Firlefanz
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Smell
I'm just recovering my sense of smell, which means that I'm experiencing first hand how intense the input can be.
For example, I can smell the benzine from car exhaust. I smell alcohol 10 feet away. I detect others' perfume, wrinkle my nose at stale cigarette smoke or enjoy the scent of roses. Somehow, the world is more complete now that this part of it is back.
It's a forceful reminder to include the sense of smell in our stories. I believe I will do this from now on, and use it to create settings and feelings.
How about you? Are you using smells in your stories?
--- - Firlefanz
Reading: "Tabula Rasa", SF Anthology
Writing: "Die arische Frau" - short story
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2/23/2007, 8:20 am
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BardNoir
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Re: Smell
I only use it when I feel it enhances the mood otherwise I fear it just wastes time on details I assume the reader can add if need be.
When anyone opens an old tome I try to capture that smell I feel the pages would give off (go to a library and just find a book with dust on it - you'll see what I mean) or if someone enters a murder scene or moldy dungeon I try to capture this as well.
This technique actually comes from my D&D days. I've only been exploring the "art" of writing for the last... well honestly since I first joined the board (looks overhead to see date) so not that long. But as a DM I'm in charge of creating another world for my players. I want them to feel the stale air around them, hear the creek of the wood floors beneath their feet and know instantly that there is a body somewhere in the house that's probably in late stages of decomposition.
If I have to rely on miniatures, a map and some die rolls... I consider that a personal failure.
Last edited by BardNoir, 2/26/2007, 6:36 pm
---
"No story that ever began 'So I was playing a Half-Elf, Chaotic-Neutral, Fighter/Thief/Mage' can ever end well." -The Bard Noir
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2/26/2007, 6:35 pm
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Reythia
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Re: Smell
Then again, it's sometimes hard to describe a smell beyond saying, "She smelled the buttery popcorn as she took it out of the microwave". Or, more accurately, adding more description than that doesn't invoke the actual smell any more, at least to me...
And greetings. I'm jumping boards with the rest of you, apparently!
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4/17/2007, 7:28 pm
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Firlefanz
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Re: Smell
Welcome, Reythia. 
Your description almost made my mouth water, so it's doing its job. 
--- - Firlefanz
Writing: "Kiera und der Gauklerjunge" - novel
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4/17/2007, 9:30 pm
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Ray Oceanweaver
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Re: Smell
To be perfectly honest, smell is usually the sense I always seem to forget. I'm currently working on fixing that, but for some reason it never used to occur to me to mention the smell unless it was completely and utterly vital, or unless I was going through a "pretty moment" and describing a picturesque garden filled with tiny white flowers and the familiar scent of jasmine...
--- Rachel
~The optimist fails as badly as the pessimist, just has a better time of it~
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4/20/2007, 7:51 pm
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Firlefanz
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Re: Smell
Oh, in that case you should try to mention the scent of gardenias, as well. It's ... stunning. 
--- - Firlefanz
Writing: "Kiera und der Gauklerjunge" - novel
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4/20/2007, 9:27 pm
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Ray Oceanweaver
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Re: Smell
--- Rachel
~The optimist fails as badly as the pessimist, just has a better time of it~
Wings of Rapture - For Writers of Erotica and Romance |
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4/21/2007, 11:32 am
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dragonlady
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Re: Smell
I have some werewolf characters and so for them smell is pretty important.
The story went quite slowly cos I kept trying to think about what they would be smelling.
But then I realised that we take sight and sound for granted; you hear the rain outside and you say "it's raining", as long as the people you're talking to can hear it as well they won't question how you know that. So it occured to me that I didn't have to describe evrything they were smelling, I just had to figure out what they might know about (via sense of smell) that a human wouldn't.
This ended up being kinda fun cos one of the characters has flashbacks to when she was in school. She was able to smell all the other girls in her dormitory, and she could tell if one of them had sneaked out, if one of them had been drinking or smoking, or meeting up with boys.
For various reasons she was already unpopular but she survived the hostile environment by using information gathered by her advanced senses. Also physical bullying wasn't an option once the other girls realsied how strong and fast she was.
I haven't used smell much with other characters, possibly because my sense of smell isn't brilliant. I think if I used it too much it'd be odd. I reckon that if you're writing human characters you should use smell-description in the same proprtions that humans use sense of smell. Or at least in the same proprotions humans think they use smell, it's one of those senses we often use without fully realising.
Mention scents that are strong, or unusual, or pervasive, or emotive, but don't describe the smell of everything or your character is going to seem more like a bloodhound than a person.
---
"Why sometimes I've believed as many as 6 impossible things before breakfast" -- Red Queen, Lewis Carrol
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9/18/2007, 10:58 am
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Firlefanz
Lady of the Land
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Re: Smell
Dragonlady, welcome!
My sense of smell has returned - after being totally unable to smell anything for two years. It's now a sense I consciously enjoy. Somehow, we tend to appreciate things more if we have to go without them for a while.
Very interesting thoughts about your werewolves. You chose a wise tactic by describing in detail only what humans cannot sense. And I already feel for your werewolf girl.
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9/18/2007, 1:08 pm
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