Daily Archives: May 29, 2013

Using The Five Senses – From The Blog Archives

How do you describe taste, touch, smell, sight, and sound in your writing?

I attended a local writers’ meeting. We did a free write before we started the meeting. We wrote things that used the five senses. I think it’s important to make your reader feel what you’re writing through taste, touch, smell, etc. It was fun doing the exercise and if you are familiar with my writing, you may guess that I chose to write about food. I described the following three desserts (some of my favorites) in such vivid detail that the other members wanted some: chocolate cake, lemon pound cake, and chocolate chip cookies.

When you write, think about how things feel, smell, taste. If you have a garden with flowers, sit in the garden and sniff – describe the smell. Be sure to sit out there with your laptop or pen and paper so that you can record your smell descriptions. You can do the same exercise with taste. The next time you enjoy your favorite meal or dessert, eat it slowly, think, describe it so that when others read it, they’ll be salivating, wanting some of the food which you’ve described.

Do you have any tips to share about writing about how to tap into our five senses? Leave a comment!

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~Cecelia Dowdy~