The concept of the “five senses” is not unfamiliar to most—in fact, as early as pre-school, many of us were taught various rhyme sequences and made-up songs to help us remember them. The five senses allow us to perceive, absorb, and navigate the world—but that is not all. They are also quite functional in the context of storytelling.
A good story is one that engages all five of the reader’s senses. Let us take, for example, a story where the main character is strolling through the city. The author must be able to convey the story in such a way that readers can place themselves directly in the character’s shoes. Readers should be able to visualize the tall, looming skyscrapers above them; hear the blaring of horns and chattering of fellow city-goers; smell the pollution-infused air drifting through the square; taste the flavorful punch of roasted peanuts purchased from a local street-food vendor; and feel the rugged, pot-hole infused streets beneath their feet. To help readers truly emulate a character’s journey, authors must appeal to each of their five senses using creativity and vivid imagery. Perhaps the term ‘storyteller’ is counterintuitive, as an engaging story is one where the writer can show, not tell. Simply stating events as they occur may be ideal for a news report, but it is certainly unideal for retaining the interest of readers. Instead, conveying the events in a way that allows readers to feel as though they are experiencing them first-hand will boost engagement. The key to doing so? Keeping the five senses in mind and using them as a guideline while writing.
For readers to be able to visualize important elements like setting and characters, writers must include vivid and coherent descriptions—in other words, writing with the first of the five senses, “sight,” requires writing with depth and detail. As a writer, one must make use of adjectives and sensory words to paint an image for readers. Instead of looking at the big picture, one must narrow in on the little details.
For instance, consider the sentence, “Her room was large and had pink walls.” Now, consider this alternative: “Her room was large, spacious, and had pink stucco walls adorned with shiny gold medals and trophies from past Karate tournaments. Posters of famous boy bands from the 80s were plastered everywhere. Her floral-themed, queen-sized bed was pushed against the corner, with a small wooden nightstand positioned next to it.” The latter sentence is far more descriptive and paints a clearer picture for the reader. Readers are also able to deduce information about the character, namely her interests and hobbies, from the description. Thus, writing with sight in mind helps readers visualize the story and setting and even learn about the character on a deeper level.
The next sense that should be considered when crafting a story is sound. Auditory cues can also help readers place themselves in the character’s shoes and set the mood of the story. It is crucial for writers to use versatile and engaging verbs to describe hearing—creaking, croaking, screeching, humming, and belting are prime examples of some. Each of these verbs helps readers perceive the noises occurring in the story and better comprehend the setting and atmosphere. Imagine that a character is hiking in a forest. The character is bound to come across a plethora of noises, from the crunching of twigs to the rustling of leaves to the cacophony of owls hooting, crickets chirping, and coyotes howling in the distance. In including such descriptions, writers help their readers make sense of the environment and setting. Auditory imagery is just as crucial to story writing as visual imagery.
This brings us to the next sense: smell. Smell is known to evoke memories and emotions within humans—in fact, scientists attribute the association between memory and smell to the anatomy of the brain. In other words, our brains are quite literally wired to link the two together. Writers must leverage this fact to elicit an emotional response from readers. For example, when one walks into their grandmother’s kitchen, the smell of her freshly baked chocolate chip cookies or crispy apple pie may invoke a sense of nostalgia and comfort. On the other hand, the rancid smell of spoiled milk is likely to trigger nausea and a feeling of disgust. When writers incorporate ‘olfactory imagery’—imagery that is invoked when describing smell—into their writing, readers are likely to experience nostalgia due to their recollection of the smells being described. They, too, can experience the satisfying aroma of the character’s freshly polished linen closet, or the creamy scent of the vanilla bean perfume that the character wears every morning. When readers encounter olfactory details, they engage in active recall, and that active recall allows them to experience the scents and smells first-hand and immerse themselves in the setting.
Often the most delicious—or putrid, depending on the item—sense is taste. Writing with taste in mind can often be challenging: it is subjective, and it requires a certain level of specificity and attention to detail. Nonetheless, it is crucial that writers cater to the gustatory sense—a fancy term for sense of taste—to engage their audience. For example, consider the sentence, “She sank her teeth into the moist and spongy cake, which was coated with a thick layer of dark chocolate frosting and filled with a gooey vanilla custard.” Or, “The juices dribbled down my chin as I bit into the crispy buffalo chicken tenders, right after dunking them in a cool, spicy ranch. ” If the sentence is able to make readers’ mouths water, or to flinch in disgust, then it has effectively reached them. Writers must be mindful of textures, sensations, and flavors and incorporate these into their descriptions for efficacy. Additionally, gustatory imagery often encompasses the other four senses as well—the visual appearance of a molten lava cake, the crunch that is heard when biting into a fresh apple, the feeling of one’s fingers sticking together after devouring a rib slathered with barbeque sauce, or the smell of sauteed onions are all just few of many examples. Each and every one of these elements helps to captivate (and perhaps even hunger) readers and invoke their sense of taste by association.
Lastly, we have the tactile sense, or the sense of touch. Similar to taste, writing the tactile sense requires encompassing textures and sensations. Texture might allude to the feeling of holding someone’s cold, sweaty palms, or the feeling of a tag on a sweatshirt scraping the back of the neck. Sensations, on the other hand, include changes in temperature, pain, vibrations, chills, and more. Writing with touch in mind allows readers to directly channel or feel what the characters feel, which in turn helps them place themselves in the story. For instance, if a writer describes a character as feeling hot and claustrophobic while riding the bus home from work, readers are likely to channel that character’s discomfort. They are likely to feel the same level of entrapment and their body temperatures rise. Touch is frequently overlooked in writing, as, technically, we are always touching something—our clothes touch our bodies, the breeze touches our faces when we walk outside, and the chairs we sit on touch our backs. Many believe that touch refers to the physical action of reaching out and touching something, which is certainly not the case. Writers must truly narrow in and focus on the minute details when trying to engage this sense. They must consider the heaviness or weight of clothes as they sit on our bodies, or the sharpness of the wind as it grazes our faces. When readers are able to feel what the characters feel physically, it is likely to elicit some sort of an emotional response from them as well and in turn help them feel truly engrossed or drawn in.
All in all, when writers employ the five senses effectively, they breathe life into their narratives, transforming mere words on a page into a vivid, multi-sensory experience. It is through such detailed and sensory-rich writing that stories captivate readers, allowing them to live and feel the scenes themselves. Mastering the use of the five senses in storytelling not only enhances reader engagement but also deepens the emotional resonance of the narrative, making each story a journey worth savoring.