'I went to the store and bought some flowers.

Then I headed to
the meat department. Later I realized I forgot to buy bread.'

'Upon entering the grocery store, I headed directly for the flower
department, where I spotted yellow tulips. As I tenderly rested the
tulips in my rusty shopping cart, I caught a whiff of minty dried
eucalyptus, so I added the fragrant forest green bouquet of
eucalyptus to my cart. While heading for the meat department, I
smelled the stench of seafood, which made my appetite
disappear.........

Every morning, I would roll out of bed with red hazy vision, and
bits of crusty sleep still lingering in my eyes. I have never been a
morning person, and waking up for me has always been difficult.
Although waking up for me can be a tedious task, there is one
thing in particular that never seems to fail. This is the strong and
distinct smell of freshly brewed coffee.
The rich smell of coffee has always been and still
remains a favourite scent of mine. My obsession with the scent
and coffee itself started when I was young. My parents were the
instigators. As long as I can remember, my parents have always
brewed a fresh pot of coffee in the morning. When I have first
awakened, the smell is faint as it has dispersed itself throughout
the house to my room. It is my wake up call, and has always
lured me eagerly into the kitchen. As I pour the liquid into a coffee
mug, I can feel the mug instantly grow warmer and see the hot
vapor of steam trailing out of the cup. I have always tried not to
spill any, as I know the touch would be scorching hot! When this
would happen, I would definitely get a wake up call! The liquid is
initially dark and black. It is also very bitter tasting. I, of course, do
not leave it like this. When I have finished preparing my perfect
cup of coffee, it is light brown with added cream and sweetened
with lots of sugar.
My parents have always known my love of coffee. As a
generous gift, they have always bought me gifts of coffee
packages. The coffee packages would always include my favorite
type of coffee, being French vanilla. The sight of the coffee is
inviting. The scent is so strong that I am fulfilled with a sense of
happiness. It is the last scent I smell as I always drink a cup
before I go to bed. As I pour the coffee, I hear the soothing sound
it makes as the coffee hits the bottom of the cup.

Sight

This is the one sense that provides most of the detail for our stories. Our
words become our readers' eyes, giving us a blank canvas upon which to
paint a picture to tell our story. From the sight of a common fear, such as a
spider creeping silently along the floor to the glimpse of a shadow on the
stairway... sight is our greatest source of horror inspiration and description.
When describing the sight of something terrifying there's a huge resource at
the writer's disposal, because we can use our other senses to add glorious,
gory detail to our descriptions. Here's an example of how all five of our senses
can be used to describe a simple scene:

The apple was bright green, its skin polished and shining as it nestled in the
fruit bowl (sight). The scent was fresh, as though the fruit had just been
plucked from the tree (smell). She took it from the bowl, her fingers closing
around the firm smooth skin (touch) as she lifted it to her lips. The apple
crunched loudly (sound) as her teeth cut through the skin into the tart, juicy
flesh (taste). As the fresh juice ran down her throat she noticed a small black
speck moving slowly in the creamy flesh. Closer inspection revealed that she
hadn't just taken a bite from the apple - she'd bitten through a fat, juicy worm.
Sound

Remember when you were a small child, and your parents put you to bed?
Perhaps there was no nightlight, and the TV room was at the other end of the
house...

You're lying in your bed. All alone. Desperately waiting for your eyes to
accustom to the dark you hear it - a soft, scratching noise - and it seems to be
coming from under the bed. It lasts only a moment before it stops. You wonder
if you were hearing things, and you're so desperate for the darkness to lighten
you forget to blink. The blackness seems to swirl around you, cloaking you in
a thick, black fog through which no light can penetrate. Suddenly it's there
again, only this time the scratching seems closer. And louder. It seems to last
a bit longer this time. So you hold your breath, because that darkness doesn't
seem to be lifting. You've lost the sense of sight, so by not breathing you hope
to hear the sound more clearly, and identify its location...

