Now, if there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s admitting to the things that I’m NOT good at.

See what I did there?

I’ll be the first to admit that writing the senses or description is not something that comes naturally to me. My first drafts often look far more like a script, focused on dialogue and movement across the ‘stage’ of my scene.

Obviously that’s not a great reading experience for people, and so I would never allow the manuscript to be published like that! I have to be really intentional in the ways I write the senses precisely because they do not come naturally to me. So how do I do this?

• What senses make the most sense (!) in the scene?

In a cooking scene, I’m going to draw more on taste and smell. In a dancing scene at a ball, I’ll instead focus more on sight and touch. In a love scene…well, taste and touch, of course!

• What senses do my characters rely on?

For example, I’m writing a character at the moment who is very artistic, so she is very visual in the way that she navigates the world. I have also written a blind heroine, so of course hearing and touch are far more important to her.

• What sense have I not mentioned in a while?

I don’t want to bore my readers by writing three scenes in a row that have more of a focus on smell! By mixing it up a bit, I can give my readers a (hopefully) really fun experience.

I hope you found this interesting! What else do you want to know about the way that I write? Tell me in the comments, and I’ll be happy to share!