The Best Examples Of The 5 Senses And Descriptive Writing

Using the 5 senses in writing can deeply immerse readers in scenes and stories by creating more vivid imagery in their minds. It’s a skill that can elevate books to a higher level. But so often we writers find ourselves lured into the trap of relying on sight and sound. Relying on a narrow range of sensory language isn’t always enough to bring a story to life. We can inject so much more into our stories simply by utilizing sensory details in our writing.

In this guide, we’ll take a look at our sensory organs, why we use vivid writing that appeals to the senses, look at the 5 senses and descriptive writing examples, and ways we can use each sense to elevate our stories to the next level. 

Many people experience things through smell, touch, and taste. So appealing to the senses in our writing will enrich our tales and prose with vivid imagery, which is often used to help the reader feel immersed and engaged. 

In fact, the oft-forgotten 5 senses are some of the most powerful forms of description, things that can enrich a story and give it life.

And, as we’ll see below, using a sensory description has an incredible ability to connect with us on a psychological level.

Let’s dive in. 

Choose A Chapter

• What Are The 5 Senses In The Context Of Writing?
• Why Are The Five Senses Important In Writing?
• How To Use The 5 Senses In Writing
• The Power Of Sensory Description
• What Are The Five Sensory Organs?
• Sight
• Sound
• Touch
• Taste
• Smell
• Imagery And The 5 Senses
• The 5 Senses And Descriptive Writing Examples
• 5 Senses Writing Checklist
• Examples Of A Descriptive Paragraph Using Sensory Details
• Exercises To Help You Use The 5 Senses In Writing
• A List Of Helpful Adjectives For The Five Senses
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) On The 5 Senses In Writing

What Are The 5 Senses In The Context Of Writing?

This may seem like a straightforward question, but it’s always best to cover the basics before advancing to more technical points.

This style of prose is essentially writing that employs the five senses to create mental images for the reader.

For example, if you want to create a vivid image of a beach, you may describe the smell of seaweed or the grainy texture of sand. 

In drawing upon these familiar sensations, we can open the portal wider for our readers to step into the scene, to feel what it’s like to be there. It’s a key part of creative writing in respect of description and something that can elevate your stories. 

So that’s what the 5 senses in writing are—they empower your descriptions and help draw readers into the story. Let’s look more at why using them is important.

Here’s a quick video explainer with lots of handy examples:

Why Are The Five Senses Important In Writing?

Using your five senses in your writing is an incredibly powerful way to immerse your reader in the tale.

The more the reader can understand what it’s like to be in your character’s shoes at that precise moment, be it fleeing a demon or marching to war, knowing how it feels and smells like, as well as the visual and audio descriptions, can elevate stories to a whole new level. It quite simply makes it more enjoyable to read.

From a writing perspective, incorporating each of the five senses in your writing at appropriate moments is something your readers will love.

From the perspective of the fantasy writer specifically, using the 5 senses is a terrific way to reveal the details created during your world building process.

This is especially useful when you’re trying to convey unique imagery or something that’s altogether alien to the reader. It’s something I used a lot when writing Pariah’s Lament and readers loved it. This is just one of the many 5 senses examples you’ll find below. 

How To Use The 5 Senses In Writing

If you re-read some of your favourite books there’ll no doubt be passages where the writer employs a sight and smell or taste or touch to great descriptive effect. Oftentimes they employ simple but effective techniques (which we’ll cover below) that draw you deeper into the scene, so much so that you feel as if you’re there. 

Often some of our favourite books are those that use to great affect the five senses. Books that transport us to new worlds and take us on epic adventures. And so often it’s the vivid descriptions that draw us in and help us walk amongst the characters.

We’ll look at some examples of the 5 senses in writing below that illustrate just how effective they can be further on below. But first, let’s look at why this is all so important.

