Have you ever read a scene that pulled you into the story until you forgot reality? Have you also had trouble writing scenes that have a similar effect on readers? It can be really hard at times to visualize or imagine a scene. You might have the characters figured out and the plot, but sometimes the details just won't come. That is why I decided to make a post and share my own brainstorming process. Description has always been my strong point. Hopefully, these tips will help you better visualize your story and build upon your scenes.
Now, most of these tips will help you visualize your descriptions and surroundings, but I tried to throw in some tips that will also help with imagining how a scene will play out.
1. Ambience Videos
I love, love, love, love ambience videos on YouTube! Did I mention that I love them? If you can't be there in person, this is the next best thing! Some are labeled with ASMR, but they are all wonderful for setting "the mood." If you have a place in mind that you need to visualize or in other words imagine, these videos with their music, sights, and sounds can help transport you to another world. I will share some of my favorites below.
ASMR Weekly was one of the first YouTubers that I found that made both ASMR videos and ambience videos. I can remember watching his Christmas at Hogwarts video to help me visualize a scene in one of my WIP's where it is the first day of winter and the castle is celebrating. While this is a fictional place that I could never visit, I can visualize it much easier with the sight and sounds of a video playing as I write.
Miracle Forest
I just discovered this channel recently. Her videos are so magical! And I watched a video about how she makes them, and all the work she puts into them is incredible. While writing my current WIP, I have been playing the two videos links below. She has a range of videos from spooky and chilling to magical and enchanted. Tea parties, fairy banquets, and libraries at the edge of the world.
Ambient Worlds
This was one of the first channels that I discovered as well, but they have a wider variety of videos. They are all ambience videos, but there have been videos based around video games, movies, books, and more. They don't have as many videos, but the ones that they have are really good! Miracle Forest does not make music a key element in her videos. Her videos transport you through sounds. I love the haunted mansion. There's a part where you here someone on one side of your headphones whisper "You can't see me, but I'm standing right beside you." It is very spooky! But as far as I remember most all of Ambient's videos have some type of music or singing involved. I especially love the Marvel themed videos. They have the movie music playing with scene's of Stark's Tower or Wakanda at night.
Actually! I must admit that while watching their How To Train Your Dragon Peaceful Theme video, I had this picture, this vision in my head that sparked a story idea that I plan on writing in the future! My point here exactly! All it takes is a little music, something to feed your senses to spark your inspiration! I'll leave some of their videos below.
I'm a Ravenclaw! Where are my fellow Ravenclaws?
If you do not know what ASMR is, I have left a link here to explain, Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response
ASMR has grown increasingly popular throughout the past few years! You may have your own opinions from watching it yourself, but if you have not watched an ASMR video on YouTube, I highly advise giving it a chance. I had my own reservations and doubts, when I heard about it. But, after watching a few videos, (watch with headphones), I was hooked!!
Everyone has what they call their own triggers. There are things that make you have a special relaxed feeling that usually comes from a certain sound. For me, I love the brushing on the microphone, the opening of a pop can (the sounds of fizzing), scissors (usually the roleplay of a haircut. I don't like to be touched in real life so in the pretend world of ASMR I can participate in situations without actually being touched), and spray bottles are also really soothing.
Visually, I love hand movements, ear to ear speaking ( the person usually has a microphone that allows them to talk and you can hear it from one ear to the other), and certain hand patterns snapping (Karuna Satori ASMR is really good with sounds and patterned movements) I won't go into my own mental illnesses in this post, but something my mind does all the time is make up its own patterns, counting, things that I hear and see. To have someone verbally produce patterns and sounds that are close to what my brain creates, is extremely satisfying. This is one of her first videos that I ever watched ASMR Stop Anxiety Panic Attack Now Her video helped me over a year ago, when I felt like I was having a panic attack. To this day her soothing voice, and dominant (in a good way, like the mother/friend that is like no you're okay) attitude seems to help snap me out of my mindsets. I thought I would take a moment and share her channel for anyone out there that is also suffering with anxiety. If you suffer with anxiety or depression, ASMR in general is very relaxing and could really help.
Now!! Moving on!
What does ASMR have to do with visualizing your story? One word! Roleplay! What better what to imagine a scene than through roleplay. Imagine your scene not just as a story, but as a movie or maybe a tv show. Think of it as something that is verbal. You might be able to find an ASMR video that will help you with imagining your scene. If not, watch an ASMR video, take note, and think about role playing your own scene. Maybe get a friend to do it with you! Hearing your characters speak in real life or out loud really brings light to the things that you would not have noticed on paper. I like to sometimes read what I have written out loud, because I find it might sound off of weird spoken.
I wanted to write a scene involving a character getting dressed in the castle with the help of her ladies in waiting. They were going to talk to her as they helped her. This would mean that I needed to get into the mind set of both my main character and the servant girls. I searched YouTube for role plays, and I came across this video! Lady in Waiting Preparing Royalty for Court Ball It was just what I needed to inspire my scene, and throw in some details that I had not thought of myself. I'll leave some more links below for some videos that might help inspire your writing, and just some wonderful ASMR YouTubers in general.
Gibi roleplays welcoming you into each Hogwarts house!
Here's Some links as well
Feldon the Farrier her videos always make me feel like I'm in a video game
ASMR Kidnapped by a Dragon Queen She definitely has the confidence of a queen!
ASMR Adams Family (for halloween!) I thought I'd drop a Halloween vibed roleplay! I haven't watched her videos in a long time, but they were always really good.
First Class Sleep Train This guy! His voice! Ah! He does videos of Thor that are just my guilty pleasure...just saying! If you are wanting some inspiration for the drop dead, sexy, head throb in your story, watch some of this guys ASMR videos. His voice alone will make you fall in love.
3. Sounds
This is obvious, but I have to mention this, because you can find sounds on places like Spotify! Again under sleep playlists or ASMR playlists on Spotify there have been 'songs' that are feet walking in snow, a terrible storm, the sound of a fan running, a crowd talking, fireworks, shouting, scary noises, crying, etc. If I need to imagine the sound of something, sometimes I'll pull up my phone for whatever the need is and just listen for a few minutes until it is really fresh in my mind.
4. Go There
If your story takes place somewhere that you can go to, Go There! If you are writing a fantasy world, say a forest, go to a forest. If you can go somewhere that is similar to a place in your story, go there and write down what you see and hear. Experiencing a place firsthand is the best way to visualize a place. You will see my example down below with my walk in the woods behind my house. Take a camera, write down what you see, maybe even record the place to later watch, and just sit and listen.
5. Watch Movies/ TV
I have this character that I have created that is very dominating, the king of monsters. However, he is not some wild creature that has no intelligence. He doesn't run around killing people and things mindlessly like an animal. No, he has thoughts and it really clever. I was trying to write a scene where he is conversing with my main character. She is really tired at this point and does not have much fight left in her body. They have a short conversation, but I could not visualize his movements or facial expressions. To be honest, I don't clearly see his face in my mind. And that is okay, because I want the readers to each imagine what they think he should look like. I give a deep enough description of his body to let the readers understand that this is a giant winged monster with the capability to claw your face off in seconds. Yet, I needed help visualizing his movements during the conversation.
If you feel like you are stuck in a similar situation, try to compare your character to one that already exists. I thought about him for a while, and I realized that his twisted relationship with my main character was a mix of fathering and something else. He does not care what happens to her in the end, but he guides her and when other monsters try to devour her, he tells them that she is off limits for now. It reminded me of Gamora's relationship with her adopted father Thanos. My character like Thanos towers over everyone, and he has this godlike mindset that he is in control. While Thanos thought his purpose was to destroy and kill to rebuild the world, my monster king sees that there is good and bad. He is very black and white as well, even if he is a murderer. He knows that there will always be the monsters living and hurting those that are innocent, and he knows that there will always be good people humans, elves, fae, and more always trying to do what is right in the world, saving lives.
So what did I do?
I got my headphones on and went to YouTube again. I looked up movie clips of Thanos from all his movies. I watched his movements, how he looks down on people, how he tilts his head only when he talks about certain topics or when people says things that humor him (meaning he usually disagrees, thinks them dumb or not enlightened). I watched Thanos fight, vulnerable, and I studied him and compared him and Gamora to my own characters.
