random admission of the day:

[jade_sabre]

my whole life, when I've read about scents and stuff in books--like, people catching a whiff of this or that--I always assumed that was just Something That Happened. Like, you threw in something about so-and-so's hair smelling like their shampoo or something because that was just another detail about the person you could include.

it wasn't until Malone recently admitted to me that she associates different people with their own scents that I realized that some people actually can smell a shampoo's scent without having to have their nose buried in said hair.

long story short: if you catch scent descriptions in my writing, I'm making it up, and if I can smell your cologne, you're wearing too much.




p.s. new layout requires more quotes and new icons, suggestions?

Comments

I shall go down in history as the man who opened a door! ~ Leonardo

[idiosyncreant.livejournal.com]

Aaah! I like the new look. ^_^

I am one of those people who really strongly associates smells with people, places, even eras in my life where the different surroundings made up composites unlike anywhere else.

It's one of the senses that is really hard to evoke on paper, but someday I'd like to be able to make that theme of scent memory part of a story.

Sherwood Smith (sartorias) posted about associating certain painters with books, once. In the comments I mentioned that I actually have more of a scent association...not a real smell, but the same overall impression of colors and place that smells give me in memory. I actually got to go back and forth with her a little, about it.

Anyway. Thought I'd jump in.


About cologne...since I smell things pretty well, sometimes just walking by a certain type of guy makes me want to gag and make dramatic gestures of asphyxiation. (Maybe the childish urge is not completely my own fault...hmm.)

And on the random thought train, while typing above statement it struck me that my mental characterization of Draco Malfoy has to include that facet. I wasn't even thinking of Harry Potter recently...

he is so much <3

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

Yay! Quarkie makes the bestest banners ever. I think the fonts need some tweaking on the layout, but other than that, yay.

see, like, I have a really, really terrible sense of smell. I mean, I knew that, intellectually, but it never really occurred to me that all that stuff in books might be based on a reality wherein you had a really good sense of smell. The whole thing went like this:

*Sabre siblings walking through Target*
Malone: OMG, that was weird.
Me: What?
Malone: I swear I just smelled my ex-boyfriend. But he's not around here, so I guess it wasn't him.
Me: ...you smelled him?
Malone: Yes! He smells like his cologne and [something else, I don't even remember].
Me: ...you know that?
Malone: Um, yes. Everyone has a smell.
Me: ...do I have a smell?
Malone: Yes!
Me: What do I smell like?
Malone: Uh, Jade-Jade. I can't describe it. You just do.
Me: ...OMG IS THIS WHAT PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT?

I don't think I have any sort of random sensory associations. No pictures, because my head doesn't make them (unless they're vague cinematographic shots); no smells, because I don't really smell anything subtle; no tastes, maybe partially because of ditto? Even for all my love of music, I can't compose worth a diddle, and have to listen to something a million times in order to remember its nuances well enough to associate it with anything else.

which I guess just leaves me with the rhythm of words.

but yeah, I have no scents associated with anyone or anything, other than, say, really tasty brownies. But food is really overpoweringly smelly, I guess.

*is now really curious about what life is like if you can actually smell things*

Re: he is so much <3

[idiosyncreant.livejournal.com]

I don't know if you read C.E. Murphy's blog at all, but she talks about how she completely does not visualize, in her mind. She spent a lot of her life not realizing some people find instructions like "Take a deep breath and imagine the sea..." practicable.

She works really hard to give visual cues in her writing, and while I wouldn't say it's something that stands out about her books, I don't find it hard to see her characters or feel the settings. It's kind of amazing...

I bet you are able to smell just fine. You just don't process the information as important. And an ear for words is nothing to sneeze at: it means you hear the way people talk, the way words jingle together.

There are plenty of writers who are missing out on at least *my* patronage because they have a brass ear when it comes to cadence of words and sentences, whereas I don't TALK without composing to some degree. I can't respect prose without even a small hint of music, be it rap stucatto or canon fluid.

Re: he is so much <3

[idiosyncreant.livejournal.com]

Cannon? >_

Re: he is so much <3

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

I feel the same way about rhythm in words. Although I can visualize the ocean, I always feel--and this goes for a lot of things, I think--like it's a stock image. Like, what I know the ocean is like, versus a particular memory of the ocean.

...Kant is lingering on the edges of my consciousness, wanting me to prod that idea. I REFUSE.

Re: I shall go down in history as the man who opened a door! ~ Leonardo

[fabricalchemist.livejournal.com]

Dude, I have to second this. I can't even make a costume or draw a character without deciding what they smell like, it's super important to me.

On the other hand, fran doesn't have this same appreciation, he has to be right up on something to smell it, so maybe you both just don't have as strong a sense of smell.

