It Makes Sense

For the last two months I have been taking an awesome creative writing course through author Jeremy Shipp (he has another one starting--check it out here). During that time he had us do some great exercises and gave us feedback on many aspects of writing. Among the lectures and assignments, he focused on the importance of incorporating the senses into your work.

Just to recap. The five basic senses are:

1. Sight
2. Sound
3. Smell
4. Touch
5. Taste

You can also have a sixth sense, private thoughts, and other extrasensory perceptions, but the big five are the main way most people perceive their world. As such, you have to make sure they are in your work. You don't have to put all five in every paragraph, but you do need to sprinkle them throughout the entire piece if you want to create a vivid and believable story.

Jessica Morrell in her book Thanks, But This Isn't For Us, has a great tip for making sure you have incorporated enough sensory detail. She recommends printing off your manuscript, getting at least five different colored highlighters (one for each sense) and highlighting each sensory reference with the appropriate color. You'll be able to easily identify which senses are lacking and where to incorporate them.

It may not seem like much, but since I have been using this method I have been able to create richer more vibrant scenes. It makes SENSE to use all the SENSES (bad pun but I had to!)

Happy Writing!