It’s no secret that tapping into the senses can bring a scene to life. But how many senses are there? If you said five, or even six, you’re only scratching the surface. Today multi-published, best selling author LUCY MONROE discusses how to add punch to your story by writing with visceral impact. Scroll down to find out about Lucy’s GIVEAWAY!
In 2010, I attended a workshop at the RT Booklovers Convention given by Marilyn Kelly entitled, “Eleven Senses – Who Knew?” She’d discovered, while doing research on the Net that while they do not all agree, many scientists recognize 11 senses at this juncture in time.[1] She found that fact as fascinating as I do and set about creating a workshop based on these 11 senses. She’s also written a lovely little book by the same title with a list of useful vocabulary for each sense available at Amazon. I highly recommend getting it for your reference shelves.
As writers, we look for ways to make our books more visceral for the reader. For plotters, this might include keeping note of emotional impact for the scenes one intends to write. For pantsers, this will often lead to rereading and working a scene until we can feel every single word deep in our gut, ourselves. Whatever the author’s process, it is no coincidence that the masters of this art are often at the top of the bestsellers lists and even more importantly, on our keeper shelves.
What could be more helpful in bringing a personal emotional reaction to the reader than appealing to her senses on the deepest level? But how do we do that? It can’t be as simple (and conversely complicated) as going scene by scene to make sure all of the senses are mentioned – as one workshop presenter suggested to me many years ago. Can it?
For me, writing has always been an organic process…one in which the story grows like a living thing from the seeds planted in my imagination. But I firmly believe that the more we know, the easier it is for that organic process to flourish. I may not use 90% of the stuff I research for a book, but having it at my mental fingertips, makes the story more real because what I do use, is done so within the process itself. Not as an add-in later. I’m not saying we can never go back and fill in (of course we can and do that all the time), but feeding our subconscious plenty of fuel gives our imagination the opportunity to fly, when we take off from the runway.
Okay, enough metaphors and on to our topic. Sense comes from the Latin sēnsus and originated between 1350 and 1400. It means any of the faculties by which humans and animals perceive stimuli originating from outside or inside the body.[2] Another more common definition given is: any system that consists of a group of sensory cell types that respond to a specific physical phenomenon and that corresponds to a particular group of regions within the brain where the signals are received and interpreted.[3]
In order to appeal to all of our senses, it’s helpful to be aware of what they are. I say helpful, rather than necessary, because I think that we often instinctually include senses we were certainly never taught about in school. Most of us were taught about “The Five Senses” in kindergarten, with the implication being that they were the only senses mankind is aware of.
Certainly, the 5 senses listed in Aristotle’s original model[4] are hugely important in our writing. I’ve challenged myself writing characters hindered in one of them and I’ll tell you now, it was no easy task. We take for granted our character’s abilities to see, hear, touch, taste and smell and our reader’s ability to identify with those senses. But what of these senses beyond the first five mentioned by Marilyn and Wikipedia (not to mention several other resources)?
What are they and how do they differ from the original 5? I’m not going to list all the ones found on Wikipedia, nor even in Marilyn’s book, but I will be discussing the senses (beyond the original 5) that I find most helpful in creating a viscerally impacting story. However, if you are interested in researching these yourself, please see the footnotes to this article.
Equilibiroception[5]: think about your movement and balance and that which allows you to sense them in yourself and others. This is a particularly interesting sense because it can be impacted by emotion, not just physical realities. This is where our characters may sense that they are moving in slow motion, or be dizzy for no good reason other than what is going through their head and/or their hearts.
Thermoception[6]: this is our sense for distinguishing heat and the absence of cold. Again, I find this an important sense to pay attention to because emotional distress can make a body feel frightfully cold and horrifically hot (think heated blushes, or the hot prickle of embarrassment). Unfortunately? Perimenopause can do the same darn thing and man is it annoying, but I digress…
Nociception[7]: oh, the pain of it all! (Okay, I’m channeling my 3-year-old granddaughter here, but I couldn’t resist.) Nociception is due to specific pain receptors in our body and gives us the message when damage is being done to it. Adrenalin can block these receptors, but more intriguingly we can will our bodies not to respond to them. Hence my latest heroine who doesn’t give up her unwitting informant despite being tortured. This is an important sense and can be used to great impact to bring the reader into the story. If you’ve ever had your heart truly broken, you know that it can be a very real pain in your chest cavity…and so do your characters.
We have esophageal senses that allow us to perceive swallowing, vomiting, etc.[1] These receptors are real and account for the choked feeling in the throat when faced with a situation that calls forth deep emotions.
Thirst[3]: just exactly what you think it is. The sensation of thirst tells our body when we need more fluids, but it can also show itself in a dry mouth brought on by nerves or stress.
Hunger[7]: that empty feeling in your stomach that comes from needing food…or the certainty that emotional pain is staring you in the face.
Magentoception[3]: while not as developed in humans as animals, it does exist within us to sense magnetic fields in the earth and thus give us whatever inborn sense of direction we might have. (For me this would be nil, but for my sister it allows her to navigate cities she’s never been in without a map and always find where she’s going.)
Sense of Time[8]: it’s debated as being a true sense, but we know it’s real. We can sense not only the time of day or night, and get discombobulated when this sense is off…but also have the sensation of time standing still, or moving too quickly to grasp. As can our characters to great effect.
For those, like me, who write paranormal stories, researching senses that animals have, but not human can help us to create characters that are more realistically fantastic. (Check out the first Wikipedia article for information on this.) Writing fully human characters with well developed senses (even when…or maybe especially when they are unaware of it) can lead to more interesting characters as well as a more viscerally impacted reader.
In short, writing with an awareness of all of our senses gives us an edge when deepening our characters and fleshing out a scene. One I hope each one of you will experience going forward in your writing.
FOOTNOTES:
1. Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sense
2. Dictionary.Com: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sense
3. Today I Found Out: http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/07/humans-have-a-lot-more-than-five-senses/
4. University of Washington: http://faculty.washington.edu/smcohen/433/arintro.htm
5. Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equilibrioception
6. Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoception
7. Discovery Fit & Health: http://health.howstuffworks.com/mental-health/human-nature/perception/question242.htm
8. Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sense_of_time
Lucy will be giving away a copy of her mass market paperback, DEAL WITH THIS, to one lucky commenter today!
***
What senses do you use the most in your writing? What do you find the hardest about writing emotional scenes?
Join us on Friday when PAIGE TYLER and her husband PAUL discuss Paul’s role in Paige’s writing process.
***
Bio:
With more than 6 million copies of her books in print, USA Today bestseller Lucy Monroe has published more than 50 books and had her stories translated for sale in dozens of countries. While she writes several subgenres of romance (paranormal, historical, single title and short contemporary) for multiple publishers, all of her books are sexy, emotional and show her belief that love will conquer all. She’s a passionate devotee of romance and shares her love for the genre with her readers through her books and a policy of open communication.
You can find Lucy at:
http://www.lucymonroe.com/
http://lucymonroeblog.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LucyMonroe.Romance
http://twitter.com/#!/lucymonroe
Kelsey's serving up bite-sized morsels for your noggin on her new 
Lucy,
Thanks for joining us today! I really enjoyed your article and can see how those other areas could be considered part of our senses. I’m definitely going to study up on this some more.
Thanks,
Tracey
Posted by Tracey Devlyn | October 26, 2011, 4:31 amI spent an hour last night putting the documentaries I’m interested in watching through Amazon Prime in a wish list. “I’m going to study up on this some more,” is one of my favorite sayings…and pasttimes. Glad I sparked an interest!
Posted by Lucy Monroe | October 26, 2011, 10:13 amI love that phrase “study up” – I have shelves full of books I mean to study up on one of these days.
Posted by Becke Martin/Davis | October 26, 2011, 1:32 pmYou and me both, Becke.
Posted by Lucy Monroe | October 26, 2011, 1:38 pmHi Lucy,
I like the idea of hot and cold. The Sixth Sense uses this very well. When a ghost is there, the room gets cold. Going primal with hunger and thrist helps a character focus on the basics of life. Allowing the senses to rule over the brain is good for matters of the heart.
Mary Jo
Posted by Mary Jo Burke | October 26, 2011, 5:45 amI LOVE that movie. They did such a good job of making us *feel* what we were seeing on the screen.