Re: I shall go down in history as the man who opened a door! ~ Leonardo

[idiosyncreant.livejournal.com]

People use their senses differently in storing information. Rely on different ones.

You sound a little more over to smell than me: I store that information, but while I could probably come up with a smell for any character I knew well, I don't think about it much.

I had a great time writing a "kinesthetic" character, someone who focuses strongly on touch for perception. These kind of people get stifled a lot, because we don't do touch in polite society in the Western world... but there's a particular verve to their interactions with people when they feel comfortable.

Whoa, sorry. Just a subject I love to think about...

Re: I shall go down in history as the man who opened a door! ~ Leonardo

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

oh, and you know how they're like "smell is the sense most closely linked with memory"? I think that is false for me. But that fact only occurred to me like two seconds ago. o_O

my roommate is a cuddler, does that count as kinesthetic-y?

"Is there anything you don't do?" "Fly"

[rosaleeluann.livejournal.com]

I guess I don't have the greatest sense of smell--I associate smells more with places than people, (it seems to me as if a place would have a stronger smell than a person, but I'm probably just making that up). Home has a smell, my best friend's home has a smell, my apartment has a smell. The smell is part of knowing where you are.

Re: "Is there anything you don't do?" "Fly"

[idiosyncreant.livejournal.com]

I think that's perfectly good.

Some people just focus on different senses more in their different mental processes. *shrug*

Re: "Is there anything you don't do?" "Fly"

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

I don't even do that. I mean, I do go, wow, this smells bad, when entering my dorm room sometimes, but my room doesn't smell like anything to me. And I wouldn't smell something that reminds me of it, either.

[fathomlesssky.livejournal.com]

I think scent is kind of a sensory detail that's easily forgotten and thus used kind of infrequently in writing. (Or at least in stuff I've been reading lately.) Obviously, it'd be weird if ALL descriptions revolve around smell, but you bring up a good point. For instance, the guy I like(d/s) wears this certain kind of Old Spice (or some other kind of commmon deodorant) and I can smell it every time I hug him or we're in each other's personal bubble, so now every time I smell that particular type of deodorant I think of him. Smell seems like a fun thing to play with in writing... (Maybe you'll pay extra-attention like I will from now on 'cause you actually wrote a coherent post on smell. But I'm sure you CAN smell.)

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

you thought this was coherent? SCORE! XD

I mean, I notice scents people wear when I am close to them, but I don't know that I would remember it in the future. Anachred seems to think this is all perfectly natural, but I'm still struck by the idea that scent matters to people outside of OO WHAT IS COOKING IT SMELLS DELICIOUS. :-b

[loquaciousquark.livejournal.com]

I can never take discussions on smell too seriously because about halfway through I just want everyone discussed to take a shower.

also, did you know carrie fisher's in that new dead sorority girl movie?

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

this is the first time I have noticed the clouds in your icon huh.

also thanks to the internets I feel the same way about post-sex conversations. Or morning makeouts.

no! what is it?

[loquaciousquark.livejournal.com]

yyyyyyep. it's cloudy. pink cloudys. in a blue sky.

yyyyyyep.

um. idk. it's a zombie sorority girl movie. maybe called sorority row? anyway carrie fisher's the house mother and she gets attacked in the preview so i'm pretty sure she bites it. next time the preview for the dead sorority girl movie comes on, you should watch it for carrie fisher.

/o/

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

p.s. people love your banner :-D

[styromgalleries.livejournal.com]

I had a few windows open, so when I got to this one, I looked at the banner and the rest of the layout and thought, "Wow, this is really pretty. This must be an icon journal or something." Then I realized it was your journal.

And I LOVE IT!! SO PRETTY!!!

*uses Ever After icon*

Hm. Interesting little thing about smells, also that you mentioned shampoo specifically. People always tell me that my hair smells good. lol

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

YAY QUARKIE MADE IT FOR ME BECAUSE SHE IS THE BESTEST.

well, that's the one I think of most immediately, because if there is something I notice, it's Malone's shampoo. But, again, nose is usually buried in hair at that point (because my sisters and I are creepsters? :-b).

[styromgalleries.livejournal.com]

Also, your layout makes me want to put up that Jane Eyre header I've had sitting on my hard drive for a while.

And to change my wallpaper. But it's Sophos, and it's kind of fun to turn my computer on and see dear little Sophos.

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

ooooooo.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw. rather like my newest wallpaper (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/96/Calcium_kid.jpg).

[clightenbulb.livejournal.com]

1 - I really detest people who wear too much perfume or cologne. Really, what are they thinking?

2 - I love Spike. He kicks Angel's a**.

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

1. Well, I'm a terrible judge of these things, so I generally just Don't Wear Any (unless the recently-washed status of an article of clothing has come into question. I mean what.).

2. THIS. Although I will say, David Boreanz looks does a damn good very fine job on Bones.