Achieving Vivid Writing That Appeals To The Senses

If you want to learn how to achieve vivid writing that appeals to the senses, here are some quick tips:

• Practise – it sounds simple but one of the best ways to get used to including the 5 senses in your writing is to practise. Below, you can find lots of handy exercises that can help you sharpen your writing skills.
• Reading – another very effective method of sharpening your usage of the five senses in your writing is to simply read the works of top-class authors. These talented writers can use small details that appeal to the senses and immerse you in the story. 
• Explore – to boost your vocabulary when describing scenes, characters and feelings with the senses, it helps to go out and explore the world and absorb what it is you’re trying to convey. For example, if you need to describe the feeling of the bark of a tree, going out and examining and touching the different trees around you can help you come up with ideas for describing textures, smells and unique visual descriptions. 

The 5 Senses And Writing About Feelings And Emotions

It’s difficult to describe how a character feels. People are complex beings and at the best of times, we can’t make sense of how we think and feel about a given thing. 

When writing, using the 5 senses can open up doors into the minds of our characters. In utilising them, we can avoid simply telling the reader what our character is feeling, (like, “he felt sad”) and instead, we can suggest or show it through the likes of body language, like how their shoulders are (sagging or raised).

Here are some more examples of the 5 senses when describing emotion:

• Sight – If, for example, your character is feeling a little down, you could focus on describing the way they interpret the world around them, such as focusing on the grey clouds hanging low in the sky, the wilted flowers in the garden, or the empty chair across the room.
• Sound – Incorporating sounds can help to create an atmosphere that resonates with your readers. Let’s say your character is feeling anxious. You could describe the ticking clock, the distant sirens, the creaking floorboards—things that increase the tension.
• Touch – A powerful method is to use tactile descriptions to help your readers feel what the character is feeling. For example, if your character is feeling nervous, you can describe their clammy hands, the beat of their heart in their ears, the tightness in their chest.
• Taste – Using taste really adds depth to your descriptions of emotion. If your character is feeling joyful, you could describe the sweetness of a ripe strawberry, the richness of a dark chocolate truffle, or the effervescence of champagne bubbles. Linking these things back to memories can also help to trigger a more powerful reaction. For instance, the taste of a an Indian curry that you had the night you proposed to your wife.
• Smell – Scent can also help to create a visceral experience for your readers, one that relates to them on a more emotional level. If your character is feeling nostalgic, you can describe the aroma of freshly baked cookies, the salty sea air, or the musky scent of old books.

By using the five senses in your writing you can create a multi-dimensional experience for your readers, making your characters and their emotions more real and relatable. Let’s take a look at just how powerful sensory details are when it comes to painting a picture in the reader’s mind. 

The Power Of Sensory Description

We’ve covered a lot about using sensory descriptions and how they can elevate your writing to the next level. However, there are a lot of scientific studies that back up the theory.

For instance, in a study published back in 2011 by The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, it was found that we process certain words faster than others if there is a sensory experience attached to them.

Such studies aren’t new. In fact, Miller and Johnson-Laird (1976) examined how fundamental “word-percept associations” are to our language. This was expanded upon n a 2003 study by Rakova who emphasised a very important point—that the purpose of language is to express how we feel, what we see, hear, smell and taste.

Another study on sensory linguistics (which looks at how language relates to the senses), published by the University of Birmingham, examined humanity’s dependence on perceptions and how we interact with the world through feeling, seeing, tasting, hearing and smelling.

What we can see here is a growing understanding of the power and influence of a piece of sensory description. By examining these studies, writers can find a whole new appreciation for using the 5 senses in writing.

What Are The Five Sensory Organs?

Before we dive into looking at the 5 senses in a writing context, let’s look at what the five sensory organs are:

• • 1. Eyes
    2. Ears
    3. Special receptors in the skin that enable us to touch and feel
    4. Nose
    5. Tastebuds

Combined, our five senses enable us to learn, experience and create memories. Pepsi Max, for example, always reminds me of my history lessons in college—I’d drink a can during every lesson. Think of songs too. They have an incredible ability to transport us back to moments in our past. Let’s explore things in more detail.

