Using “On-The-Body” Physical Sensation

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Synopsis

Great writing must reach both the mind and the heart of your reader, but to effectively suspend reality in favor of the fictional world, you must communicate on a physical level, as well. Learn to unpack the details of physical sensation.

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Comments

ChrisBrknStplr's picture
ChrisBrknStplr January 15, 2020 - 8:47am

I'm just getting on board here. Thanks for the great short story!

StampBT's picture
StampBT October 20, 2019 - 8:59am

John Wayne: Your short story was great. I really enjoyed it.

Thank you for sharing.

JohnWayneBradley's picture
JohnWayneBradley from Parts Unknown is reading Star Wars: Aftermath by Chuck Wendig January 27, 2019 - 8:44pm

The skin on his head was taught, vice-like. It felt as though it would rip apart at any moment, revealing the strips of muscle and yellow-white bone beneath it. And, oh god - the lights... even the hazy soft light from the brass table lamps penetrated his eye sockets, nearly cauterizing the frayed ends of his optic nerves. Every sound in the apartment, the dripping faucet in the kitchen sink, the hum and buzz of the refrigerator's compressor kicking in, felt as though it was being channeled through a Fender tube amplifier cranked up to eleven and placed inches from his auditory canals.
  Laying there, still as death on his thrift store couch, which smelled of stale cigarettes and dog, he carefully considered how badly he wanted to make the mecca-like pilgrimage down the hallway to the bathroom. He knew, if he could crawl or drag himself down that dark tunnel, and if he could manage to pull himself up using the cracked porcelain sink, he might reach the  medicine cabinet and it’s trove of sumatriptan and Excedrin.
  Or, he could just lie still, eyes closed and arms clutching the couch-cushion earplugs over his head until it passed or he died. He was still deciding which fate was worse.

JohnWayneBradley's picture
JohnWayneBradley from Parts Unknown is reading Star Wars: Aftermath by Chuck Wendig January 27, 2019 - 8:43pm

Double-Post in error.

Linden's picture
Linden from Military Brat/Expat is reading Winston Churchill: The Valiant Years February 5, 2017 - 8:49pm

Only one comment! Where is everybody? Now there are two. Chuck, your essays have always a sliver of gold I've found nowhere else. This is a few years late, not quite a decade but getting there. Thank you.

muffy's picture
muffy from Baltimore is reading Fight Club 2 July 14, 2015 - 10:41pm

Thank you for taking the time to write these! <3