Tag Archives: taste

#Writober 2019 Day 7: Tongue

tongue-flavors-300

physical sensations on the tongue

#OctPoWriMo

Today’s OctPoWriMo theme is Tongue, Tasting and Speaking. I wrote a post about taste back when I started this blog and did a series on exploring the senses. Today’s poetry form is Tongue Twister.

Bitter, Sour, Sweet

Flitter glitter emitter
jitter critter
transmitter
spitter embitters
sitter knitter

Deflower willpower
scour our shower
devour cauliflower
cower glower hour
in wallflower tower

Defeat deceit
complete browbeat
discrete elite cheatsheet
eat treat receipts
backseat heartbeat
concrete feet
meet, heat, repeat

 

#Writober4

The image for Day 7 on the Pinterest board shows two hands (the rising dead) reaching up the base of a tree that has a picture of a missing cat stapled to it.

My take: That zombie really wants a kitten, or perhaps the poor kitty got run over and the dead don’t want the owner to look for it anymore. Either way, the dead are rising and are interested in your business. It’s not a good sign.

Micro-fiction: Approaching the bookstore, I noticed a lost kitten poster on a tree. The kitten was so cute. My heart ached for the owner. Before I stepped up on the sidewalk, the ground shook. A warm gust flooded my nostrils with decay. Two large hands burst from the dirt and reached up the trunk of the tree as if reaching toward the kitten. I turned, got back in my car and drove home, vigilant for small creatures. One should pay attention to bad omens.

Writing Process and Tools

Plot-O-Matic: I thought we would switch things up today and use a different plotting tool. Follow the link to learn more about the plot-o-matic and how to make your own.

Today’s plot: A conspiracy junky–wants to be happy again–paints the kitchen at three a.m.

Creepy verbs: terrify, terrorize, bludgeon, force, dragoon

Story Cubes Symbols: padlock, flower, airplane, key, pyramid, sleeping person, die (dice), alligator, lightning bolt

Woodland creature: turtle

Horror trope: possession

Oblique Strategies: The most important thing is the thing most easily forgotten

Sleep on it: This morning, “sleep on it” actually worked for me. I woke up with the idea I needed for my story and went straight to writing. Remember to always keep a notebook and pens and pencils next to your bed. Don’t get up to get coffee or anything first. Get the ideas down, then go get your coffee. I am so glad I did.

 

Happy Reading and Writing!

 

Exploring the Senses – Touch

Touching Ostrich Feathers in a Brown Paper Bag

Touching Ostrich Feathers in a Brown Paper Bag (make sure you can’t see what you’re touching to do the exercise we did)

Touch is a sense most of us take for granted – until we’re lying on satin sheets, or picking glass and gravel out of a knee – but  touch is sensed through the skin which is the largest organ of our human bodies. The sense of touch is based on detection of mechanical energy, or pressure against the skin. Touch, like taste, can include sensing temperature and pain; these receptors also exist in the skin and can be perceived simultaneously. In our writing, texture can bring dimension to an object and a scene. I hope through this exercise you will find that touch, like the other senses, can also bring up memories and vivid images. Let your characters touch the textures that fascinate you. How do they feel? How do they react?

Exercise – Each member of writing group brought a mystery object in a paper bag. We each reached into each bag, exploring with only our fingers and wrote down everything that came to mind.

My responses:

  1. Wet. A large alien eyeball. Birds dropping pits on the deck. A warm summer day enjoying the ability to pick my lunch from the garden. Sticky hands and face from popsicles. Running after the ice cream man. Red white and blue rocket pops. Item: peeled plum.
  2. I was never good at ice skating. My weak ankles would wobble from side to side. I enjoyed floor hockey. The side texture (of the object) made me think of tines. I remember playing air hockey at the skating rink. I really liked the feel of the cool air coming up from the table. Item: a hockey puck.
  3. Soft edges on a crusty spine. I remember going to the peacock farm with my mom when I was little, so she could pick up some long colorful plumes for her huge ceramic vase in the living room. It reminds me of the hundreds of metal loops I clamped feathers into after carefully bending each feather with pliers for the huge shoulder harnesses to be worn at the Mardi Gras balls. Item: ostrich feather.

