Writing Tips: Using the 5 Senses

I've touched on this subject in a previous post, but only as it pertained to me. Now I want to write about it as what I hope will be a very useful tip for other newbie-writers to improve their literary masterpieces as it did mine. So here it goes...

Using the 5 senses in your writing is so very imperative to drawing your readers into the world you've created. By describing the scents, the plethora of sounds, and especially the feel of things, tangible and non-tangible, you're giving your readers an all-access pass to your imagination. They don't just get told what is going on in the scene, but they get to experience it.

The first thing I hear from readers/fans of Unexpectedly Out of Focus is that they felt like they were watching a movie. They could feel and see every emotion Mary experienced as if it were playing out before them. The key there ladies and gents is that they "felt". By making your readers feel everything your character(s) goes through helps them to connect with not just your story, but the character(s).

 

This is a major! You want your audience to connect with your characters, because this is what creates fans! And if you're anything like me, you don't just want fans, you want to give someone that love for reading that some great author gave you when you first fell head-over-heels in-love with the many worlds of reading. :)

Now, time for some examples...

I remember my HS English Teacher, trying to teach us this concept and he used this example that has always stayed with me. He said, "The man walked down the alley. Or, The drunken tramp stumbled down the darkened, cobble-stone alleyway filled with the sounds of the night." Then, after us silly adolescents stopped laughing over the use of the word "tramp" in a classroom by our sophisticated professor, he asked: "Which do you prefer? They both explain the same scene, but doesn't the second one transport you into the alley with the man?" 

not the best example, but close enough

Yes, it did. I immediately imagined a scene in my head of a tall, dark-haired man dressed in a three-piece gray suit. Streetlamps casting a dim yellow hue every few feet, leaving pockets of pure pitch night. The alley, I imagined it was home to hobo's, trash cans with garbage littered along the edges and stray cats meowing and hissing as they skittered away. It seemed like a scene right out of Sherlock Holmes for some reason! I'm sure you created a slightly different scene, unless your imagination is as peculiar as mine, in which case lets be BFF's. :)

Another example...

I was reading a book recently and I had to put it down. I felt awful. This is someone's hard work and I wanted so much to like it, to give it a chance, but I just could not connect. Maybe because it felt like the author was telling, not describing. For example, the protagonist is talking about moving into her new place and the way it's written is like reading a manual. Boring! Spice it up! Tell your readers how she found the things she decided to fill her new place with....

They look like they're dancin'

Ex: Tired of unpacking, I was in desperate need of a break and the bakery I had spotted on my way into town was still calling my name. Sluggishly, I slipped on my coat then checked my appearance in the tall standing mirror I had yet to move into my bedroom. My hair resembled a birds nest, I could definitely use a little makeup to conceal dark circles under my eyes and my clothes had tears and holes. All in all, I looked like a hot-mess, but I was far too exhausted to fix all of it. Instead, I pulled down my hair, finger-combed it and called it a day. Soon I was out, breathing in the fresh air of the outdoors and following my nose down the street to Heaven's Baked Delights. It was in the middle of my second helping to a honey-glazed doughnut when I saw them. Two eclectic lamps that made my heart skip a beat!


Maybe it was here in this funky furniture store that she meets a dashing, sexy as sin hunk of a man that begins the hot, hot romance? Haha! What can I say, my thoughts are never too far from love, romance and a sexy alpha-male! ;)

My point here is when we decide to open up our imaginations to the world we should always be cautious of falling into the trap of only telling instead of painting the picture. Get creative and describe every single detail, then go back and tone it down a little. Leave only a few descriptive sentences that set the scene so well the reader feels like they've just been transported right next to the hero/heroine of your story! 

I hope this post helped you, if even just a little! I will be posting more writing tips and self-publishing  tips soon, so stick around. :)

Happy writing my peeps!

~Mel