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

[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