My Two Sense: Engaging the Senses

Whenever I’m describing a place or a person or just about anything when I practise writing fiction, most can agree that it’s easy to go overboard and bore a reader, something which I’ve tried to avoid.

The irritating adage of Show don’t Tell is one that is always tossed around but one that still flies over some heads, largely because I think it’s not explained properly enough.

But one of my earliest lessons that I applied and one that always works without fault, is to engage the human senses.

The journey of reading fiction is a journey taken by both reader and author, where you leave it to the imagination of the reader to fill in what they need to immerse themselves beyond the page.

Therefore, instead of simply describing the world and/or people, try painting those things with how we would sense and perceive them in the real world.

Sight can go either way quite easily, and can slip even easier into telling. Be sure not to filter the experience through the POV character, simply describe it as is, and the reader will righteously assume the character is seeing this too.

“He saw” “She saw” “They saw”, avoid these often and simply describe what can be seen, as if the reader is next to the characters seeing it for themselves. I like to get creative and wordy with colours, as they always trigger certain emotions and feelings, especially when attached to people.

Similes, metaphors and the occasional personification can also go a long way, like trees with gnarled roots like cracked knuckles, and emerald leaves shimmering like a glistening river.

Sound is quite underrated but can be the difference between comfort and fear. A sound can put your hairs on end, make your blood boil or fill you with joy (possibly even arouse). Even dialogue can qualify as sound.

Depending on the situation or the scene you’re writing, either include or remove the reactions of the listener.

A woman screaming in the distance while you’re wandering through a black forest gives you all the information you need on how to feel about that. We know the characters would likely feel shaken by this so give the reader the benefit of the doubt that they’ll feel this way too.

Reactions to sounds may also be subjective. What a person may do or say or behave after a certain sound can reveal a lot about them. Again, this is a case by case basis.

Smell is without a doubt the most powerful and effective sense to include, since some of our most powerful and oldest thoughts and feelings can be derived from certain smells. My very first primary school classroom had an extremely specific smell that I have not smelled anywhere else. But if I do smell it somehow, it’s extremely nostalgic despite me being unable to describe it properly, like a Lovecraftian abomination.

So, if you have a scene like something out of a Dickens novel, mention the scent of the heavy London rain, or the rancid stench of rust and bilge water down the back alley streets.

If your characters are seated at a banquet, what foods from the table are they smelling? Is there a rich whiff of roasted meats or fresh fruits for dessert?

When you shake the Captain’s hand, the crooked, yellow teeth (of which some are missing) say a fair bit, but what does his breath smell like when he leans in and smiles at you?

Exactly.

Touch can inhibit certain reactions too, not only in texture, but also in temperature and sensation. If you’re petting a dog and I describe its fur as silky, soft and so fluffy your fingers disappear into the floof, compared to a dog you’re petting as having ragged, rough, dry and matted fur like sandpaper, do you by any chance imagine two completely different dogs?

Taste, finally is the rarest of the sense to describe, at least outside the realm of a character eating something, but this can have it’s place in the spotlight too.

After I’ve been suffering a grueling fight against an adversary, you might understand my situation if I begin tasting a warm taste of iron on my tongue.

In a romantic novel, if the POV character is kissing their lover for the first time, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t describe what the lover’s lips taste like, especially if you aim to up the steam factor (which you ought to be aiming for in romance after all).

And on the basis of food, everyone has a different palette. A taste that pleases one might make another gag, like that same captain from before offering a young boy a swig of his pint of beer. It would taste rancid to the poor youth. Again, senses that are shown from a different perspective can change drastically and offer valuable insight to a character.

I’m no master at this craft yet, but engaging the senses has been my best strategy to pull the reader deeper into my written world, and it’ll no doubt amp up your writing too with any luck!

Thank you for reading and have a beautiful day!

• Daniel