How to Use Your Five Senses in Writing

Focus on each of your five senses when you write.

When you write without thinking about all five of your senses, you tend to focus on what you see, perhaps because writing is a visual exercise. You can train yourself to use your five senses in writing by focusing on one sense at a time and describing the sensory input you're receiving. With practice, and almost without thinking about it, you'll begin to include sensory details in everything you write because you'll be more aware of them.

Instructions

1. Write a description of everything you see in the room around you. Include as much detail as you can about each item you describe without interpreting the item's use or function. For example, rather than "The algebra book I used in high school," write "A tattered, grayish, cloth-covered book."

2. Listen to the sounds around you. Turn off your television, MP3 player or any other audio sources and pay attention to the noises that arise from everyday activities. Describe in writing what you are hearing without explaining what is making the sounds. For example, write "a loud, distant humming" instead of "my neighbor's leaf blower."

3. Touch the chair you're sitting on. Pay attention to the feel of the keys as you strike them. Think about how your feet feel as they touch the floor. Describe one of these sensations in writing without using just an adjective. For example, instead of "my fingers are touching the seat of the chair," write "cool, nubby, slightly rough fabric beneath my fingers."

4. Choose a piece of fruit, a tube of hand cream, a cut flower or anything with a noticeable scent. Think about the way the air smells after a summer rain. Imagine walking into a bakery and smelling fresh bread that was just removed from the oven. Describe one of these things in writing without relying on naming the object. For example, rather than writing "I smelled fresh bread when I walked into the bakery," say "A yeasty scent drifted on a warm current of air inside the bakery."

5. Take a bite of food or a sip of liquid other than plain water. If you're adventurous, taste something you ordinarily wouldn't consider eating, such as liver if you dislike it. Describe the way the food or liquid feels on your tongue, which part of your tongue returns the strongest impressions and a description of its attributes, whether it's sweet, salty, tangy or pungent.

6. Write an essay or very short story combining all of the five sensory descriptions. For example, you might write, "I walked into the living room, where a gray, tattered, cloth-covered book lay on the coffee table. A loud, distant humming told me my neighbor was attacking the fallen leaves in his yard. I rested my hand on the back of a chair, feeling its cool, nubby, slightly rough fabric beneath my fingers. A yeasty scent drifted in from the kitchen on a warm current of air. I took a hard candy from a dish and popped it into my mouth. My whole face puckered as the tangy citrus disk began to dissolve."

7. Write another essay or short story using different examples of each sense.

References

• knol: Writing Well: Use Your Senses

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish