According to Dictionary.com’s “Word of the Day” sentient\SEN-shee-uhnt; -tee-; -shuhnt\, is an adjective:
1. Capable of perceiving by the senses; conscious.
2. Experiencing sensation or feeling.
- I can remember very vividly the first time I became aware of my
existence; how for the first time I realised that I was a
sentient human being in a perceptible world.
– Lord Berners, First Childhood- Answers to such profound questions as whether we are the only
sentient beings in the universe, whether life is the product of
random accident or deeply rooted law, and whether there may be
some sort of ultimate meaning to our existence, hinge on what
science can reveal about the formation of life.
– Paul Davies, The Fifth Miracle
As writers, we are very well aware of, or at least strive to be, our characters’ ability to sense things. We wish to find a way to write this in a way that evokes the feeling from our audience.
Exercise: Pick an object from your past that evokes a memory. Spend five minutes examining the object focusing on the emotions that are evoked through your senses.
Write three paragraphs, each paragraph using a different sense, describing the object. Your goal is to detail the object without telling what it is, but in a way that your audience shares the emotions or even your memories.
Write on!
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