Visual imagery - Techniques that command attention - Tweak

Writing FAST - Jeff Bollow 2012

Visual imagery
Techniques that command attention
Tweak

Notice the last segment. I ended it with a visual image (“tuck a few tricks up your sleeve”).

When a reader comes across a visual image, she can’t help it. She’ll picture the image in her mind, every time. Even if she tries not to. I’ll prove it.

I’m about to give you a visual image. I want you not to picture it. Avoid letting the picture take shape in your mind. You’ll see. No matter how strenuously you try to prevent it, the image will pop into your mind anyway.

Ready?

Try not to imagine this: a tiny little house with a bright red front door. And while you’re at it, don’t let your mind picture the enormous tree standing out front, dropping leaves across the lawn. Oh, and be sure to avoid seeing the image of a woman in her eighties, happily raking up the leaves, as the breeze gently tosses her white hair.

C’mon, be honest. You saw it all. And I didn’t even go into any detail!

Fact is, it’s impossible not to see it, unless you skip the paragraph entirely.

It the nature of words. The whole function of a word is to put a picture in your head. So reading words about pictures makes them pop into your head!

Use this.

When you’re trying to express an idea, it’s easy to get lost in the words. It’s easy to ignore your words’ visual impact. But your ideas dance around in your reader’s imagination. When the pictures are sharp, your ideas are clear.

The key is to be specific. Avoid vagueness.

Specific nouns and action verbs work best. For example, I said “tree,” above. But that’s vague. Is it an “oak tree” or a “gum tree”? Does it have a thick trunk with bushy leaves, or empty dead branches that flick outward in all directions?

And I said the tree is “standing” out front. By swapping that for an action verb, I can make the picture much clearer. How about the tree is “looming” or “withering” out front? Each word gives a different image.

Be specific. See what you’ve written. And now that you’re at the Tweak stage, make your pictures vivid.