Writing is challenging! Think of writing as an orchestra. It can be beautiful, creating wonderfully soothing harmony. Yet, if just one section, one instrument, is off key, the entire ensemble suffers. Percussion must work with the brass section and the strings must be in harmony with the woodwinds. The conductor must skillfully lead them all.
Writing is no different. The introduction must relate to the body, the body must tie in with the conclusion, and the writer must be able to synchronize them all. Just as an orchestra has cellos, violins, and violas, the sections of an essay have different parts as well.
One extremely important part of a well-crafted essay is sensory details. Loosely defined, sensory details are those details that allow the reader to use their five senses to participate in the experience. They can be difficult to include simply because everyone uses their senses differently.
We all know the adage, show don’t tell, and including sensory detail from our five senses helps us drop the reader into our story world. Here are some tips to consider for your next project.
Sight
The most often used sense when writing is the sense of sight. It’s what we use most and what comes naturally to us. We write about what we see. But here’s a tip: Look beyond what others see-blue sky, green grass to the details of color, shape, size, to indicate something new. It is those extra details that make writing special. Everyone knows the sky is blue, but what shade. The blue sky of winter is vastly different than the blue sky of summer. The green of a palm tree in the Bahamas is different than the green if the rolling hills in Kentucky. When you describe the color of someone’s eyes are they just brown or are the burnt umber with cocoa accents. Were her eyes green or were they like two emeralds glistening in the sun. While sight is the most used sense, it should also be considered the most underused.
Hearing
Loud, soft, yell, whisper, angry, and all kinds of other adjectives are used for sound. But have you thought about using something more personal? “She spoke with a lover’s voice, not a cat’s, making me want to listen closely to every syllable.” Or, “He sounded like freedom. Not just his words, but the way they tumbled gently from his lips.” Or use a little synesthesia: “It was a bright red noise, repeating stop, stop, stop continually, until I couldn’t go on any longer.” Sound can also be used to elicit emotion. Shouting can’t be heard by the reader unless we include emotional words such as bellow, roar, shriek, squeal, or screech. A whisper provokes diverse emotions as well. Emotions like calm, fear, or sympathy can be felt with the word whisper. Change whisper to murmur, sigh, moan, or whimper help the reader experience the writing.
Smell
Smell is one of those senses that’s different for each of us. What I think is a bad smell, someone else might not be bothered by it. So, words like stink and pungent are great to use, but you can easily go deeper into an explanation. For example, “The alley smelled of old socks and Cracker-Jacks, an assault to the nose and eyes alike.” Or how about this: “the forgiving aroma of freshly brewed coffee cut through the pungent odor of seared toast”.
“The sense of smell can be extraordinarily evocative, bringing back pictures as sharp as photographs of scenes that had left the conscious mind.” – Thalassa Cruso
Touch
The way things feel is more than just texture and temperature. Like the other senses, it can be personal: “His handshake was my father’s handshake, not to meet you, but the rough callousness of someone showing you who’s boss.” Or try something like this: “It felt like the memory of something long forgotten, thin, almost invisible.”
Taste
Taste is something that is different to each of us and is difficult to get across in words. Yes, we all know what bacon tastes like. What about doing something unique with that idea? If you think about it, taste is more than just something your brain interprets from your taste-buds. It’s texture and smell and sight and even process, all mixed together. Try this: “The undercooked bacon felt like a wet sponge placed on my tongue, only grease leaked into my mouth instead of water.” Or this: “I could smell the mold even before I put the cheese into my mouth.” Of course, you can always use a metaphor or simile, like, “Like the comfort of hot cocoa on a cold winter morning, the taste of the chocolate brought me back to my childhood.”
As a writer, your ultimate goal should be to create an emotional response in your reader. They need to connect, and they need to feel. The best way to do this is to throw out those vivid details; rather than telling the reader the character is afraid, show their heartbeat. Show the sweat glistening, their hands shaking, a rotten smell in the air. Show the darkness, show the errant sounds that drift around them. When you think of a feeling, you don't think of love or happiness themselves. You think of images and experiences that translate into that feeling. When you embed those images and experiences into your writing, the reader will feel it as well.
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