Posted by Becke Davis (Becke Martin) | October 26, 2011, 6:50 amThat is EXACTLY what I was trying to get at…the beyond the senses expression we can convey through sensory description.
Posted by Lucy Monroe | October 26, 2011, 10:14 amLucy – thanks for being with us today and pardon m while I have a fangirl moment *fans self* I love your stuff – my fave is “And Able” – When Hotwire takes Claire to his his family home . . . .sigh. But, I digress.
What do you do when you feel like you’ve gone over the top with the sensory stuff? Do you think it’s best to focus on a couple of senses during a scene? I’ve have this debate with a friend, I pick the senses I want to emphasize while she throws everything in there. For me it’s overwhelming and distracting at times.
Thanks, Robin
Posted by Robin Covington | October 26, 2011, 5:47 amREADY, WILLING, AND ABLE was a great trilogy, wasn’t it? (Writing it like that makes me think of EATS, SHOOTS AND LEAVES – I feel like I’m punctuating it incorrectly.) I was so excited when I got to meet Lucy at RT last year – I’m a fangirl, too!
Posted by Becke Davis (Becke Martin) | October 26, 2011, 6:48 amThanks, hon! Meeting you was a total blessing – you’re just so nice!
Posted by Lucy Monroe | October 26, 2011, 10:25 amLOL Thanks, Robin! Every book has a scene (or scenes) I see from the very beginning, though am not always sure how it will fit. This was one of those cases.
How cool that you liked it!
As for going over the top, we can do that in so many ways in our writing. I once heard Julie Garwood speak, and she said she’d just got through cutting a 30 page scene from her current WIP because it didn’t take the story anywhere. Debbie Macomber told me that a scene should have multiple reasons for being there and none of them could be the awesome writing. What does that say about over writing? The late great Kate Duffy would have said that it’s tedious and self-indulgent.
We use the senses we *need* to convey our point for visceral impact. Full stop. Period. One sentence extra and we’re teetering into the no-man’s land of Charles Dickens, who got paid by the word so did probably the *best* job of padding his manuscripts of any writer ever.
Unless we are Charles Dickens, we should be darn careful about padding ours…even unintentionally. 
So, yes…I think you can over inundate the reader with sensory input and in doing so – lose them, beginning with your editor. 
Posted by Lucy Monroe | October 26, 2011, 10:24 amI’m really intrigued by Magnetoception. It was kind of eerie – I’d just been Googling magnetos (not X-Men Magneto, but magnetos that generate high voltage sparks) when I read your post. Cue the Twilight Zone music!
I love this kind of stuff – I’m a research geek, so I can see I’ve got a lot more digging to do. Thanks so much for sharing this – I had no idea there were so many ways to invoke the senses!
Posted by Becke Davis (Becke Martin) | October 26, 2011, 6:44 amOh, me too…I have more research books in my library than anything else, except maybe romance.
Posted by Lucy Monroe | October 26, 2011, 10:26 amHow very interesting? I never heard of this. Seems like some of the extended senses are related to the original ones, maybe refining them, but some are truly new ideas, like sense of time. Perhaps this is one of the differences between good writing and writing that completely wows us.
Posted by PatriciaW | October 26, 2011, 7:19 amI agree – some of these are kind of sub-categories of other senses, but others are in a class by themselves. And here I thought I had the senses covered in my writing – not so much!
Posted by Becke Davis (Becke Martin) | October 26, 2011, 7:44 amPatricia – I’ve been thinking about the sense of time. I wonder if time travel books count as using that sense? I’ve been trying to think of books that made good use of time.
I guess I notice more if an author DOESN’T use it well. I’ve read books where it was hard to figure out how much time had transpired between scenes, things like that.
Posted by Becke Martin/Davis | October 26, 2011, 1:35 pmOooh…good point. This is something we were discussing on my blog a few weeks ago. It’s so frustrating when a scene or even the whole book feels like it was written in a vacuum of time with no reference to beginning, time past or ending.
Posted by Lucy Monroe | October 26, 2011, 1:40 pmExactly!!