Unlike taste, touch was again quick to conjure vivid images and memories. I found it easy to identify what was in the bags without looking and had stories to tell triggered by the objects. My response to the peeled plum could read as a little poem to summer present and past (Maybe minus the alien eyeball. Guess it depends if I meet any aliens and get to touch their eyeballs this summer).

I look forward to reading your experiences with this exercise. Remember, your skin is your largest sensory organ with areas of different levels of sensitivity. Our hands and fingers may be the most sensitive and dexterous, but rolling around in the grass, or going for a swim could be a great place to start exploring your sense of touch.

Exploring the Senses – Taste

Tasting sweet, sour, bitter, salty and savory

Tasting sweet, sour, bitter, salty and savory

Smell and taste are frequently stimulated together. The smell of food, for instance, greatly enhances its flavor. However, taste is a distinct sense from smell and should not be overlooked when describing your characters’ sensory perceptions. There are five well recognized types of taste receptors. These sensations are categorized as sweet, bitter, salty, sour and savory (often referred to with the Japanese word Umami). While exploring taste, I recommend finding ways to experience all five even though some of the taste sensations are not completely pleasant.

Exercise One: Gather things to taste that will activate all of the areas of your tongue. Also try some different textures. I tried soy sauce (Savory/Umami), lemon juice (sour), Agave nectar (sweet), Tonic water (bitter), pita chips (salty and crunchy) and plain Greek yoghurt for a smooth texture. Spend time moving each taste around your mouth and write down everything that comes to mind.

My example (Remember these are just notes. Forgive the incomplete sentences.):

Lemon Juice – More of a restrictive feeling on the tongue than a flavor, first on the right side then strongly at the back of the tongue. It stays in my throat and then I can feel it at the back of my sinuses.

Liquid Aminos (like soy sauce) – I feel it in the center top of my tongue. It is salty, but not from salt. It tastes brown like bear fur or the soft bark of a rotting tree.

Pita chips – do not taste as salty as the Liquid Aminos. The crunch is satisfying, makes me feel contented. My teeth feel sturdy and powerful. The bread flavor lingers as the crumbs liquefy and my tongue removes the leftovers from the bowls of my molars.

Tonic Water – Leaves a sour aftertaste at the top back of my mouth. All it is is sour aftertaste. It grabs the front of my tongue, but the bubbles carry it quickly to the top of my mouth where it lingers.

Agave Nectar – has a bit of a thick brown Molasses flavor though it is supposed to be the light neutral flavor. I don’t like it. I stick out my tongue and say “Eh.”

Greek yoghurt – It is cool on the tip and top of my tongue. Sour in aftertaste. A little vanilla or sweet at first. I feel the tang right at the top center of my mouth. I enjoy moving the thick silky texture around my mouth which I find odd because I hate the texture of pudding and it is very similar.

I was surprised that my notes were mostly physical descriptions of the feelings in my mouth. I did come up with a little bit of imagery that may be useful in my writing. I think I’ll try this exercise again sometime in the future with fruits and vegetables and also with a meal.

physical sensations on the tongue

physical sensations on the tongue

Exercise Two: With your new insights and sensory awareness from exercise one, take your main character out to dinner. What is his or her favorite food or restaurant? Why? What foods, smells and textures does he or she hate? Why? Once you get to your table start taking notes. How does your character make menu choices? Did s/he know what to get before arrival, or are menu decisions difficult? When the food arrives try to perceive everything about the meal as your character. Remember that the smell, texture and taste are all part of the taste sensation. Take notes of everything that comes to mind. If you invite people to join you and your protagonist on your taste adventure, make sure to clue them in to what you’re doing. You wouldn’t want them to think you were being rude to them, taking notes about them, or just plain crazy.