The Importance of Sensory Details

Everyone knows what the five senses are, we’ve been told these from a young age. However, if you are like me and sometimes might spend over a minute trying to remember one of the senses (I always forget about taste), here is a reminder:

• See

• Hear

• Feel

• Smell

• Taste

Using these senses when writing your creative piece is important. They help you show your characters’ emotions, and show how the scenery looks. Rather than you telling your readers that your character feels sad, or saying they are at the beach, here you can add the sense to describe what can be seen or smelt.

As writers’ we want to use these elements because sensory details help the readers feel they are part of the novel. The reason people pick up a book is because they want to be transported somewhere else, and doing this can be done by using these five senses. Doing this creates an emotional connection with the creative piece, and that is what we want the readers to feel; it makes them remember the novel or the movie. 

A few examples: 

• Instead of telling the reader that the protagonist is afraid, show it through them being able to hear their heartbeat in their ears. That they can feel heat crawling up their neck. 

• Also, instead of writing that the barn was beautifully set up for the weddening, use the senses to show the readers what the characters can see. Such as: the aisle had a red carpet going down, with white petals scattered all over it. Also what they can hear, is someone playing the harp? Then add that in. 

• If someone is swimming in the sea, you could add in about the smell of the salt, and how it can be tasted at the back of the throat. Perhaps also add in that there is a slight pinching burn in the eyes due to swimming underwater. Mention the sound of the waves crashing on the sand. Don’t write, the lady swims in the sea. That’s just telling the reader what is happening, instead of showing them what this lady is experiencing. 

As you can see using the sensory details in these parts helps the reader feel that they are also a part of the novel. We want our readers to be able to close their eyes, and to visualise everything, and feel what is happening. Don’t feel that you have to use every single sensory detail for each part, just look and you’ll see which senses will work best. 

Read through your work and you’ll be able to see where sensory details will work. Also, think about what you would most likely see in these scenes. Earlier, I mentioned about the wedding and adding a harp, as one is most likely to see that being played there more than someone screaming heavy metal; due to the harp being more romantic. Yet, also remember that this scene might not have a harp depending on the characters who are having a wedding.

Remember, just write. This is the only way you’ll be able to learn how to weave all of this into your work.