Characters Scents

[Ann]

This is something I've been thinking about today. What exactly my male lead smelled like. Everyone else smelled like something, except for him.

Do you write down the scent of your characters?

[Karey]

Emily can smell Dezenial's blood. It is what soothes/heals her soul/nerves. Spicy, reminding her of cardamom candles she loved when residing in Texas--to which, Dezenial points out, her soul remembered him from the ancient past; hence, her love of cardamom. Genetic memory, or so my daughter would say.

I did NOT want blood being a coppery scent. C'mon, that's so overdone, and, I have to wonder, does blood really smell like copper? Okay, that said, does it smell like cardamom? For fantasy romance, I wanted something different and off the beaten path. No Edwards here, please :P

[Heidi]

Karey wrote: "Emily can smell Dezenial's blood. It is what soothes/heals her soul/nerves. Spicy, reminding her of cardamom candles she loved when residing in Texas--to which, Dezenial points out, her soul rememb..."

As one who can smell blood, (I always know when the dog has cut himself, or one of the kids) it smells metallic. Like iron, but copper will do.

[Cem]

Heidi wrote: "...it smells metallic. Like iron, but copper will do. "

I'm glad I'm not the only one. most people say copper, but I usually get that irony hint to it too.

I tend to leave out scent. I don't have that strong of an olfactory sense, except for blood it seems. Go figure. Maybe it was all the nose bleeds I had as a child?

I did work in that one character smelled of dirt, especially his hands. I wanted to add to the fear of my MC that he was some sort of serial killer about to off her. Other than that it hasn't come up on characters.

Locations, yes. Citrus, even the total absence of smell. People I seem to forget. Maybe it's my personality? Although some of my strongest memories are smell related.

[J. David]

This is an aspect of description that I'm not very good at and have to be reminded of, perhaps due to my own weak sense of smell. I need to try to do this more, but I tend to describe a character's scent only when they smell bad, or alternatively, overpoweringly good.