December 2025 — Page 2 of 2

When I reviewed which writing prompts and questions have been the most popular, the ones where I asked you to use your five senses to describe a setting have been by far the most viewed.

So I’m giving those prompts a holiday twist and asking you to use the five senses to describe your favorite Christmas decoration. My favorite is my mantel. I love pulling together a variety of decorations to make what is basically a work of art.

So here’s my list of some of the many things I put on display, using my five senses.

SIGHT: A lot to work with here. The garland is, surprisingly, pine green. The lights in the garland are multicolored. Red candles. Transparent hurricane shades. Many shades of red from Santa Claus’s coat to the ribbon on Rudolph’s neck. A color photo. A pencil sketch. Dull brown of the iron stocking hangers.
TASTE and SMELL: Nothing for those senses, unless my garland was made of real pine.
TOUCH: Another bonanza of sensations. The iron stocking hangers were cold when I got them out of the bin in the basement. Smooth hurricane shades and candles. Soft fur or cloth. Smooth plastic bricks. Bumpy, cool plaster figurines. Smooth glass or porcelain. Feathery fake birds.
HEARING: Not much for this sense except the crackles, crunches, and squeaks as different materials rub against the garland. Although I did find out that Rudolph is musical. I pressed a spot on him, and his song came out in a static-y, off-key way, like the battery is just starting to lose power.

So how could I works these sensations into a description? Read on!

“I need someone to decorate the mantel,” my boss Sandra said. “The box for it is …”

“I’ll do it!” I raised my hand.

The mantel in the old house that was now an antique store sat above a fireplace in what must have been the parlor a hundred years ago. And the man who’d visited us five times in five days without buying anything was hanging around in there again.

“The box is in the basement,” said Sandra.

Not my favorite place in the old house with its rickety steps, stone walls, and smell of dead air, but I got the box and spread the prickly fake garland on the mantel.

The man, maybe forty, was frowning at a roll top desk.

I placed a smooth hurricane shade on the mantel.

He moved over to a wall covered in paintings and photographs with more stacked against the wall on the floor.

What did he find so interesting in this room?

The antique iron stocking holders chilled my hands as I spaced them on the mantel.

Now he was examining a velvet settee.

As I nestled the smooth, glass blown ornaments in the garland, the man seemed fascinated with every object in the room. No, not quite. He didn’t look at anything in the center of the room. Just the items set against the walls.

The man appeared to look at each of the paintings leaning against each other. But he actually seemed more interested in the wall behind them.

I lifted a Santa doll to the mantel and then lowered it.

Was the man more interested in the room than the antiques? But why?

Here are more Christmas writing prompts.

The Problem with Shy or Stoic Characters

Shy or stoic characters present a particular problem with the prevalent style of show, don’t tell. Show, don’t tell is becoming more and more visual, as Janice Hardy points out in her book Understanding Show, Don’t Tell ( and Really Getting It). People expect to be able to “see” a story like they do movies. So expressive characters with broad mannerisms and incisive, funny, or simply lots of dialogue are easier to build on the page. The subtleties an actor uses to convey a character’s shyness or stoicism can be difficult to put into words.

Drawing Attention to Shy or Stoic Characters

I have a few shy or stoic characters, and they’ve stretched my writing skills as I’ve tried to construct them realistically.

Chris Kincaid is a possible boyfriend for my main character, young adult amateur sleuth Rae Riley. He’s twenty-three with a fierce features that usually mask his true emotions. One way I’ve dealt with Chris’s lack of expression is for Rae to notice and correctly deduce what slight changes in his facial features mean. Rae is the kind of character who notices small details like that because she’s also an amateur photographer. So when she sees a muscle tense a ong his jaw or his eyebrows raise more than millimeter, she knows he’s experiencing a strong emotion. It’s also fun to write because I can make it funny.

“I don’t know what to do.” The muscle along Chris’s jaw tightened.

Wow. I didn’t know Chris found the situation so infuriating.

Another character, Luke Norris, is in his sixties and basically a shy man. He’s the father of Rae’s uncle. One way I can convey that trait is to place him on the outskirts of group scenes.

As the church members lined up for the potluck dinner arrayed on the various tables, Mr. Norris waited near the front door, tugging on the end of his moustache.

When he does speak, I need to make every word count even more than with other characters because he’d only speak when he felt it was necessary.

Other ways to convey shyness are hiding techniques–pressing into a wall, using an object as a shield, avoiding eye contact, shrinking into themselves, focusing on a task or object rather than a person.

Stoicism can be shown with mannerisms instead of dialogue. Nods or shakes of the head instead of “Yes” or “No”. Leaving a scene when angry or upset without a word.

What words or mannerisms have you seen a shy or stoic person use? Who is a memorable shy or stoic character?

Month: December 2025

Use the Five Senses to Describe … Your Favorite Christmas Decoration

Writing Shy or Stoic Characters

The Problem with Shy or Stoic Characters

Drawing Attention to Shy or Stoic Characters

What Do You Want Me to Repost?

JPC Allen Writes

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