If you’d like to learn more about the basics surrounding the 5 senses, see more examples, or learn how to incorporate sensory description in your writing, see this quick video.

Are There More Than 5 Senses?

Now, something you may be wondering about is whether or not there are more than the 5 classic senses. It is, in fact, believed that there is more than touch, taste, sound, sight, smell. These golden 5 were defined by Aristotle because he could relate them to sensory organs. They are sometimes known as the “five senses folk model”.

But it depends on the manner in which you define a sense.

Newer approaches look at the number of sensory organs we have. And many academics now counter the sixth sense as the vestibular system. This relates to the inner ear and the impact it has on our balance and vision.

But other academics have gone further than this. Some tweak the definition to include sensory receptors. Now the skin, for instance, has at least four sensory receptors, relating to pain, temperature, touch and body awareness (otherwise known as proprioception).

So when someone asks how many senses do we have, it’s all a matter of definition. You can check out this awesome video below by SciShow which explains things in more detail.

Sight

Perhaps the main one of the five senses, sight often receives information first and therefore forms our initial judgements.

When it comes to using sight in writing, our stories and characters are often guided by this prime form of description. We describe what our characters see.

However, it would be nigh impossible to describe every aspect of a scene, and even if you did achieve it, nigh impossible to read.

Some of the most acclaimed writers, Charles Dickens, in particular, approached it by picking the right details. The little things that tell us everything. Let’s look at an example of the sense of sight in writing from Great Expectations:

“There was a bookcase in the room; I saw, from the backs of the books, that they were about evidence, criminal law, criminal biography, trials, acts of parliament, and such things. The furniture was all very solid and good, like his watch-chain. It had an official look, however, and there was nothing merely ornamental to be seen. In a corner, was a little table of papers with a shaded lamp: so he seemed to bring the office home with him in that respect too, and to wheel it out of an evening and fall to work.”

This is Jagger’s office. Though he doesn’t feature, we’ve gleaned much about who he is from details like the types of books upon the shelves and the paper-filled table, suggesting he lives a busy, professional life.

Colour is another fantastic tool when it comes to sight. Dickens was known for using colours to portray emotions or themes, such as red for frustration or anger, black for death, white for purity or goodness. Using colour, particularly with themes and the premise, can add extra layers to a story.

We explore some more 5 senses examples below to give you some ideas when it comes to sight.

Writing Prompt

Stand in the middle of your bedroom. Look all around you. Make notes of every little detail you see. Colours, shapes. Crumbs or dust on the floor. The more attentive you can be the better.

Pick out things that could relate to characterisation. The books on a shelf perhaps—what kind of books are they? Are there empty glasses beside your bed, dishes too? All of this helps to build interesting imagery, as well as contribute to other elements of the story, in this instance, characterization.

Sound

Sound is incredibly important when it comes to using the 5 senses in our writing. Dialogue dominates many stories, but so often little attention is paid to how characters sound when they talk. It’s strange when you think about how unique people sound, and a person’s voice makes such a difference to how we form views of them.

Something I learned not so long ago is that ducks don’t quack. They tend to grunt or even cackle. It’s easy to assume how things sound, but sometimes what we assume is wrong.

It’s always worth taking the time to research. In doing so you may find new and original ways to describe the sound. Using metaphors and similes, particularly if the sound is unusual, is a great way to bring clarity to descriptions.

Another often overlooked thing is silence. Silence is an excellent tool to set the tone or build an atmosphere or tension. A noiseless forest. A still, foggy street. Eerie.

Writing Prompt

Either using yourself or ideally, your character, place yourself in a location in which things are happening around you—a park, for instance. Close your eyes and listen.

