The Nose Knows: Infusing Scents and Smells Into Your Writing

Happy Halloween! It's an incredibly busy day today, but here's something I was thinking about yesterday, which ties in to a classic post you might have missed. Have a great day!

It's been said that the sense of smell is most closely tied with our emotions. That for a dying patient, hearing and smell are the last to go. But which sense is most commonly left out of writing? The sense of smell.

It made me wonder: why is this sense so vital to our memories and experiences?  I did a little poking around and found several people who know so much more than I do. Check it out.

If you're wondering how a smell triggers memories in a reader's brain, check out Beth Groundwater's post, Smells for Thought. The mystery writer explains how smells can trigger emotions and memories, plus affect behavior. 

Chip Scanlan's article, Writing With Your Nose, contains details explaining the sense of smell as a place, character trait, mood, and culture. He adds a four-point exercise for writers documenting smells.

And Jessica Lawson at Falling Leaflets put up a fascinating post called Smells Like a Novel, where she talks particularly about using smells to enhance the description of food.

If you want a blow-by-blow list of how to describe smells, there's a detailed one at WikiHow. And if you need to jog your memory of certain aromas, there's no better place to land than The Bookshelf Muse's Setting Thesaurus. Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi have compiled a fantastic list. Need a reminder of how a bonfire smell tickles your nose? How about the scent of a barn, a casino, or a daycare? The Weather Thesaurus will remind you of the scent of rain, or the damp smell of fog. They've posted a ton of entries, and more are added all the time.

After all, it's likely that each of our readers comes with a working nose. Why not capitalize on the sense of smell? Think about it. What smells could affect your main character?

12 comments:

  1. Great post, and I love how you have linked to all these other smell posts! Absolutely smell is a huge sensory tool, and it's one that we need to remind ourselves to use more (myself included).

    Thanks for the mention--you rock!

    Angela @ The Bookshelf Muse

    ReplyDelete
  2. Agreed! Smell is very underused in fiction. I love The Bookshelf Muse for reminding myself about some of those common scents.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I agree that smell is greatly underused as a writing tool. I find that most of my favorite smells are ones that are related to holidays--emotional times with strong links to memory. Thanks for the mention, and for all the resources to utilize the sense of smell!

    Becca @ The Bookshelf Muse

    ReplyDelete
  4. It is easy to forget when writing how powerful senses can be when they're used the correct way in your story. Smells, colors, tastes, etc. can all trigger a specific memory or capture a certain mood, enhancing your story for your readers.

    Thanks for sharing these links!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks for an informative post, Debbie! I've been trying to incorporate more senses into my current WIP and smells are always fun to add.

    PS~Thanks for linking to one of my posts :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I guess sometimes a 'seat of the pants' post works out. Got up this morning with no idea what I was doing, but thanks to all of you who wrote about scents and inspired me. :)

    ~Debbie

    ReplyDelete
  7. These are very helpful links, Debbie...I'm saving them and tweeting them! Did I tell you your package arrived safely a few weeks ago? I'm taking a writier's retreat at the end of November, so I am looking forward to using the kit...thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Glad you can use the info--and thanks for the tweet! I'm sure your retreat will be fabulous! Glad the book got there in time.

    ~Debbie

    ReplyDelete
  9. Ah, this is good. One of the workshops I attended at PPWC mentioned that you need to cover all five senses in a scene. I realized I was often overlooking smell, so I've been working on that. I try to take a break and look at a scene with the question of whether I've covered all the senses.

    Shannon at The Warrior Muse

    ReplyDelete
  10. I do the same thing. Somehow it's easy to overlook smells, and they're one of the most powerful things! Great idea to do it when you're taking a break. I should try that.

    ~Debbie

    ReplyDelete
  11. I've been trying to include more senses in Purple Moon recently, so these resources will be very helpful to me. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  12. That's what I'm trying to do, too, Tessa. It's sometimes easier to do it in revision, since I don't always think of the senses while I'm writing.

    ~Debbie

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails