Blogger: Mary Keeley
Location: Books & Such Illinois Office
When you hear the word Christmas, what scents of the season pop into your mind? Balsam, scented candles, scrumptious cookies warm from the oven, or mouth-watering turkey or roast beef? And what visions and remembrances do these smells instantly elicit? Beautiful carols being sung at Christmas Eve worship, hugs from family and friends? Or perhaps your senses pick up something entirely different: thoughts of a relative far away on the dusty, dangerous terrain of Iraq or Afghanistan.
We’re generally alert to what our senses pick up at special times like this. But the five senses are continually active. Be alert to memories or impressions evoked by your senses in the normal course of your day. They might result in a new idea or provide insight into solving a plot problem in your WIP.
My grandmother has been gone for many years, but I still remember the sights and smells of her home. It was a roomy old two-story on Waubonsee Street, lined with big old oak and elm trees. The house smelled its age, but it wasn’t an unpleasant smell. Upstairs a faint scent of moth balls emanated from the bedroom closets. There was no clutter and not a lick of dust anywhere. It prompts memories of peace, order, and a calm lifestyle. These are the first impressions that come to mind whenever I start to read a historical novel. I may have to adjust these first impressions if the author’s description is quite different. But this illustrates how powerful our five senses are and how uniquely personal.
Are you alert to how your five senses, pleasant and unpleasant, affect your mood and consequently the flow of your writing? Have you ever gone back to yesterday’s work and wondered why did I have my protagonist say that? or where did that great idea come from? Can you give an example of a time you were aware that your senses were affecting the flow and direction of your creative thought?
David Todd
Most of my sensory perceptions are visual and auditory. The visusal come mostly during my commute, and more during the morning than evening. I have serveral poems that have come out of things I saw in my morning commute.
The auditory tend to come during my evening walk. Sounds of the semi-rural neighborhood have found their way into my writing: peep toads in the spring; soft snowfall sounds in winter; locusts right now; distant engine or tire noises.
Kate Barker
Mary,
I can be aware…I can see, feel, touch, hear and smell where I am in my imagination, memories or life, and still struggle with the words to convey the exactness. I am never quite satisfied. Is it a matter of practice makes perfect or is it an ongoing dilemma for authors?
Sarah Forgrave
I had to smile when I read the comment about your grandmother’s house. I recently wrote a scene where my heroine entered her grandma’s apartment and smelled moth balls. Amazing how certain scents stick with us. (And now that I’m thinking of Christmas scents, too, I’m craving a cup of hot apple cider.) 🙂
Cynthia Ruchti
I admit I was skimming when I first started into your post, Mary. I thought you referred to “ham scented candles,” as opposed to balsam scented. But, on second thought, ham works. Some brilliant scientist somewhere said that smells are the strongest of all memory-triggers. On a recent writing research trip, my author friends and I stopped suddenly when we caught of whiff of something so delicious and exotic in the middle of a rustic park. What was that smell? Where was it coming from? There! That blooming tree. So far our research has named it a mimosa. Oh! How delicate and intoxicating was that fragrance. It seemed as out of place in that rustic setting as a pearl button on a sweatshirt. It had to work its way into the manuscript. And it did. It also pulled us deeper into the scene than we would have been without it.
Mary Keeley
Okay, so visual and auditory are the senses David responds to most. Smells are a favorite of the women. Interesting. I’m with you, Cynthia. Smells associated with memories stick with me for many years. Kate, I think you just have to ponder what your senses pick up for a while and wait to see if your other senses combine to form exactness. Sarah, I’m so glad you recorded the last generation grandma-moth balls connection in your story for posterity! Did you have your cup of hot apple cider?
Cheryl Malandrinos
Oh my, the moth balls does it for me too. I grew up in a six-family apartment built by my grandfather. We lived in the large apartment upstairs and my grandparents lived on the first floor under us. Meme had a wardrobe in the downstairs hallway that reeked of moth balls. To this day I can’t stand the smell. My husband uses them in the shed to keep mice out of the lawn mower, and I make few visits to the shed because of it.
I’m definitely a smell person. Since some of the stories I write are set during Christmas, those smells always make my writing better. Pine is a big one for me.