by Kait Carson
Writers are encouraged to use all five senses and incorporate them into every scene. Hearing, easy, touch, a slam dunk, sight, got it covered, taste, a bit harder, but everyone has to eat sometime. Then there is smell, the oft forgotten sense. Smell is hard to write, but an understanding of how we process scent as humans is vital, and it’s a great way to establish setting and discover the odd clue.
Science tells us that smell is more closely linked to memory, mood, behavior, and emotion than any other sense. The olfactory nerve shuttles odors directly to the limbic system. The limbic system, or “old brain”, doesn’t reason, it reacts. Scents are like nature’s body blows. Smell smoke, the fight-or-flight response activates. Smell your boyfriend’s aftershave, you go all mushy inside. Smell your ex boyfriend’s aftershave, you feel a rush of irritation. The jerk! Smell is also an integral part of taste, which opens the door to the second hardest sense to write.
All well and good, but how do you add scent to your writing? How do you describe what someone smells? Sour, bitter, acrid, sweet, cloying, all good descriptors, but do they get the scent across? Not really, those are all words that describe taste, too, and taste is easier to include in a passage because you can accompany it with expressions and other characters can react. Scent, not so much. Scent is personal.
What’s a writer to do then? Leave out scent and go with the big four? Tempting. NOT. When tied to emotion or memory, subtle scents become easier to write. Your character can smell the sea and feel terror if the salty scent brings up memories of a near-drowning experience, or relaxed and at ease if memories of a glorious trip to the Caribbean surface. Scent can serve as a clue. Every individual has a personal scent. Fear has a scent, so do sorrow, rage, and joy—Joy smells like roses—sorry, couldn’t resist. (For those who might not know, Joy is a pungent rose-scented perfume that’s not much worn today.)
Scent opens up your story and, used well, opens up your characters. There’s more to it than smoke and fire.
My favorite scent? Gunpowder and popcorn. They transport me back to childhood 4th of Julys, running with friends, the itchy feeling of the woolen picnic blanket, and the glorious fireworks.
What’s yours, and if you’re a writer, how do you use scent in your work?
Happy 250th Fourth!
