Adding sensory details to your writing is like pouring lighter fluid on a campfire. Poof! Stand back as flames dance high and the wood crackles. This writing style engages the reader.
But what is sensory writing? It’s text that taps into our five senses.
Most writers lean on sight words. They describe objects or characters by shape, color and size. Beige lumpy chunks of oatmeal. Ocean-blue eyes ready to dazzle. While these descriptions are good, don’t ignore the other senses: Smell, Sound, Touch, Taste
In the book, The Secret Life of Bees, author Sue Monk Kidd uses powerful scents to introduce a new character: The smell followed her around the kitchen like it was on a leash, a combination of allspice, fresh earth, and rotten leaves. Between the okra and the snuff, I could not get a decent breath.
The reader inhales the scene, knowing the unnamed character is strong, quirky and overwhelming to the protagonist.
Science suggests readers experience sensory writing because the brain processes sensory words with images and experience. Our senses ignite words into pictures that take on life.
Taste and smell are interchangeable with words such as sweet, spicy, salty. Touch words reflect temperature or texture. The slimy, cold rocks slid out of my hand. His hard eyes matched his unshaven, scratchy stubble.
Author Laurie Halse Anderson leans on sounds to describe both a scene and character’s feelings. From her book Chains, listen to this colonial city at the beginning of the Revolutionary War:
A drummer started beating time, and the Union Jack rose to the top of the flagpole, accompanied by whistles and shouts from the lobsterbacks and Loyalist New Yorkers, who took off their hats in respect. A woman from the crowd snatched the American flag out of the hands of the British soldiers and stomped it under her boots. The men laughed. The ratatatating of the drumsticks rattle through me, setting my teeth to shaking….
Notice the sounds: beating, whistles, shouts, stomped, laughed, ratatatating, rattle
Not only do we hear the action, but the noise heightens a sense of anarchy and shows the fear of the protagonist, setting her teeth to shaking.
In a different scene, Anderson uses repetition to create a cadence. Feel the protagonist’s panic as she searches for her sister: I stopped thinking and simply prayed: Please keep her safe, please keep her safe, please keep her safe, the words matching the hasty beat of my boots on the cobblestone.
Author Ingrid Law also relies on sounds in her book, Savvy, to show a protagonist’s feelings:
Walking into a diner full of tattooed bikers and truckers made me feel like someone had switched on a razzmatazz radio inside my head—a radio with a dial that kept spinning with a fizz and a zing from station to station to station to station without stop.
Law’s clever simile incorporates onomatopoeia and repetition, so we feel dizzy or confused with the character.
Fiction authors aren’t the only writers who strive to use sensory details. Marketing experts know the power of sensory writing.
In the blog, Enchanting Marketing, Henneke gives examples of how referring to the senses can ramp up advertising. Which of the following catches your attention?1. The long-lasting cabinets are made from the best material, guaranteed for 10 years. 2. Our cabinets remain squeak-and-creak free. That’s guaranteed for 10 years.
Bam! Hands down, I’ll order the squeaky-creaky free cabinets. As you read, note those passages that make you feel like you are experiencing the book. Most likely, your senses are leading the way.
As you write, don’t forget your senses. Let them ignite the fire in your words.