Make a note of every little sound you hear, from tweeting birds to jackhammers digging up roads. If you can, make a note of how different sounds make you feel. Do fireworks startle you, for instance? Then think about why they could startle you or your character.

Touch

Of all the five senses, touch is, in my view, one of the most powerful yet underrated ones. If you can convey touch in an effective way, you’ll reap the rewards.

The scope of this sense depends on the nature of the scene, but imagine, for example, walking barefoot through a forest. The softness of moss between your toes, the cool slime of mud, the pokes and scratches of sticks and stones. Such details can draw readers deeper into the story.

We’ll look at some sensory writing exercises below, but as a brief writing prompt now, close your eyes and pick something up. Describe how that object feels. What features does it have? The texture? Sturdiness? Width? Weight?

These little details can make all the difference when it comes to incorporating the 5 senses in your writing.

Taste

Taste is the more neglected one out of the five sensory organs when it comes to writing. Just like all of the senses, using taste can enrich your story immensely.

How many times have you said the phrase, “It tastes like …”. So many of our memories are tied to tastes. Like I said before, Pepsi Max always reminds me of history classes in college. Which tastes trigger memories for you?

If this happens to us, it happens to your characters too. It’s a great thing to include within your characterization process.

Like smell, taste can serve as a trigger for memories. For example, a husband who shared a love for apple turnovers baked by his deceased wife is reminded of her whenever he eats one.

Taste can also trigger emotions. There’ve been times when I’ve eaten food that tasted so good I bounced with glee in my chair.

Writing Prompt

A fun one. Head down to your kitchen and finding something to eat that has a bit of texture. Close your eyes, take a bite. Focus closely as you chew, as the food rolls around your mouth, over your tongue and down your throat. How does it taste? How does it make you feel?

Smell

We, at last, arrive at smell, though its place is no reflection on its importance when it comes to using the 5 senses in our writing.

The power of smells cannot be underestimated. We smell things all of the time and those scents help to shape our impressions. What can you whiff right now?

A smell helps us to form a judgement on things, such as whether something’s okay to eat. And crucially, smells can trigger vivid memories and emotions, vital tools to any writer.

Here’s one of my favorite 5 senses examples for using smell in writing from James Joyce’s Ulysses:

“Mr Leopold Bloom ate with relish the inner organs of beasts and fowls. He liked thick giblet soup, nutty gizzards, a stuffed roast heart, liverslices fried with crustcrumbs, fried hencods’ roes. Most of all he liked grilled mutton kidneys which gave to his palate a fine tang of faintly scented urine.” 

How do you describe the smell of rain in creative writing?

The technical term for the smell of rain is “petrichor”.

Rain brings with it a freshness, a crispness, an earthiness. It awakens the scents of other things like dry soil, flowers and grass. It’s something I turn to a lot when writing fantasy, especially in those scenes where characters are moving through rich, rural landscapes. 

Writing Prompt

Similar to the task above which involves a trip out to a busy place, like a park, sit down and have a good sniff. Another good place to try is a coffee shop. Lots of smells of roasting coffee and baking cakes in there.

Importantly, think about where those smells lead you in your mind. Do they trigger memories? Do associated words pop into your mind? From your character’s perspective, this is what their experience would be like too.

Imagery And The 5 Senses

The main aim of using the 5 senses is to create imagery in the minds of readers. That is the ultimate aim of writing fiction—to transfer the thoughts and ideas from the writer to the reader. 

It’s arguably the most magical thing about writing, the ability for an author to connect with a reader thousands of miles away or hundreds of years into the future. 

So it’s up to the writer to create vivid imagery and the 5 senses is one way of achieving that. 

There are actually specific terms for the types of imagery that each sensory organ can conjure. Here they are:

• • • Visual Imagery – this, of course, relates to sight
    • Olfactory Imagery – this fancy word relates to smell
    • Auditory Imagery – you may have guessed, this one relates to the description of sounds
    • Gustatory Imagery – this one’s all about taste
    • Tactile Imagery – and this final one is all about touch, an often-forgotten sense

5 senses imagery, in short, is a powerful tool in a writer’s arsenal. Let’s look at some examples of how it’s used in practice. 

