The Five Senses

Your writing will improve when you put yourself into the story by considering the five senses: sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch.

Writing about food is a great way to create imagery in a scene. Keeping what you see, hear, smell, taste, and feel in mind, you can put the reader in the room and have their mouth-watering. The best part? You get to use fun words like aromatic, buttery, and delectable!

Go out for a special lunch or dinner and pay attention to all aspects of your meal, from the menu to the tablecloth and the meal itself. Order a special drink and contemplate the flavours on your tongue. Then, at the next opportunity, describe the scene in writing. Be poetic.

Don’t worry about proper punctuation. I would even go as far as to suggest you never worry about punctuation or grammar when coming up with new ideas. Unless they come naturally, don’t worry about them, they will slow you down. Capture the ideas, and edit them later.

In my book Northern Escape, the group is on an artists’ retreat. A big part of their experience is the food—prepared by a Red Seal chef—so I wrote about their meals. In this scene, I kept the five senses in mind.

Here is an excerpt from the book.

“What can I do?” Grace asked, hands on hips.

“Why don’t you assemble the Caesar salad? The romaine lettuce is ready to go—rinsed, torn, and patted dry. It’s in the fridge. Grab the dressing while you’re there. I stuck a sticky note on the jar.” Louis nodded to the fridge to his left. “There’s a big bowl in the bottom of that cupboard over there.” He gestured toward it with his chin. “And the croutons will be coming out of the oven in just a minute.”

As Grace mixed the lettuce with the dressing, she inhaled the tangy lemon and creamy garlic dressing. Louis set a block of Parmesan cheese and a small cheese grater on the counter next to her before returning with the warm croutons. She gave it a final toss with the wooden artisan bear paws before adding a little more Parmesan on top. Carrying the big, wooden salad bowl on her hip as she walked, she set it at the end of the long dining room table. Moving toward the middle of the table, she claimed a spot by setting her beer bottle next to the glass for water. — Northern Escape

Check out my YouTube video on this topic!

— Cindy