How to Use Imagery in Fiction
Strong imagery brings writing to life. It helps the reader see and feel the world you’ve created. Imagery describes characters, settings, objects, emotions or any other aspect important to your story in ways that make the writing engaging. A beginning writer often fails to use imagery effectively. Usually she’ll leave out details such as the way a character looks or sounds or neglects in describing or defining setting. While it’s important not to overshadow imagery, piling one on top of the other, it is useful to create imagery that will make your story more specific in your reader’s mind. Here are some ways to create strong imagery in your fiction.
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Instructions
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Look over your story. Look at how characters, settings, objects, emotions, etc. are described. Are the descriptions strong? Are they specific to your story? If not, isolate one particular passage, such as character or setting description, and focus on that for a moment.
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Get a sense of who and what your character or settings are. If your character is a down-on-his-luck gambler, imagine what such a person might look like. Perhaps he smokes or drinks too much. Smoking and drinking will affect a person’s appearance. His teeth will be yellow from too much smoking. His eyes will be bloodshot. His appearance will be haggard. If your setting is at a seedy hotel, imagine what a hotel like that might look like. For starters, it won’t look like the Hilton.
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Use the five senses. Descriptions come alive when readers can see, feel, taste, touch, and hear the world they’re reading about. Look over the passage in your story. What do you see in the passage? What can you smell, touch, taste (if possible) or hear? If it’s an outdoor setting, can you hear the birds singing in the trees? Can you hear traffic? Insects? Sounds of people talking, walking? If your characters are having dinner, what are they eating? What does the food look and smell like? What about love scenes? Sights, sounds, smells, textures and tastes should be a part of that scene to make it come alive.
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Use evocative language to describe your characters or settings. This includes using metaphors and similes. Compare your characters or settings to things that will be familiar to your readers, but avoid clichés. Look for inventive comparisons. Use strong word choices–“strut,” instead of “walk”–that effectively create images in your readers’ minds. Onomatopoeias, words that sound like what they describe (boom, crackle, hiss, clink, buzz, etc.), are also effective in creating strong imagery.
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Use objects or settings to describe emotions. This is a really effective way to use imagery in fiction. Look at your passage and locate its emotional center. Is it happy? Sad? Depressed? Paranoid? Angry? Bitter? Fearful? Now look at the characters, objects, setting in this passage and find ways that will evoke the emotions in an effective way. If the scene evokes bitterness, add descriptions that are similar to the emotion---"jostling, uncaring pedestrians"; "a cold, bitter wind"; "an oppressively hot sun." Use metaphors or similes---“the city looked like a clenched fist”---that will also evoke this emotion.
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