How to Integrate More Detail and Imagery In Your Scenes

I used to be so good at including strong imagery and detail in my scenes. Perhaps as I age, I take these aspects in a scene for granted, just as I know the smell of my quilt at night or the sweat of a faux leather couch in summer. It just seems common place.

However, it's these common place elements that create concrete settings for your readers.

Today, I'll share with you a little technique I've started using so I make sure not to forget to add these all important details.

It's actually quite simple:

For every new scene, write down these five things:

What can my character see?

What can my character hear?

What can my character touch?

What can my character taste?

What can my character smell?

It's so rudimentary, it's almost like the worksheets they used to give us in first grade when we were still learning how to identify our own feelings. But I promise you that if you take the time for each new place and setting to write down a few things for each category, you'll feel more confident as a writer, and you'll have a better sense where your characters are standing.

Let's say you have a conversation between a father and his daughter's new boyfriend taking place in the garage. Now, this scene could probably go down with little information and be just fine. Let's say the only thing your reader knows of the space is that the floor is cement and the family car is parked inside.

Can the scene be written well with this little detail?

Of course. But if you want to add layers of depth to your writing and make your reader feel immersed, consider the advantage of concrete detail.

For example:

Your characters can see an old neon Budweiser sign flashing on and off in glowing red light.

They can hear the father lighting his pipe with a suction sound.

They can touch the unfinished walls and the metal tools that are cool due to the fall weather.

They can taste the tobacco and the crispness of fall leaves coming through the open garage door.

They can smell used oil and the citrus scent of the father's grease cutting hand soap at the sink.

Now, it's important I point out here that you don't need to use all five of the senses to achieve a realistic and immersive scene. In fact, it's better that you don't overwhelm your reader with a million little comments about the setting and take away from the dialogue and stage action.

You may choose to include the sensory elements that best characterize the father in this situation or that are most glaringly obvious to the boyfriend.

So, the boyfriend will probably hear and make note of the father's pipe and the suction sound it makes while he lights it because it causes an uncomfortable lull in conversation. He'll probably also notice the Budweiser sign flashing like a warning light in a sinking submarine. He may even smell the citrus soap under the reek of tobacco.

He will most likely not include the taste sense, and if he does include touch, it will be subtler than the other elements already presented.

Remember too as you write that these details should be splattered through the text as the scene progresses rather than as an "info dump" or "exposition" at the very beginning when the duo enters the garage.

All it takes is a little detail to ratchet your scene up another notch. Try it in your next piece of writing and see how much you learn about the place and characters within it just from the senses they experience.