Writing a Story for Dummies

The 5 Senses

 Humans have five senses: sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. Our senses allow us to perceive different aspects of the world around us. When someone is reading a book, they must rely on the story's words instead of their own senses to convey sensory details to them. As such, it is important for writers to try to incorporate details that appeal to a variety of senses in order to help the reader imagine what is happening in the story.

The sense humans rely on the most is sight. Visual details are the most commonly used sensory details in stories for that reason. They are used so often that we often take them for granted. Readers seldom pay the mention of a color any special attention for instance. They establish settings more easily than any other kind of information can. For example, if someone is in a barren, sandy area, one can assume that they are most likely in a desert. That one little snippet gives the reader enough information for them to get a very good idea of what the setting is like. Other details can be used to give the setting an even stronger, more immersive atmosphere though.

Auditory details are the second most commonly used sensory details. Without such details, there would be no dialogue. In addition, it would be much harder to set the mood. Imagine there are two characters eating at a restaurant. Without any information from the other senses, an auditory clue or two can still tell you a lot about the kind of restaurant those two are eating at. At a Mexican restaurant, you might here a mariachi band. There will also likely be a lot of chatter since Mexican restaurants tend to be pretty casual. In contrast, a fancy French restaurant would have some more formal music such as soft piano music and people wouldn't be talking nearly as much nor as loudly. Auditory details are extremely important to establishing the overall mood of scenes and settings. They can also be used to help build tension if there is an unusual absence (or presence) of sound. Although the following three kinds of sensory details aren't used nearly as often, they still play important roles when it comes to making your story easier to imagine and more impactful.

Tactile details are great for making it easier to imagine characters interacting directly with things and other people. Since the sense of touch requires direct contact, it is a great tool for showing what a person or object is like upon closer examination. For example, a firm handshake indicates confidence while a weak one makes someone seem less sure of themselves. The sense of touch also involves detecting pain and temperature differences. I find this particularly useful in fight scenes or whenever a character moves from one environment to another. The level and type of pain a character feels helps the reader imagine what the injury they have is like and how severe it is. A throbbing muscle feels very different from the stinging of a paper cut. By showing how much pain a character is in, you send your reader signals on how worried they should be about their condition.

The sense of smell is not used very often, but it does help set the mood and warn the reader of upcoming developments. Imagine your character is in a bakery. Describing the smell of freshly baked bread will give the setting a cozy atmosphere (and possibly make the reader hungry). Details related to the sense of smell are usually small, simple, and uncommon, but they really add a little extra something whenever they are used. For example, a hideous monster walking toward a character is frightening enough, but added detail of the smell of blood on its breath makes it much more intimidating and scary. The sense of smell is closely related to the sense of taste in that both senses involve the perception of chemicals. However, the sense of smell can be used to detect things from a distance while the sense of taste requires direct contact with the tongue. As such, the sense of smell is more commonly used simply because it has a higher chance of perceiving something.

The sense of taste is the least commonly used sense. In fact, it is normally only used when a character throws up, gets blood in their mouth, or eats something. These first two instances use the sense of taste to emphasize how painful and/or miserable the character's condition is. Describing what a meal tastes like is the sense's most common use. It might not seem important, but what food tastes like can really say a lot about a situation. For example, a delicious meal likely had more effort put into it than an average one, thus hinting at how the host feels about their guest(s). A character's particular preferences can suggest things about the region they are from and/or foods that they often ate as a child. A rich character might be disgusted by a dish made from low quality ingredients while a poor character would be more likely to enjoy it or at least tolerate it. The sense of taste isn't used often, but it can imply a great deal of information when it is used effectively.

The previous paragraphs mention the frequency with which each sense is typically used. However, it is important to remember that these frequencies aren't the same in all works. If your main character has poor eyesight, then other senses might receive more of the spotlight than sight. If a character lacks a sense entirely, one or more of their other senses may be more intense than normal to compensate. Also, not all characters perceive things equally. As a rule, younger characters usually have much stronger senses than older ones. If you have ever seen an old lady fumbling with her hearing-aid during a conversation or heard one talking loudly for no good reason, then you know exactly what I'm talking about. This doesn't just apply to people though. Animals have different sensory capacities than people, so a story that is told from an animal's perspective should take into account the unique abilities of that species. For example, animals often rely on their sense of hearing and/or their sense of smell more than their sense of sight. If you ever decide to use an animal as your main character, your best bet is to do your research and adjust the frequency of the different kinds of sensory details you use accordingly.