When the author needs a box of tissue or time to catch their breath because their sides ache from laughing so hard at the reactions of their characters, then they know the reader will feel the intended emotions. To achieve goose-bump level of intimate sensuality with the characters the author must experience life through their senses.

Visualization through Guided Imagery is one of the tools in my arsenal. If the setting is contemporary the exercise may be easier, but research is helpful no matter what, when, or where the world of your creation exists. My current work in progress in set in Palestine at the time of Christ. I want readers to smell the olive trees, and taste the figs. To do this I’ve watched time period films and looked at many different artists renditions as well as reading many books on related subjects.  Tasting the cuisine helps to elicit savory descriptions. At times I like to listen instrumental music appropriate for the setting of the novel. I’ve also done some aroma therapy with essential oils or other mediums to teach the olfactory glands what the scent is like. These are all aides to setting the mood for your personal tour.

I take time to be alone with my thoughts. I prefer to go somewhere very quiet other than the sounds of nature. The picture above looks very similar to where I go in my mind when I am not able to drive up to my favorite mountain meadow. The only items I take with me are pen and paper. I start with slow deep breaths, emptying the vault between my ears of extraneous matter. I imagine the world I want to convey in my writing and the person I am writing about. I let him or her tell me what it is he or she  has to say. This is when mysteries and secrets are revealed that busy life does not allow. The tour continues to surround me as long as I desire. When I finish that trip I journal the experience.

Often while I am tapping away at the manuscript, enjoying a shower or when I am asleep, voices tell me what comes next. Guided imagery lends to vivid dreams.  That is why there is a pad of paper and writing utensil everywhere I go. My beside stand and purse always have a note pad and pencil so those glimpses of inspiration can be captured.

Enjoy your journey with your characters.

Margaret Larsen Turley, author of SAVE THE CHILD,

Administrator of Writers Unite to Fight Cancer.

Blogs at: Words and Works - author interviews and book reviews and writing.

A Nurse’s World – articles related to health care, humanitarian efforts and more.

Save the Child Website – articles on children’s health, welfare, alternative medicine, parent’s rights and more.

Margaret made Elsie – the toy elephant she is holding – because she couldn’t find one like Sharon’s gift in Save the Child. Elsie is the main character for a children’s pi