by Patricia Bradley, @PTBradley1

We’ve been told many times that using all five senses in our stores is imperative, and right away I recalled sight, sound, and smell, but briefly blanked on taste and touch. That made me realize I rarely used either of them in my writing, focusing mostly on the other three. 

It’s easy to use sight and sound while smell comes in a distant third. Most of what we write for our characters include those three senses: The forested mountains (sight), the babbling brook (sight and sound), the fragrant rose with a drop of dew (sight and smell), the rusted refrigerator at the city dump (sight and smell), the barking wet dogs at the animal shelter (sight, sound and smell).

Often, we overlook the opportunity to incorporate touch and taste. Using the examples above, let’s see how we can add those two senses. If you’re climbing the forested mountains, you can bring in touch: rubbing your hand over the rough bark of an oak tree; for the brook, trail your fingers through the cold water, and at the dump, a sharp pain of slicing your leg on the rusted refrigerator and then the jab of getting a tetanus shot, and for the last, the wet tongue from the puppy you picked up at the animal shelter as it showers you with love. 

Here are a few more word choices to incorporate in the sense of touch: Angular, bumpy, caked, chapped, clammy, damp, embossed, feathery, fleecy, furry, gnarled, gooey, hairy, hot, icy, jagged, layered, lumpy, moist, oily, pockmarked, prickly, ragged, ribbed, rough, scratched, silky, thorny, tweedy, unblemished, uneven, velvety, warm, wiry, wrinkled.

Taste is much harder to work with, but here are two from the examples. The tangy, sweet juice as you bite down on a muscadine, cupping your hand and drinking the mossy-flavored water of the brook. Again, google words that describe taste and you will find quite a few. 

Here are a few words I found for the sense of taste: acerbic, acidic, acrid, astringent, bitter, bloody, briny, buttery, cheesy, chocolatey, chalky, citrus, charred, cream, curdled, delicate, dusty, earthy, fruity, lemony, mount-watering, peppery, salty, scalding, sharp, smokey, tangy, tart, vanilla, vinegary, watery to name a few.

Writing is all about layering. In the first draft which is also my first layer, I lay down the plot of the story—the crime and how it affects the characters. I mostly use sight and sound on this layer. Then I layer in more of the romance and spiritual thread, and this is where I layer in more of smell, touch, and taste. Then as I polish, I look for more ways to use the five senses to draw my readers closer to the characters.

Look for ways to add all five senses to your scenes. It will help connect your reader to your characters and story.

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Standoff (Natchez Trace Park Rangers Book #1)

The Natchez Trace National Parkway stretches 444 miles from Nashville to Natchez, the oldest town on the Mississippi River. It’s the perfect road for a relaxed pleasure drive. Unfortunately for park ranger Luke Fereday, lately it’s being used to move drugs. Sent to Natchez to infiltrate the organization at the center of the drug ring, Luke arrives too late to a stakeout and discovers the body of his friend, park ranger John Danvers.

John’s daughter Brooke is determined to investigate her father’s murder, but things are more complicated than they first appear, and Brooke soon finds herself the target of a killer who will do anything to silence her. Luke will have his hands full keeping her safe. But who’s going to keep him safe when he realizes he’s falling–hard–for the daughter of the man he failed to save?

Winner of an Inspirational Readers’ Choice Award in Suspense and a 2018 Carol finalist, Patricia Bradley lives in North Mississippi with her rescue kitty, Suzy. Her romantic suspense books include the Logan Point series and the Memphis Cold Case Novels. She also has written sweet romances for Harlequin Heartwarming available as e-books.