The value of Sense in Writing.
Writing with all your senses.
The world is made up of five senses. sight, touch, sound, smell, and taste. and if you focus on sight and narration you are not painting as grand a picture as you could.
Sight: This could be anything from pointing out the kind of clothes people are wearing, to the season, or the time of day, the age or the state of things in the area of the story.
Touch: No doubt your character has some sort of skin or receptive sensors on their exoskeleton, so they are ALWAYS touching something the soft grass, the crunching leaves of fall, the squelching heat of a puddle of fresh blood. The texture of that pudding on your tongue as it glides down your throat.. Describe it. Your partner will love it I promise.
Sound: Everywhere you go there is background noise, if you close your eyes even now and listen I am sure you can hear the humm of electronics, the soft woosh of air either from a fan or from your own lungs as you breathe. The sounds outside your room. Sound is everywhere.
Smell: The world stinks. There is smells everywhere, and everything has a smell, if your character is anything but human they would be KEENLY aware of all the smells. You don't need to list them all but using smell as a second set of eyes? can add a lot of depth to a story.
Taste: Describing the taste of something, if it's in your mouth add at least a sentence for the taste as it's the first thing your character would notice, but don't forget half of taste comes from smell, so
The differences the senses can make.
I have always found, The best way to show writing improvement is to write so I am going to write a scene without any senses, and then with all the senses first.
The Tavern was bustling, A serving girl weaved through the crowd, where patrons sat. One man took a sip of his ale, and it reminded him of home, taking him back to simpler times.
This is what it looks like when something is written without any senses being included in the writing, it's lifeless, and simply states a fact of what is happening, without any engagement.
We love engagement around here!
Alright, let's add details! To make it engaging! Color-coded because I am a sweetheart
The tavern was bustling. The air was thick with the scent of ale, roasting meat, and a hint of something acrid that could only be described as "tavern smell." The low hum of conversation, punctuated by the occasional burst of laughter, filled the room. The sound of boots on the wooden floor seemed to vibrate through the very air itself. The dim light cast by flickering candles and sconces danced across the rough-hewn walls, creating shadows that seemed to shift and writhe like living things. A hearth in the corner blazed brightly, its warmth radiating outward, chasing away the chill that lingered despite the heat. A serving girl weaved through the crowd, balancing a tray of drinks that clinked together merrily with each step. She stopped at a table where a group of well-dressed patrons sat, their faces flushed and their voices raised in lively debate. The feel of the wooden chair beneath his hands was familiar and comforting, as was the roughness of the tabletop against his forearms. One man took a sip of his ale, savoring the cold, bitter liquid as it slid down his throat. The taste of it reminded him of home, of simpler times when he'd sit in just such a place, listening to the stories of travelers and adventurers who'd been to places he'd only dreamed of.
Which one would you rather read? I know which one I would be more invested in. Can we remove some of that? of course you can actually remove ANY of them and the story will still flow with minor adjustments, you don't need to include ALL Senses in every post. I mean even in reality if you went around sniffing people or licking them people might start questioning a few things about ya. But you do need to include some.
The where and the when to include them is completely situational. This was written as an opening scene, in which you do want to include everything, as you want your responding partner to have as much to go off of as possible.
Additionally, did you notice how adding just what could be seen, touched, smelled, felt, and tasted into the picture brought a run-on sentence into a paragraph?
Cool huh?