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STEP ONE: Write with Your Senses.
If you can see, hear, feel, taste, or smell it, write it down. Do you notice the texture? Breathe deep; what do you smell? Does it taste bitter? How would you describe bitter? You get the idea. The best observational writing uses all of the senses. I find myself in the observational writing world when I am traveling. I am more alert to everything around me.
This year, on my Birthday, we traveled to the Pacific Northwest (PNW). I’d never been there before, and while it bore similarities to other places, it was unlike any place I’d been to before.
Here are a couple of examples from 2 different trips:
The first is about a town we passed driving to Astoria, Oregon.
The town smelled like BBQ, dirty socks, and wet cardboard boxes.
The sun through the window warmed me while cold slipped against the back of my neck like a shadow.
The second is from a recent trip to Las Vegas, NV.
Desperation and years of stale cigarette smoke and old perfume lingering in the room of jazz standards sung alongside country songs, the singer wearing blue jeans.
I saw Elvis at a slot machine wearing thick eyeliner, blue jeans, and a white v tee.

Goonies House in Astoria, Oregon. Photo by Stephanie McNutt
STEP TWO: Ask questions
When traveling to the PNW, I wanted to see Mt. St. Helens, but to see her in all her present glory, I had to travel North before going South again to the Goonies film location (see above photo). It was an out-of-the-way decision. I was not to be deterred, as my goal was to see all 50 states, and this was 2 states for the price of one.
We asked a local Yarn Shop owner if they’d ever seen Mt. St. Helens. They remembered it; as a kid, they camped nearby before it erupted. Their parents evacuated them back to Oregon, abruptly ending their camping trip.
Even more interesting is that when I referred to it as Mt. St. Helen’s, they corrected me and said, “Mt. Helen.”
I remained silent with the question, "Why do we know it by two different names?”
Questions are for the curious, no matter what you decide to write. This mental question inspired this fictional curiosity, which was built upon observing my differences in thinking about this historic volcano and mountain.
Here’s what the questions inspired:
They killed their saints with a pen. Did they discover she burned with a whimper?
It uses experience, and the question is answered and unanswered—the reality of Mt. St. Helen’s as an active, albeit silent volcano. You could read this statement as the removal of her sainthood in direct correlation to the devastation she caused.
Never fear. She is still the great sainted volcano of the PNW. Her official name is still Mount Saint Helens. Many like her exist in this area of the country and have yet to show themselves.
STEP THREE: Hooking the senses with the metaphor and simile.
Desperation and years of stale cigarette smoke and old perfume lingering in the room of jazz standards sung alongside country songs, the singer wearing blue jeans.
From the above observation, I played with the idea of Hope and Desperation as sisters. Everyone who goes to the casino and sits at a table or those machines comes with some hope for a big score. Then why does it smell like desperation?
This is what I came up with: (work in progress)
Desperation is the ugly sister of Hope. It focuses on the surface of things, the things whose values fade. They are decayed with rust and are eaten by moths. Desperation is a quick fix at the slot machine. It keeps you coming back, but the payout is less and less each time.
Hope fixes on things that last, on the permanent. The enduring things that keep you going because you know that the reward is real. Decay does not touch the things in which we have true Hope.
Observation will enliven your writing. It will be like a breath of cool wind on a hot day, awakening the mind to new ideas, sights, and sounds. It will connect to your reader in surprising and universal ways.
In three steps, you might gain a new super-writing power. May you use your power for good!
Great three easy steps