The Writer’s Playground Series – Five Senses Snapshot

Five Senses Snapshot

• Objective: To practice immersive, descriptive writing.
• How to Play:
  1. The facilitator provides a prompt, which is a place or a situation (e.g., “an abandoned carnival,” “a futuristic library,” “the moments after a city-wide blackout”).
  2. Set a timer for 5-7 minutes.
  3. Each person must write a short paragraph describing that scene, making sure to include at least one detail for each of the five senses: sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch.
• Best for: Developing sensory detail and world-building.

Use your imagination or one of the 25 prompts provided below to start this game:

• An alien marketplace on a desert planet.
• The engine room of a failing starship.
• A wizard’s workshop, moments after a spell has gone wrong.
• An enchanted forest that only awakens at night.
• The deck of a pirate ship during a thick fog.
• An ancient, moss-covered temple ruin.
• A Victorian-era séance in a dusty parlor.
• A bustling speakeasy during the height of a jazz perfor-mance.
• A high school gymnasium, one hour after the prom has ended.
• A crowded subway car, stopped suddenly in a dark tunnel.
• The backstage area of a theater, five minutes before the curtain rises.
• A 24-hour laundromat during a city-wide blackout.
• A forgotten attic on a sweltering summer afternoon.
• A seaside boardwalk, minutes after a sudden rain shower.
• A redwood forest in the deep, silent cold of winter.
• A tropical beach at the moment just before sunrise.
• The inside of a vast greenhouse during a hailstorm.
• A field of sunflowers, two days after the first frost.
• An abandoned lighthouse on a stormy night.
• A desolate gas station on a lonely highway at 3 AM.
• The basement of a farmhouse during a tornado warning.
• The top of a skyscraper overlooking a city celebrating a victory.
• A derelict, half-sunken fishing boat beached on the shore.
• A beekeeper’s apiary on a warm spring day.
• The immediate aftermath of a medieval battle.