The 5 Senses And Descriptive Writing Examples

Let’s move on to look at the 5 senses and descriptive writing examples. As we’ve seen above, vivid imagery is often used to help the reader feel immersed in the story. So in this section, I’ve provided some from some bestselling books that make great use of the 5 senses.

“The tearing of flesh, as though a butcher were yanking meat from a flank. The bubbling of liquids and the soft rasping of the cutting tools.” Tooth & Nail, Ian Rankin

“Stars spun across his vision and his head felt as if it were about to burst… With difficulty, Hanno undid the chinstrap and eased off his helmet. Cool air ruffled his sweat-soaked hair.” Hannibal: Fields of Blood Ben Kane

“A cold wind was blowing out of the north, and it made the trees rustle like living things. All day, Will had felt as though something were watching him, something cold and implacable that loved him not.” A Game of Thrones, George RR Martin

“It was dark and dim all day. From the sunless dawn until evening the heavy shadow had deepened, and all hearts in the City were oppressed. Far above a great cloud streamed slowly westward from the Black Land, devouring light, borne upon a wind of war; but below the air was still and breathless, as if all the Value of Anduin waited for the onset of a ruinous storm.” The Return Of The King, JRR Tolkien.

This last one for me is a great example of a descriptive paragraph using the five senses. From the off, you not only get a vivid image of the setting (dark, dim, sunless dawn), but you can feel what it’s like to be there on an emotional level (hearts in the City were oppressed). Our senses are further teased with the description of a “still and breathless” air. 

If you’d like to find more sensory description examples, I recommend doing this simple exercise:

Pick up any book that you see, one ideally that you don’t mind marking with a pen or highlighter. Next, scan the pages, looking for descriptive scenes. Whenever you see a sentence that refers to any of the five senses, highlight it in some way.

The benefit of doing this is that you get examples from a variety of different writers, each with their own clever way of making their exposition more immersive.

Something you may notice is that many of them employ metaphors and similes to help you build a visual image in your mind. This is a very effective way of using the 5 senses in writing. You could say things like:

• • • The water smashed into the ground like the tide hitting a rocky coast
    • A squeal filled the air like a pig fearing slaughter
    • It smelled like an overflowing latrine pit sat in the baking sun

You can learn more about using metaphors and similes in this guide on writing prose.

More Examples Of Descriptive Writing Using The 5 Senses

If you’re looking for more 5 senses examples for your writing, one of the best things you can do is to read books that pay particular attention to this. One of the standout books that explore this is Blindness by José Saramago.

There’s no shortage of sensory language examples out there for you to study. From books to writing guides like this, there are plenty of helpful resources you can learn from. 

5 Senses Writing Checklist

Something I’ve done to improve my use of the 5 senses in my writing is to include them within the planning process. It’s good to save it until the end when you’ve plotted out your story or chapter, however.

What I do is read over the plan and try and place myself in the scenes. Working my way through each sense, I list everything that pops into my head.

• • 1. It’ll be unlikely that you need to spend too much time on sight, but taking the time to consider things in detail can provoke new and unique ideas. What little details can be included? Remember the power of specificity.
    2. Next, onto sounds. Like sights, it’s unlikely you’ll need to spend too much time on this but it’s always helpful to consider the likes of characters’ voices and any usual sounds that could be featured.
    3. Smells. When it comes to smells a good starting point is to list everything that comes to mind, even mere whiffs, which can be the most telling of all. Smells can provoke memories and emotions too, like the smell of perfume could remind a character of their dead lover, and that leaves you open to describe emotions.
    4. What can your character touch or feel? How does the hilt of the sword feel in your character’s fingers? How does the touch of a vivacious woman feel to your lonely character? What information can be gleaned from the manner of a handshake?
    5. Lastly, what tastes, if any, can you include? Is your character eating? Can they taste blood after being punched in the cheek? Do they enter a room where the smell is so foetid they can taste it?

