to Sylvia Plath to Anne Sexton, reading their work over and over, copying their words. A day came. She reached for a pencil... cracked egg, hot griddle. Her first poem filled two pages. She now eats oatmeal and wanton soup from the Chinese restaurant.