50 Tips for Writing.

39. Your five senses

Touch. Taste. Sight. Sound. Smell -- Your five senses. These are your sensory descriptions. USE THEM. USE THEM. USE THEM!!! These are the nearest thing to a lifeline in writing; they'll almost like my secret formula for writing any story. I've said to use sensory descriptions before but let me elaborate more extensively. Describe your story setting, tell your readers all about the 'dark, murky, slimy, blackened waters of the dead eel pond.' Tell them very specifically all about the 'rotting putrid smell of decayed flesh wriggling almost lifelessly, slumped in a huge pile near a muddy bank littered with snails'. You can begin to picture that image in your head, can't you? Describing the smell, feel, sounds, sight and sometimes, taste in a story makes it very vivid, very realistic and that's your goal, to get your reader's imagination going so they can picture the story settings and characters in their mind. When you read a book, your imagination flies. That's what you want people to do when they read your story, you want them to be sucked into the story and have their minds flashing with images. Simply stating the basics isn't enough, go into depth, draw details and weave your masterpiece. Give it all you've got.