How Does Your Writing Sound?
A Soundless Picture of the Back Bay
I was sitting in my truck yesterday, by a dock on Smithtown Bay, watching the tide trickle into the marsh and the summer trickle out of the sky. Initially, it was the light that held my attention; the long, wan yellow of October. But after a few minutes, I realized I wasn't watching the sky anymore. I was listening to the life that lingered still on the edge of that marsh.
There were the gulls of course, fewer in number but raucous as always. There were also crickets; unexpected in the cool autumn afternoon. Their chirping was slow. I imagined them struggling sluggishly in the cold air, their prehistoric bodies stiff and uncooperative. In the background I could hear the mini-rivulets of brine running in over the muddy flats, tiny air bubbles snapping as the cold water closed over them.
Of course, the more I listened, the more I heard. Eventually, it became a cacophony of natural and man-made sounds – a far-off outboard motor buzzing low on the water; the angry chirping of a nesting Osprey offended by some nearby intruder, even the breeze rustling the sea oats up on the dunes. I realized that my little setting there on the marsh was a great deal richer than just the streaky pastels of the sky.
When we write a scene, including an authentic auditory layer can add a richness that pulls the reader ever deeper into the story. Sound can be used to add texture and can even become part of the dramatic structure. Surely you recall the pounding of "The Telltale Heart," by Edgar Allan Poe. But even if you're not writing Gothic fiction, the elements of sound in your scenes are as critical as the visual descriptions.
A good way to make your scenes sound, as well as look real, is to practice cataloging the sounds that surround you. Stop what you're doing at some point today, close your eyes, and spend a few minutes sampling the resonating world. Like all sensory exercises, you will become aware of more and more the longer you listen. Imagine how your characters might cause sounds; how they might hear them and react to them. It's all about including that rich auditory layer in your writing. You've heard all of these sounds before but never paid much attention to them. But they really are everywhere — the squeaky hinges on the floating docks, the clanking of the halyard snaps against the mast, the mysterious splashes — capture them and lay them into your scenes.
Sounds simple, right?
