Several years ago I asked a fifth-grade nature class, “How many senses do we have?”
A student’s hand shot up as he said, “Six.”
We rely on our sense of sight for the bulk of our daily activities. We look, then sometimes listen. But we have the ability to touch, taste and smell. I agree with that fifth-grader, our intuitive sense (the “little voice inside’) is another way to experience our world.
Have you ever read something and become so involved that you felt the finger-numbing cold, the shudder of fear or the dry mouth?
Here are some things to think about when using sensory experience to enrich your writing.
1. What do you sense? Start by closing your eyes, take a deep breath, exhale and listen. What noises do you hear that you didn’t notice before? What does the air feel like on your skin? Does your nose itch? If it is safe, touch something in your immediate environment. Is it smooth, rough, warm, cold, sticky or crumbly?
2. A good excuse to eat. One way to get involved in developing your sense of taste is to think about what the first bite tastes like? Is it smooth or crunchy, sweet or savory, spicy or mild? What does the food smell like? Does the aroma make you salivate before you put the food in your mouth? Close your eyes, take a bite and taste the food. How does it feel on your tongue, teeth and throat as it travels to your stomach?
3. Mix it up. I always loved the game where you close your eyes and touch a series of things. Touch a peeled grape or strands of spaghetti, taste your hair or your sweater, inhale the aroma of your pet’s fur. Why would you want to do that? In Stay: Keeper’s Story the protagonist is a dog. I aspire to Lois Lowry’s attention to detail. A human takes her hand from her pocket and reaches out to pet Keeper, who describes what the inside of a pocket smells like. I’m not crazy about personification, but Keeper’s voice is truthful.
4. Explore the good and the bad. Does the aroma of steamed asparagus make you salivate or gag? What happens to daylight just before a storm? What does a garbage can smell like when you lift the lid on a summer day? What makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up? What gives you butterflies in your stomach?
5. A little goes a long way. You don’t need to include every sense in every paragraph. Think about what is going on in your story. What sensory detail you describe depends on whether your subject or character has time to notice the details and if the information helps engage your readers.