Examples Of A Descriptive Paragraph Using Sensory Details

I wanted to provide you with a few examples of descriptive paragraphs that use sensory details. Examine how they elevate the scene by drawing you deeper. Each little detail paints a more vivid picture, such that you can almost feel yourself there, experiencing it yourself. This is a real skill when it comes to creative writing, but it’s definitely one you can learn and master. 

Let’s look at our first 5 senses paragraph example:

Example 1

The mud of the road sucked at her tattered leather boots, a quagmire after incessant rains. Autumn circled like a hawk. The wind grabbed at her woollen green cloak and homespun dress. The hand-me-downs from her cousins never fitted, always too wide at the waist and short of length. She pulled her cloak tight about her, bundling it around her hands to keep away the biting chill.

Example 2

The ringing gave way to those crashes and bangs, each one coming with the beat of his heart. His eyes flickered open. Slate-grey clouds hung above. Dust hovered in the air, rocks and debris showered down upon him. He raised his throbbing head and looked around. Men and women, hands over their ears, cowered down behind the crenellations of the wall, fear etched upon their faces, consuming their eyes, paralyzing their bodies. A few defiant individuals continued to loose arrows. For many, it was the last they shot. The Karraban thunder smashed the parapets to bits, obliterated siege engines, battered the cliff behind them and knocked from it great chunks of rock that tumbled down to crush those below. The ringing in Jem’s ears eased enough for him to hear the screams. They became the backdrop to the rumbling of the Karraban thunder. Only one thought entered Jem’s mind: flee.

Example 3

The bells rang loud and panicked across Yurrisa. Hidden in the shadows of the abandoned warehouse, Edvar and the others lay in wait. He peered through a crack in a boarded window at the cobbled street. Echoing along it came a shout. Another. Steps rushed toward him, and into view burst a group of soldiers, breaths billowing mist in the cold morning air.

Example 4

Laughter rippled from the table behind Edvar. The three men were tanners, the least difficult of all working men to identify: stained clothes and hands and stinking of a peculiar cocktail of rotten flesh and mint. They rubbed themselves with the latter to mask the stench of the former. Nobody could bear their presence long enough to tell them it didn’t work.

As you can see, these examples use each of the five senses to great effect. If you’re curious where these came from, I pinched them from Pariah’s Lament.

Exercises To Help You Use The 5 Senses In Writing

Here are a few useful exercises to get into the swing of using the senses. The more you practice, the more it’ll become ingrained in the way you write and that’s why it’s one of my favorite writing tips of all!

• • • One place, one sense. As the title suggests, think of a place and describe everything you can using just one sense. Challenge yourself. Pick a sense you feel you struggle with. Or do one sense, then a different one. 
    • Describe an object using the 5 senses. This is a nice simple exercise. Pick one object and describe it using all of your senses. Examples of objects could be chocolate (so you can taste) or a bottle of perfume (for the smell!).
    • Close your eyes and pick an object up. This one was mentioned above, but it’s a powerful tool. Jot down everything you can think of.
    • Pick your favourite food and eat! This one’s a bit more fun. Take chocolate for example. Savour each bite and write down everything, from taste to texture, the sounds of it breaking in your mouth, and importantly, how it makes you feel.
    • Pick something alien and try to use sensory descriptions. This is a great way to challenge your use of the 5 senses because you have to create everything from scratch and to a whole new level of detail. So if you’re a sci-fi writer, this could be a great way to learn how to describe a spaceship in writing. 

Here’s a brilliant visual exercise too which I highly recommend trying. It’s quick, and easy and really does hone your skills when it comes to using the 5 senses in writing.