The description above relies on the complete absence of the sense of sight.
This is where fear comes in and can play a major descriptive role - in this case
blind fear. To compensate for loss of sight the sense of hearing becomes
more acute, so the writer can introduce other horror-inducing thoughts and
impressions. Where is the sound coming from? How close is it? Will I be able
to feel it if it decides to climb on the bed? When will my eyes get used to the
darkness? Should I start panicking now? If I get out of bed will it jump on top
of me?

Touch

This sense conjures up description of things most us will probably try to never
touch, like slime, frogs and warty skin. All these items are perfect for the
horror/scary genre, but writers can also take the more ordinary touch phobias
and use those items to horrific effect. Some people cannot bear to touch
velvet, while others are terrified of touching paper. Still others find their skin
crawls when they encounter cotton wool...

Opening the wooden box in the hotel bathroom, she recoiled in horror.
Nestling quietly in the bottom of the box, white and shining, was a cluster of
cotton wall balls. She stepped back, collapsing on the side of the bath. The
mere thought of feeling those soft fibres squeaking as the ball pressed against
her skin was enough to induce goosebumps. She wrapped her arms around
herself in a subconscious effort to protect her body from the fear she'd had her
entire life. Just thinking about cotton balls made her skin crawl. She moaned
quietly, remembering the silent noise they emitted when squeezed; a noise
that seemed to pass right through her skin. Through her panic she wondered if
she'd remember to pack her facial sponges...

Descriptions of this particular sense can been embellished with the use of
physical reactions to feeling certain items; goosebumps, stepping away from
the source of horror, collapsing with fear, subconscious act of defence
(hugging the body) and a noise of fear (moaning). All these reactions add to
the reader's imagination, while adding to the picture your words are "painting".

Smell

Bad smells in the horror/scary genre usually mean something bad is about to
happen or has already happened. The smell of rotting or burning flesh is
probably the most common description applicable to this genre, and the
description of the smell can also be used to indicate how the death occurred.
Bad household smells range from two week old pizza languishing in the
refrigerator to potatoes burning in a pot on the stove. Adjectives include:
smelly, reeking, fetid, malodorous, rank, putrid and noxious.

As she applied the finishing touches to the client's hair, a sharp smell
suddenly assaulted her nostrils. It was a smell she hated and dreaded,
because it was an odour so terrible the memory remained burned into the
subconscious forever. She froze as the acrid stench filled the air, assaulting
her nostrils and her throat with its foul flavour. An instant later her salon filled
with gasps and shrieks of horror. She turned towards the three ladies seated
underneath the dryers. Mrs Hamilton and Mrs Edgar had managed to wriggle
out from underneath their dryers, but poor Mrs Smith was unable to move.
One of the pins from her rollers had obviously caught in the dryer, and ignited
her hair. Smoke was seeping out of the top of the machine, which had started
to spark. Placing her hand over her mouth and nose in a attempt to banish the
malodorous scent she started to move towards Mrs Smith, who screamed as
flames began flickering out of the dryer..."

Taste
Most, if not all of us, have an aversion to a certain food. We don't like to eat it
and the taste of it makes us feel sick. Perhaps the mere thought of tasting it is
enough to induce some horrible thoughts and feelings.

The candlelight caught the designs on the wineglass, casting a dark crimson
glow on the table. He lifted the glass to his lips, the rich musky flavour of the
cabernet sauvignon still drifting over his taste buds. At the first sip of the wine
he almost choked. There was obviously something wrong with this new bottle
of wine, for the liquid in his mouth had a bitter, sour taste. Although the
consistency was the same as the previous glass, there was an acidic flavour
he could not identify... although it seemed vaguely familiar. He swirled the
liquid around in his mouth before swallowing it. It seemed to sting his tongue
and burn the roof of his mouth, and when he swallowed the acrid liquid his
throat tingled. Suppressing the urge to cough he reached for the glass of
water next to his plate and took a sip. As the cool water cleansed the tart taste
from his palate his hostess lifted the bottle he'd used to fill his wineglass... and
poured balsamic vinegar over her plate of salad.

Writers have a magnitude of adjectives at their disposal when describing the

horror of tasting unappetising food. These include: pungent, sour, acrid, bitter,
fetid, stinking, putrid, decaying, rancid, reek, stale and bad.

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