Drawing on All of Your Senses to Help Improve Your Writing

Drawing on all of your senses to help improve your writing

It sounds a little mad but if you are a writer, you need to take notice of all of your senses, all of the time! And this statement applies to all writers, regardless of whether their focus is on non-fiction writing, on article writing, manuscript writing, creating novellas or on writing short stories.

A well written piece will pull on all of the reader’s senses to really draw them into the writing. Finding a way to ensure that all of your reader’s senses are sufficiently tantalised however can be more challenging than you may initially think! So one of the best ways to easily weave information that appeals to all senses into your writing is to spend time each day taking notice of your own senses, and how they are stimulated by day-to-day activities and surroundings.

Below are some day-to-day experiences that can appeal to a range of our senses. Think about how your own senses react when they come into contact with each of the following:

- Newly washed laundry – smell, touch

- A new born baby – smell, touch, sight, sound

- A traffic jam – sight, sound, smell

- Animals – all senses

- Your lover – sight, touch, smell

- Freshly cut lawn – smell, touch and sight

- Freshly brewed coffee – smell

Each of these experiences appeal to a number of our senses, and yet when they are used in writing, they are often only portrayed in a way that appeals to one of the reader’s senses. We might learn about what a character’s lover looks like, but we don’t necessarily know what impact the visual sighting of the character’s lover has on the character, or how their lover smells or what they feel like to touch. By adding in these additional dimensions, a writer would find that their readers connect much more with the characters contained within their stories. The same is true with non-fiction writing. Even if your article or book is based around factual information, it still needs to appeal to and engage the reader; and the best way to do this is to ensure that you have used language within your writing that is based around all 5 of the senses; touch, sight, sound, taste and smell.

So, as you embark upon your next piece of writing, be it a fictional or a non-fictional piece, be sure to check that the language appeals to all 5 senses. Think about each of the individuals, settings or situations that you have described or included within your writing. Can they be portrayed in a different way in order to ensure that they appear to a range of senses? You’ll find that in no time all of your writing is sensory!