1. Walk And Write

This exercise I call walk and write. Take a notepad and write five headings: sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell. The next time you go out, even if it’s just to the shop on the corner, write down everything you experience. The touch of the rain or breeze, how the pavement feels underfoot, snippets of passing conversation you hear, the whistle of birds, how that warm and crispy sausage roll tastes. *Warning* You may look odd stopping all the time.

Here’s a step-by-step guide:

• • 1. Take a walk outside and observe your surroundings. Use your senses to take note of what you see, hear, smell, taste, and touch. Write down your observations.
    2. Choose one of the things you noticed on your walk and use it as a prompt for your writing. For example, if you noticed the sound of birds chirping, write a descriptive paragraph that captures that sound.
    3. As you write, be sure to use sensory language to bring your description to life. Instead of simply saying “I heard birds chirping,” try something like “The melody of birdsong filled my ears, each chirp a delicate note in a symphony of nature.”
    4. Repeat this exercise for each of the senses. Choose a different observation each time and challenge yourself to use vivid sensory details to paint a picture with your words.

2. Write A Short Story With The 5 Senses

One of the most effective ways that you can sharpen your sensory description writing is to write a short story with the 5 senses. 

The way it works is simple. Plan out your story—characters, plotting, theme—and then when it comes to the writing, you’re only permitted to use the five senses. 

It can help to think of a story in which you’d likely use the sensory organs more than usual. Let’s look at a few writing prompts:

• • • Your protagonist awakens in a dark cave. It’s cold and damp. They must figure out what’s happened and find their way out.
    • Your protagonist is fleeing through a forest. What are they running from? What awaits them up ahead?
    • Your character is upon a ship and is knocked overboard. How do they survive in the turbulent waves?

These are just a few prompts that are specifically designed to help you use the five senses in your writing. Trust me, an exercise like this will have your skillset sharpened in no time.

3. Use 5 Senses Writing Prompts

Here are some 5 senses writing prompts that may help you get started:

• • • You’re at home, watching TV. You catch the scent of something. Something that makes you mute the TV, look around, stand up. What is it you smell?
    • For three days you’ve been travelling alone through the woods. You’re two days from your destination. Tired, weary. And you’re pretty sure something is following you. The sun has long since set. The embers are dying in your fire. And you begin to hear sounds close by…
    • You’ve just started a new job. The office is big, labyrinthine. On your way back from lunch on your first day, you get lost. You open a door with stairs leading down. You follow them. Get further lost. And the steps give way. You awake in darkness to the sound of something growling. You reach for your phone, turn on the torch…

There are a few examples of sensory language-based writing prompts for you. See where they take you.

A List Of Helpful Adjectives For The Five Senses

You can never have enough adjectives to help you describe the five senses. Below, you can find a pretty simple list, but it serves as a great starting point. From there you can add some of your own examples of using the 5 senses in descriptive writing. I also have some other helpful writing tools here that you may find useful. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) On The 5 Senses In Writing

Below, you can find answers to some commonly asked questions when it comes to sensory descriptions, as well as more descriptive writing examples using the 5 senses.

If you have any questions or need more examples of the 5 senses in writing, please contact me.

• Author
• Recent Posts

richiebilling

Richie Billing writes fantasy fiction, historical fiction and stories of a darker nature. He's had over a dozen short stories published in various magazines and journals, with one adapted for BBC radio. In 2021 his debut novel, Pariah's Lament, an epic fantasy, was published by Of Metal and Magic. Richie also runs The Fantasy Writers' Toolshed, a podcast devoted to helping writers improve their craft.

Most nights you can find him up into the wee hours scribbling away or watching the NBA.

Latest posts by richiebilling (see all)

• 5 Tips to Help Your Child Learn and Succeed at Primary School - February 26, 2024
• The Advantages Of Using An AI Essay Typer Alternative - February 14, 2024
• Advice On Getting Help With Your Homework - January 26, 2024