Descriptive Writing: Lesson 2

Description: Sensory Details

We continue our descriptive journey, with lesson 2. We explored naming our subject matter in lesson one, and pairing it with some descriptive words, adjectives, to get started. To see the full details look for the post entitled Writing Descriptively Lesson 1. Now let’s move on to skill number two, using sensory details.

Remember descriptive writing is never complete without representing our senses; sensory details. Without these, description would lack a serious thing! You have to become even more involved with your environment now; you have to explore the idea/thing/place/person/event you are planning on describing. Try to figure out how many of your senses could be involved in describing this item/place/event/person/, hereafter called the subject.

What can you see, hear, smell, taste, touch or feel?

For example, let’s say I’m going to describe a man standing on the dock at the beach. I would make a list of all the things I could see there: sand, sea, dock, man, sky. You could then decide if it’s day or night, sunset or sunrise; deciding this can dictate what you are able to see hear, smell, taste, feel, touch. Then you could do the same for all the things you could hear: wind, waves washing ashore, probably someone singing. Go on to what you could taste: salt in the air, and do this for all your five senses.

Please remember though that you don’t have to include sensory details for all your five senses, because sometimes it’s not important, based on what you are describing, or it may not be possible to explore it or not relevant to do so. E.g. who would want to taste a turtle shell, or rock, or poison ivy plant just to describe it?!

 Types of Sensory Details

Sensory details help to create imagery (a mental picture that is created in someone’s mind when they read something, especially something described) that the reader can follow and it helps them to share more vividly in the experience you are trying to describe. Sensory details have more specific names:

visual – sight
olfactory – smell
gustatory - taste
tactile - touch/feel
audio -hear

However, it is more important to know them when you are assessing descriptive writing, but it’s always good to be familiar with these terminologies; makes you seem more knowledgeable about the subject.


See you again soon, and check out the other mini lessons. Cheers!