Using your five senses can enhance your writing more than you might think possible. Here’s a successful author to tell us about it:

“Fiction operates through the senses. . . .The first and most obvious characteristic of fiction is that it deals with reality through what can be seen, heard, smelt, tasted, and touched.”
–Flannery O’Connor

Stories are experienced through our senses. So are personal narratives, description essays, and other modes of writing.

Think of Lucy slipping her hand into Aslan’s fur in a special moment in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, feeling the warmth of his presence.

Here are some examples of using senses, taken from The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien:

“There came a long rolling of great drums like thunder in the mountains, and then a braying of horns that shook the very stones and stunned men’s ears.” [sound, feeling]

“The stench of the sweating orcs about him was stifling, and he began to gasp with thirst.” [smell, feeling]

Sharpen your own senses and make your writing come alive as you dip into the over 20 writing prompts below.