What do your characters see, taste, smell?
My favorite comedian, Tim Hawkins, compares the flavor and taste of a Krispy Kreme donut to “eating a baby angel.” How true is that, though? There are noises all around you. As you have probably noticed by now, the key to unlocking the five senses is the question behind it. “Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like unrequited love.” ~ Charles M. Schulz in the persona of Charlie Brown. Here are a few to stimulate your creativity. Describing the way things feel is just plain fun.
Readers want to experience what your characters see, smell, hear, taste, and touch. Once you’ve established the sense, ask the question, “What does this mean?” What does it tell your readers about your character and their world? Besides onomatopoeia, I never thought there was another way to really describe sound, until I started really listening. You’ll mostly evoke the sense of taste under two circumstances. tainted, tangy, tantalizing, tart, tasteless, tasty, tedious, tender, thick, thirst-quenching, tinny, titillating, toasty, toothsome, torrid, tough, U Sounds are tricky to describe accurately, so here is a good place to use a figure of speech. 4. Thanks, David. Blood from a split lip. Add taste to your writing, and it will sizzle with new life.
faint, fatty, fermented, fibrous, fiery, filling, fishy, fizzy, flakey, flat, flavorful, flavorless, flavorsome, flowery, floury, foamy, foul, fresh, fried, frosty, fruity, full, full-bodied, fusty, G Least favorite? delectable, delicate, delicious, delightful, delish, desiccated, distinct, divine, dreary, dry, dull, dusty, earthy, effervescent, eggy, elastic, elusive, enjoyable, exquisite, F
How else do you think the phrase “this smells fishy” was coined? Relaying a variety of senses in your writing can give your reader a comprehensive picture of the scene you are laying out for them. What does it mean? Write With Taste. The question of why you are seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, or feeling something. This might be awful, but my favorite way to describe what something tastes like is by use of a metaphor. vague, vanilla, velvety, vinegary, viscous, vivid, winey, waterlogged, watery, weak, well-done, wintry, wishy-washy, woody, yeasty, yummy, zesty, zingy. unappetizing, undercooked, underdone, under-ripe, unexciting, unflavored, uninteresting, unpalatable, unpleasant, unpretentious, unseasoned, unsalted, unsophisticated, V to Z Beyond the man walking by with tattoos covering his arms, watch the way he walks. Describe how scents either complement or diverge from what a character might see or hear in a given scene. 300+ Ways to Describe Taste: A Word List for Writers, KathySteinemann.com: Free Resources for Writers and Poets. Besides the obvious, adding it with food, consider describing the tastes of other objects in your story’s environment. palatable, passable, pasty, peanutty, peculiar, pedestrian, peppery, perfect, perky, pickled, piquant, plain, pleasant, pleasing, plummy, polluted, potent, powdery, powerful, pungent, Q and R The different aspects that are “touched” but not with your hands.
However, I propose that we are not using the five senses to their full potential. When you begin to describe a scene close your eyes and envision all of the possible smells that surround you. Writers know that using the senses is a great way to make stories come alive. Taste is one of the most important senses.
malty, marinated, mature, medicinal, mellow, metallic, mild, mildewy, milky, minty, moist, moldy, monotonous, mouthwatering, muddy, mulled, multi-layered, mushy, musty, muted, mysterious, N and O