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

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.