Adding Sense-sations to your writing

In the last few months we’ve had an abundance of holidays and celebrations—Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, Valentine’s Day—and, in the case of my family, eight different birthdays. What a fabulous time for a toddler!

One of my two-year-old grandsons now claps his hands together and shouts “Birthday Cake!” every time the family gets together!

He has a real sweet tooth and wants the icing and not the cake! So it’s a scene full of senses – see (the cake) touch, (the cake), taste (the cake) smell (the icing) touch (the icing) taste (the icing) hear (Mommy say no more) hear (Max cry) touch (the icing) hear (Mommy say no again) etc. etc. A typical two-year-old testing scene.

I, for one, enjoy the colors, lights, fun (and food, of course) of each holiday. Experiencing them with young children adds a wonderful new dimension. The sounds, sights, smells and the magic of it all make each new experience shine.

In trying to decide what to write about for the blog, these recent memories reminded me how important it is to add senses to a scene.

I keep a typed list of the senses attached to my computer to remind me to use them. Invariably, though, I need to add more senses to scenes when I go through the editing process I call layering up.

What tricks or things do you do to make a scene richer by adding senses?