Posted by BeckeMartinDavis | October 26, 2011, 4:48 pmGreat post! So interesting to know these other natural abilities are actually senses. Now it makes *sense* why I wake up two minutes before my alarm every day (which drives me crazy). However, I seem to lack magentoception and equilibiroception. Maybe because I have hyper-thermoception?
Great fun!
Larissa
Posted by Larissa Hoffman | October 26, 2011, 7:32 amI need more coffee before I can tackle all these multi-syllabic words!
Posted by Becke Davis (Becke Martin) | October 26, 2011, 7:44 amThinking about hyper-thermoception. Since I hit menopause, I go from hot flashes to cold spells, regardless of what the actual room temperature is. I wonder if this aspect of menopause is an aspect of thermoception. Could be!
Posted by BeckeMartinDavis | October 26, 2011, 1:39 pmMorning Lucy!!
I heard that workshop by Marilyn on CD…very fascinating. 11 senses….it’s fascinating. I’m like you, with no sense of magnetoception, therefore I own a GPS. =) My husband has a great sense of time, generally within about 10 min of it no matter whether day or night. Possibly I only have 9 senses then..lol.
Great article, thanks so much for posting with us today!
carrie
Posted by Carrie Spencer | October 26, 2011, 7:33 amOh, it’s on CD? I’ll have to look for it. Thanks for the tip, Carrie!
Posted by Becke Davis (Becke Martin) | October 26, 2011, 7:45 amThanks, Carrie…Marilyn’s workshop is a great starting place. She’s a wonderful presenter and give a really unique outlook.
Posted by Lucy Monroe | October 26, 2011, 10:27 amI try to add a layer of emotion to a story that will make the reader feel the heartbreak the heroine is experiencing. I’ve used the techinique of remembering a past (or current) heartbreak and the pain felt. Your readers should feel the character’s hurt, anguish, humiliattion, etc.
Great post Lucy! I will try these techniques to add more layers of emotional depth to my stories.
Posted by Juliette Springs | October 26, 2011, 7:44 amGreat, Juliette!
I’m a more intuitive writer, so I won’t realize that maybe I was working through my own emotional pain until I go back and read the book later and recognize familiar emotions. 
Posted by Lucy Monroe | October 26, 2011, 10:28 amI just checked out your WordPress site, Juliette – my daughter’s hooked on Vampire Diaries, too!
Posted by Becke Davis (Becke Martin) | October 26, 2011, 7:46 amHi Lucy!
Wonderful post! I’ve printed it out for future reference!
Love your books!
Posted by Wendy S Marcus | October 26, 2011, 7:55 amThanks, Wendy!!
Posted by Lucy Monroe | October 26, 2011, 10:29 amHi Lucy. I love #5! I need to study up on that one now. I love creating visceral responses in my characters and this list will give me a whole new variety to play with.
Thanks for a great post.
Posted by Adrienne Giordano | October 26, 2011, 7:59 amWe writers love to add new toys to our toybox, don’t we?
Thank you. 
Posted by Lucy Monroe | October 26, 2011, 10:30 amThe hardest for me in getting the emotional scenese right is I have a “picture” in my head and I want to paint it right with the words…. and I don’t always feel I’m doing that. I think touch is the most crtiical sense…. it helps you locate yourself in the dark, find something in your purse – its in my opinion the sense you use most.
Posted by EA Edgerton | October 26, 2011, 8:08 amI think visual people like us who end up writing all struggle with getting the image in our head on paper just the way we “see” it.
I’d hesitate to get too focused on any one sense in our writing, but the studies done linking infant mortality with lack of human touch tell a story we can’t ignore in regard to its importance.
Posted by Lucy Monroe | October 26, 2011, 10:35 amI spend so much time trying to describe a scene the way I’m picturing it – using exactly the right words – that I sometimes I drift away from what the scene is intended to convey. I guess that’s the drawback to having an obsession with words.
Posted by BeckeMartinDavis | October 26, 2011, 1:43 pmFascinating stuff. While I MIGHT have written some of these into my work, I wouldn’t have known why nor they best way to capitalize on the sense. Thanks for giving me some great tips and food for thought.
Posted by Cynthia D'Alba (AKA ArkansasCyndi) | October 26, 2011, 8:34 amYes, I think many of instinctively use tools we don’t even know we have, but how much more effective are they once we realize their importance and how to use them best?
