Writing with Sense

Ah, the senses: sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell. We delight in the pleasures of the senses, but infusing writing with sensory stimulation is not an easy task. Here is an exercise to help you write with more sense:

Brainstorm

• Start with a sheet of paper divided into five columns. You can use Excel or Word just as well. Label the columns: eyes, ears, mouth, hands, and nose.
• Spend a few minutes populating the columns with words and phrases that reflect the correlating senses. For example, in the smell column, you might write chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven, a blooming rose, or the cat’s litter box.

Test

• Review your list carefully, testing each item on your list to see how it affects you. When you read something like throbbing base coming from the car in the next lane, can you feel the boom?
• As you go through your list, cross out anything that doesn’t engage your senses, but highlight everything that does.

Write

• Now, write about an event in 500 words or less, and be sure to stimulate each of the five senses in the piece. For a bonus, you can work in the sixth sense as well. You could write about a wedding, a day at the office, or a conversation with a friend. Refer to your brainstorm list if you get stuck, and use that material for inspiration as well. Note the special challenge involved with working sensory descriptions into dialog.

Have fun with it and be sure to leave a comment letting me know how this exercise works for you, or if you have any writing exercises of your own that you’d like to share.

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