Thanos raised her from a young child. My monster king only meets my MC when she is a teenager, but he knows more about her than she realizes. It is the reason that he keeps her alive, but they have yet to create a bond that would actually hurt him, if something were to happen to her. At this point, if she were to die, he would not shed a tear. But, I can still use Thanos as an example. He is a ruler, a leader, with a twisted view of the world, and he physically has the strength and height of my character.
So in the end I was able to visualize my scene much clearer than before.
I did this with one other character. She was not as insane or was not evil like the joker, but I needed an interrogation scene for inspiration. So I watched the famed Batman and Joker scene, where he ends up slinging the Joker against the wall. Then, I watched him and the Joker, where he ends up hanging upside down and telling Batman how all that guy needed was a little push. Well, my main character, this said girl, she is not evil, but she has a little madness like the joker. Her madness is more noticeable than with most. Her life events made her heart harden towards people that aren't just good, but the really good types, like knights. The kind that want to save the world. She sees villains as the heroes because without them, the heroes would have nothing to do. So you can see how the Joker helped inspire me to write her character in a much darker and more detailed way.
You can do this with any characters of your own. If you are worried about copying, don't be! Unless you are full out copying a character and just changing their name, then you have nothing to worry about. Let real life people and movie characters be inspiration. Because people in movies are, believe it or not, inspired by real life people too. Now I know a lot of TV shows have characters do stupid things that stretch reality, but don't novels do that too? They really make them say and do things sometimes that in real life chances are would never happen. But that's why it is a movie or a book. It is meant to entertain us and keep us reading or watching.
6. Read
This one is huge and usually forgotten! Reading in general will always help you with your own writing, but reading books about something that you need to write about is even better! The story I mentioned with the girl that is mad? That same story has a lot of birds involved. They use bird names to title family names. So I needed to know more about birds. Besides the internet, I have this wonderful little bird guide that I got in one of my Owlcrate Jr Boxes! It is full of bird species and pictures. I used it for more ideas. So read more books in general, and if you want to visualize something, and you need more words to describe something look up a book on that topic. Those books are going to have that thing like my said birds described in detail. Then you can just use that detail for your own stories.
7. Break the Story Down
After I write a scene, I go back and break it down. I work on maybe a paragraph at a time. I go through each sentence and analyze the sentence. How can I make it better? Go to thesaurus and find other words to replace words that you might overuse or think are boring or used too much in general by a lot of authors. If you want to describe something, but can't think of the word. Go to bing or Google and try to type in "A word for, A word that means." Something along those lines should help.
If this is a scene that you really want people to be able to see, make sure you have enough description. I know some people say there can be too much description, but I say put as much as you can. You can always take out extra description later, if you feel it is unnecessary. At least then, you will have more to pick from. Decide if this is a chapter that is going to be focused a lot around description. Is it going to be a chapter mainly focused on a conversation? Or an event? That will help you determine how much description to use. For example, if I was going to explain the forest in Narnia as Lucy walks up to the lamppost, I would probably use a lot of description. Enough to show the world around her and how she is feeling. But I would not use that same amount of description, if I wanted to write a scene where she is having dinner with the beavers. I might describe the house's interior, but the description would not be as heavy as it was in the scene involving the forest and the lamppost. It would need more room for people to focus on their conversation. Unless there is something in the room, on the wall that plays a major part in the story, like the painting that pours water into the room later on in Lewis's books, then I would leave the description light enough to give the readers a feeling of the atmosphere.
8. Character Lists
I love lists. I'm a big fan of lists for things beyond writing. And, it is always good to have a notebook or file with a list of names and places. However, write down another list with your top characters or even all of them. include the characters that you MC encounters even if for a few minutes, if you like. Give them a story. When I work on my main characters, I like to write down a few things to help build on them. It will help me to better predict how they will react in certain situations. I'll give a few of them here, but if you would like a full post on how I create my characters, let me know in the comments below. I usually write at least the person's name, age, height, eye/hair color, etc. Then I might add on other things like personality quirks like their Hogwarts House to help me mold them a little further. Then if I really want to get to know them, I sit down and write out a page of things that they might say to someone. I write down things like what food they eat, what do they hate, or something that happened to them as a child. These things will really change your story and how your characters react.