Posted by Lucy Monroe | October 26, 2011, 10:36 amCynthia – Authors might not consciously use the senses when they write, but I think readers instinctively feel something is missing when the sensory descriptions aren’t included.
Posted by BeckeMartinDavis | October 26, 2011, 1:45 pmLucy –
This is some great info that I will definitely use for the paranormal I’m working on right now. I’d already decided my hero is especially sensitive to hot and cold, but I haven’t really woven in those details yet. Your info will be a great help after I finish the first draft!
Thanks so much for being at RU today,
Kelsey
Posted by Kelsey Browning | October 26, 2011, 8:46 amFantastic, Kelsey!
Posted by Lucy Monroe | October 26, 2011, 10:36 amThanks, Lucy! I’ve heard about the additional senses, but never found a place that explained them in simple enough terms for me to grasp. Now, I get it. In my own writing, I use all of them, but oddly enough the one I tend to forget most often is the sense of smell. Great article.
Posted by Judy | October 26, 2011, 10:32 amOh, Judy…don’t we all? Well, okay, maybe not everybody, but I certainly share your tendency to forget the sense of smell. It’s gotten worse for me too, since mine is hit and miss with the nerve damage in my back.
Posted by Lucy Monroe | October 26, 2011, 10:38 amJudy – I have a visual memory. Doesn’t matter how many times I hear something, I don’t really register all the details until I see it written down. This list is going to help me a lot!
Posted by BeckeMartinDavis | October 26, 2011, 1:48 pmThis is a very useful article for me. I am a new writer who is writing a YA historical fiction book that I want to be used in the Texas public school system. Not a lot of people know this, but during WW2, German Americans and Latinos were interned along with Japanese Americans. The State of Texas has just required that German American Internment be taught and I know several German Americans who were interned. These wonderful people have been giving me technical advice about an internment camp that was mixed race in Texas. The hardest part is writng emotion. The sense of betrayal by one’s country, the knowledge that you ae being judged by the actions of people in Europe or Asia for something that you have no control over is hard. Just because I’m German American doesn’t make me a Nazi. Just because I am Japanese American doesn’t mean I approved of Pearl Harbor. Why are we locked in theis camp? We didn’t do anything!
Viagra Song Seamus Moore Lyrics. Generic Viagra Asia. Special prices for all products. Free Samples Pills. Secure Site 128 bit SSL. Fast online consultation. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed.
viagra song seamus moore lyrics, take viagra and, generic viagra asia, viagra steroid hormone, viagra film irish, cialis by bayer, viagra online uk cheap, online generic cialis 100 mg, viagra in canada pharmacy, viagra discussion side effects
Posted by Robert L. Seward | October 26, 2011, 11:04 amRobert,
Off topic! Do you know if there are any books on German-Americans being interned during WWII? I’ve got a collection of books on Axis POWs at camps throughout the US during WWII so I’m intrigued by the premise of your story.
Posted by Jennifer Tanner | October 26, 2011, 4:16 pmWhat a challenging topic for YA literature. Writing emotion is never easy because it requires us digging deeply within ourselves. However, it sounds like you have the passion and inner well of emotion necessary to the task.
Posted by Lucy Monroe | October 26, 2011, 11:12 amInteresting, Robert. I wouldn’t have thought of a sense of betrayal as a “sense”, even though that’s precisely how we describe it.
I’m trying to think of other words we often preface with “a sense of…” – justice? injustice? I’m sure there are lots of other examples, but I can’t think of any offhand.
Posted by BeckeMartinDavis | October 26, 2011, 4:52 pmWhen you started by saying there were more than five senses, i was puzzled, then as you listed them it was duh! for the ‘dry throat’ kind of sense, the others are simply fascinating and I’ll be off, in a moment, to those links you’ve provided. Thank you those and the interesting blog.
Posted by Sherry Gloag | October 26, 2011, 1:10 pmI’m really glad you got something out of it…I found the links really informational and I’m sure you will too!
Posted by Lucy Monroe | October 26, 2011, 1:32 pmThanks for providing those footnotes, Lucy – I’ll be checking out those links, too.
Posted by BeckeMartinDavis | October 26, 2011, 4:53 pmHi Lucy!
