Writing Exercise: Engage Your Five Senses for Enhanced Storytelling

Writing With Your Five Senses

Oftentimes I instruct my writing clients to partake in an exercise called Writing With Your Five Senses. When we write, we can fall into the trap of penning with our head knowledge of an event and the few main memories that stick with us. But if we take the opportunity to experience the moment all over again, and live it anew, we can bring our writing to new depths and give it great life. 

Today, in the last few days of October, there was a gentle rain falling outside, so I grabbed a cup of hot tea and curled up in my favorite chair on the front porch. With the cool fall breeze blowing, and the wetness in the air, I was glad to have grabbed a warm fuzzy blanket.The first thing I noticed was this year’s seemingly overabundance of crickets vying for lead in symphony with the wind chimes that were gifted to me this summer by my father-in-law before he passed. The more the wind tickled the chimes, the louder the crickets sang and it made me smile. Then I realized they weren’t alone. As water fell from the roof of my house, droplets hitting my guttering added the perfect bass percussion. 

Looking past my front porch, I could see brilliant water droplets, almost shining like glitter. They were beautiful as they stuck to the elephant ears that are stubbornly hanging on late in the season in my front flowerbed. They didn’t run down the plant and fall to the soil, they sat there shining in the daylight glistening like jewels on the vibrant green backdrop. 

The mums stood taller, reaching toward the sky as if trying to catch every last drop of moisture before it could hit the ground. As my shoulders began to chill, my eyes searched the neighbor’s swaying trees and I realized I had not heard the birds chirping or seen them flying through the sky during the rain. 

Once the rain slowed however, one or two ventured out and called to the others, as if telling them it was all clear. Before long, seven or eight birds flew through the neighborhood, no doubt looking for worms that may have come to the surface with the rains. Off in the distance, I heard the not so pleasant calls of a crow, signaling everything returning back to normal. 

From behind my house, the sun must finally be breaking through in the west, as it illuminated the waves of navy, shades of gray, and white clouds that continue their eastward path dropping more much-needed moisture along the way. 

I do believe my experience of writing while experiencing the setting with my five senses brought more depth and enjoyment to you, the reader than my first attempt before going outside, which was… 

As the gray sky passes through, rain falls onto my dying yard, nourishing the late fall grass and trees. The October breeze has a chill to it, and the animals are busy storing up food and supplies for the winter. 

After completing the exercise you can then decide which elements you wish to add to your manuscript, or how to edit them. Regardless, whatever scenario you are taking your readers through, they will feel much more part of the setting or story if you take the time to really experience the moments you are walking them through.