A quick example. Here is a character from a WIP of mine. I have a secret board on Pinterest with a section of nothing but collages or aesthetics made for each character. Then in the pin, I type up a small description about my character.
The character below is Saya Rush. After searching Pinterest for some photos that reminded me of her, I made this little collage for inspiration. I then sat down and wrote out more about her to build on her character. How many siblings does she have? Are her parents living? Was she raised by them? Why doesn't she speak? Why does she hang around Prince Raylan and his crew? Who does she look more like her mother or father? How does she communicate? How did she meet the prince and his friends?
By answering all of these questions, I can now better write her character and understand her motivations. The readers might never know some of the details to her past. They might never be mentioned in the story, but it will help me to make her seem more realistic.
So just before I finish a few extra tips.
- Use the thesaurus! It is such a huge help when editing! Use it to replace boring or overused words.
- Pinterest is also a wonderful place to look around. Type in "writing body language or facial expressions" or anything that you might want to help describe. I've looked up help on hair color, eye color, skin, and even tone of voice. Other writers and bloggers have lots of articles out there with lists of descriptions.
- Netflix has some of those earth documentaries with creatures that I never knew existed. They can be great inspiration for your own creations.
- Also they have this show called Moving Art, and just shows in general of scenery with music that is beautiful and inspiring.
- I've used YouTube and looked up underwater videos of tropical fish swimming. It helped me imagine the ocean for a mermaid story. You can do this for fantasy stories, if you are struggling to picture them in your mind.
- Finally, I know I have talked about going somewhere, but what if it is a scene needs help imagining someone doing something. Maybe you might have to do that something and experience it to help you write about it. It could be something as simple as a haircut or something as scary as going to a haunted house.
Today, I decided to get outside to take some IG photos. While walking, I could not help thinking about my friends that don't have the ability to go out into the woods everyday like I can. One of the many advantages to living on a 50+ acre farm is UNLIMITED outdoor inspiration. If I need to write a scene that is set in the forest, all I have to do is step into my backyard for some inspiration. Not everyone has the ability to look outside and see endless trees, mountain tops, or rolling hills.
I had been tossing around some ideas for my first blog post. And, today's walk led me to take some photos for my friends to share. The idea felt right to share not only photos but some short descriptions of the woods. Hopefully, this will spark some ideas of your own for your stories.
The sunlight down through the branches
The breeze moving the very tops of the trees
Black shadows on the forest floor in the shapes of leaves
The circular shadows of the leaves and branches moving as the branches move with the wind
Leaves gently fall around you from high above
Watching a leaf fall to your left or right as it sways in a circle down to the ground
A red leaf lands on your lap, your shoe
Crouching down to notice the little bugs on a rotting log
The occasional sound of the gentle crack of a stick or fallen branch
You notice movement, but it takes you a second to realize that a deer is moving through the forest
The deer hesitates and your eyes meet
Neither of you move and the deer stands with one front leg raised
Then as quickly as the doe or buck appeared, it hurries off into the trees and creates a series of sounds
Swift crack of branches, crumbling of leaves, soft patter of their feet
It is amazing how they can move so fast yet so silent
It is hot and humid, but it is still September
The leaves are falling but the trees are green
You notice red berries on a tree that has grown high above your head
You wonder if they are poisonous
You notice the poison ivy as it wraps up around the trunks of trees
Weeds peek out through the leaves
Thorns accompany the vines and brush against your pant leg or skirt
You stop to pull the thorny vine away
There is a cobweb near the ground
Crouch down and see the little bugs stuck in little web cocoons
See the spider little and black
Does it have long legs or short
Are the legs skinny or thick
You see an ant crawling on a nearby branch and a greenish worm peeking out from a hole
Some of the trunks have lines up them
They look really dry and cracked or crumbling
Some are covered in a green like plant that you think might be moss
The clouds move over the sun every few minutes and the forest darkens
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