This was a fascinating topic! I’m finding it timely as I’m starting a paranormal romance this weekend. Thank you for sharing what you’ve learned!
Love,
Debra
Posted by Debra Parmley | October 26, 2011, 2:55 pmGood luck with your new book!
Posted by BeckeMartinDavis | October 26, 2011, 4:54 pmHey, Debra! So great to see you here…hope your new book is one of the *easy* ones.
Posted by Lucy Monroe | October 26, 2011, 9:23 pmSmell has always been the hardest sense for me as a writer. Really, I just didn’t see the point because my sense of smell is dismal. Then, the other day I’m at Starbucks happily reading away and a guy sits down next to me. He smelled fabulous – like so amazing I immediately imagined myself on a private island with him good. For me, that finally clicked into place the impact smell can have on a person.
Also, have no idea what the dude looked like. Refused to glance his way and mess up the fantasy in my head.
Posted by Avery Flynn | October 26, 2011, 3:42 pmLOL – I love this! And so often it’s the reverse of your example. When I used to ride the bus to work, there was nothing worse than the rank smell of sweat filling the bus on hot summer days. Yuck! But a good-smelling guy and an evocative after shave? Yum!
Posted by BeckeMartinDavis | October 26, 2011, 4:56 pmHi Lucy!
It takes me several attempts to get an emotional scene to the level where I want it. I can use “generic” words that convey the emotion and the reader will probably “get it”. But I’m looking for those perfect words (okay, sometimes I’ll settle for almost perfect!)that convey the emotions specific to my character that connect with their experiences.
The sense of time…I go bonkers when I can’t figure out the time frame in a book. I read “Atlas Shrugged” twice trying to nail down the time frame of the “future” and it drove me crazy. I didn’t care who John Galt was. Just give me a year!
Thanks so much for joining us today!
Posted by Jennifer Tanner | October 26, 2011, 4:08 pmI think honest emotion is the hardest thing to convey. When an author gets it right, though, I guarantee I’ll come back for more.
Posted by BeckeMartinDavis | October 26, 2011, 4:56 pmEmotion is *hard* and for me – as both a writer and reader – the most important element in a book. I find if I get the gist of the emotion in the first raw writing, I can add depth to it, but I never forget Kate Duffy’s advice not to edit the passion out of a book.
It was her biggest complaint about manuscripts she’d get in the slush pile, she’d say, “I could sense the magic but they’ve edited it right out of the story.” Don’t you find that’s a hard balance to maintain?
Posted by Lucy Monroe | October 26, 2011, 9:28 pmI’m one of those who has to go back in and strengthen the senses on the second or third pass through a story. Wow. I’m going to have to keep a list of these to see how often I use them. Thanks for opening my eyes to a much wider world.
Great article, Lucy!
Posted by Laurie Ryan | October 26, 2011, 4:57 pmI have to do that, too, Laurie. I’m envious of people who get their stories right the first time out!
Posted by BeckeMartinDavis | October 26, 2011, 6:06 pmThanks to everyone for joining us today – be sure to check back to see who is the lucky winner of Lucy’s giveaway!
Posted by BeckeMartinDavis | October 26, 2011, 8:15 pmLucy – Thank you so much for this very thought-provoking blog! I can see I’ve got some research in my future!
Posted by BeckeMartinDavis | October 26, 2011, 8:16 pmThanks to everyone who participated in the discussion! I had a wonderful time.
Becke, do you draw for the winner, or am I supposed to do that?
Posted by Lucy Monroe | October 26, 2011, 9:30 pmThe winner of Lucy’s book is LARISSA HOFFMAN! Congratulations, Larissa!
Posted by Becke Davis (Becke Martin) | October 27, 2011, 7:25 amTHANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! I’m a little excited, can you tell? Which sense would that be–perceiving emotions? LOL
Thank you Lucy & Becke,
Larissa
Posted by Larissa Hoffman | October 27, 2011, 7:42 amHi, Larissa
Congratulations and thank you for participating in the discussion!
Can you email me off my website with your mailing address? And we’ll get your book right out to you.
Thanks so much!
Hugs,
Lucy
Posted by Lucy Monroe | October 27, 2011, 10:07 am