You might know about White Room Syndrome—when a writer forgets to describe the setting. But have you heard of Blank Face Syndrome?
It’s when the writer skips using the character’s five senses to bring the reader into their experience. I’ll share tips on using senses to make your book come alive, so readers feel every gasp, shiver, and scream right alongside your character.
Why 5 Senses Writing Matters
Using all five senses in writing helps readers feel like they’re truly in the story. When you describe what characters see, hear, smell, taste, and feel, it makes the scenes come to life. It lets readers experience the world through the characters’ eyes and emotions, creating a stronger connection and making the story more immersive and real.
This way, readers aren’t just watching the story unfold—they’re right there with the characters, feeling everything they feel.
How to Describe Sight in Your Story
This isn’t just the 360-degree report of what is in their immediate surroundings. Sense of sight might be limited by injury (such as being blind in one eye), mood (have they been crying recently?), or location (is their vision obscured by the tall skyscrapers on either side of them?).
Take all this into account when you talk about what they see. And in the less-literal vein, you can always consider more psychological elements like their dreams, fears, and aspirations. Anxiety can powerfully affect vision as well; that feeling of the walls closing in isn’t made up. Evaluate your character’s headspace to figure out how to best describe what they’re seeing in the moment.
How to Describe Hearing
For this one, don’t get stuck just thinking about content; remember to address tone, pitch, frequency, and volume as well. For example, you could mention the staccato bursts of the fire truck speeding down the street, or the awkward, whispered pleasantries of funeral-goers. The options are endless – so don’t sell yourself short.
Bring the reader into the body of your characters by feeling the sound all through their bones. Maybe it’s the bass-beat rumbling the floor at their feet in the rock concert arena, steadily rising to their knees. Be creative!
How to Write About Smell
Don’t hesitate to use similes when describing smells—connecting scents to familiar experiences helps readers picture them more easily.
So go ahead – compare the character’s nemesis’ breath to that moldy cheese sandwich they found under their bureau. Or maybe their little brother developed an obsession with gummy candy and forever walks around smelling like the Haribo bear factory. Tell it like it is!
How to Write About Taste
Similar to the sense of smell, you definitely have to rely on similes to drive home your point. But the sense of taste does work in a bit of the touch sense as well. You can always say the biscuits Grandma made were soft and delicious – with the texture and sweetness of a peach fresh from the tree.
Lips and tongue sensation matters a lot for this one. How many times do you recall not liking a particular food as a kid because the texture was weird? Heck, I’m still that way about room-temperature yogurt.
I love it frozen (which is basically just slightly-healthier ice cream). But I refuse to eat it plain all gloppy and mushy. You taste that?
How to Describe Touch
This one can be really fun – particularly in romance novels (or even just fiction with a romantic side-plot).
After all, touch isn’t just describing the physical texture of something. It’s also how it makes your character feel emotionally. Maybe there’s heat with a subtle caress, or a quick brush that’s begging for more.
First kisses? They’re magical. Or maybe your character’s a bit like me – someone whose palms are almost perpetually clammy. And maybe they’re a little insecure about that. Maybe it’s temperature-based, like the cold, wet feeling of a steel surface on a chilly night despite the last rainfall being more than a week ago.
In Short
The best writers use relevant details that add to the story, not just for the sake of description. Introduce sensory details when they matter to the plot, like describing a place if it’s important to the character, to keep readers engaged without overwhelming them.
