Writing Exercise: Incorporating the 5 Senses

Photo by Sinitta Leunen on Unsplash

The five senses are vital to your writing. They pull the reader into your world. Without the senses, your stories fall flat.

So here’s an exercise to help you practice weaving them into your writing.

For this exercise, you will choose one item from each of the five senses. You can also pick random number between 1–10 for each of the senses for a harder difficulty (and may give interesting results).

Then, you will set a 10 minute timer during which you will write a scene. Your task is to create a believable scene while interweaving each the of the senses in a cohesive way.

Try to be descriptive rather than writing something like, “She saw the ocean.” Senses often evoke feelings and thoughts in people. Try to show that.

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Don’t worry about it being perfect though; just write! The purpose of this exercise is practice. Have fun with it.

Sight

1. A purple sunset
2. A large, architecturally impressive building
3. A loved one’s birthmark or freckles
4. Flashing lights
5. A dark forest
6. A carcass or corpse
7. An approaching storm.
8. An angry mob
9. A large waterfall
10. A childhood pet

Smell

1. Smoke
2. A home-cooked meal
3. Rain
4. Gasoline
5. Mildew, or something rotting
6. Fresh-cut grass
7. Perfume/cologne
8. Fresh-baked bread
9. Animal odors
10. Paper

Hearing

1. Waves crashing on the beach
2. Panting, gasping for breath
3. Sirens
4. Shouts, yelling
5. Thunder
6. The clinking of china
7. Birds
8. Cars, traffic
9. Wind chimes
10. Humming, singing, or music

Touch

1. Wind
2. Sand
3. Warmth of the sun
4. Frost on the skin
5. Sharp or burning pain
6. Water
7. Gravel
8. Static electricity
9. A soft blanket or pillow
10. Glass

Taste

1. Lemons or lemonade
2. Blood
3. Lavender
4. Sweat
5. Coffee
6. Cinnamon
7. Poison
8. A tart fruit
9. Meat
10. Soap

Have fun writing! Let me know how your exercise goes in the comments.

If you’ll excuse me, I’m off to practice this in my book.

Thank you for reading!

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