Using the 5 Senses

1. Using the 5 Senses Being Descriptive

2. Showing, Not Telling • It’s important in your writing to show the reader what you mean instead of telling them. • Using the 5 senses in your writing will automatically help your reader ‘see’ your story. • Remember, the way to show is to be descriptive.

3. Activity • Close your eyes. • Listen to my voice as we walk down a street in our minds and use our five senses to describe what we see. • A bakery • A clock shop • A shoe store

4. Using the 5 Senses in Writing • Remember the exercise we did where we walked into different stores and described them? This is the same thing! • Describing things using the 5 senses makes it easier for the reader to ‘see’ what’s going on in your story. When you can ‘see’ it, it’s easier to get interested in what’s going on! • How do you write with the 5 senses?

5. Make it Interesting! • It sounds pretty bland if you say: • It smelled like cake. It sounded like lots of people. It looked like a bakery. It tasted like frosting. It felt like warm cake. • It sounds more interesting like this: • The warm, fresh baked cake smell wafted through the air as the sounds of busy people trying to buy last minute items could be heard throughout the store. The bakery was bustling with the warm feeling of fresh cake coming out of the oven. I could practically taste the frosting!

6. Commercial Break!