What Can Your Character Physically Feel and Touch?

Confining your description of a setting to what is visible, is not to do it justice. A writer should encourage the reader to imagine using all five senses. Think of what this environment would smell like, taste like, feel like and the sounds you would hear. The sense of smell is particularly potent as it is the strongest of memory triggers and naming a distinctive scent will pull your readers into your work.

Sight:::Hearing::::Smell::::Taste::::Touch::::Sight:::Hearing::::Smell::::Taste::::Touch

Compare the following:

Isobel lay on the ground and gazed at a sky dotted with yellow leaves. Smoke curled into view and her eyes  followed its trail to a nearby bonfire.

With

Isobel lay on the ground and gazed at a sky dotted with yellow leaves. The branches rustled like paper bags and the wind carried the scent of a bonfire and air that tasted of earth, smoked, damp earth and beneath her, wet mud seeped through her clothes and onto her skin, cold and embracing.

I think you’ll agree that the second version draws the reader into the setting, allowing them to roundly experience the landscape – via every imaginary sense.

What Can Your Character Hear?

Try to use all senses to describe the following:

Prison cell

Hospital ward

Beach Pub

School room

Your grandmother’s sitting room