What's That Smell? (Part One)

It's a piece of Standard Writing Advice (SWA)--and a good one--not to ignore the sense of smell when describing the fictional world. Let's spend some time getting better acquainted with this underrated stepchild of the senses.

First, olfaction is not only given short shrift by writers--it tends to be held in lower regard by humans in general.

World languages, for instance, consistently have fewer words for smelling than for any other sensation.

And when people are asked to rank the five senses in terms of which they would prefer to lose (assuming they had to lose one), smell typically tops the charts as being most expendable.

(Try this experiment around the office, or at your next PTA meeting. If the five senses were Survivor contestants, Smell would get tossed off the island first.)

What many don't realize, however, is that when humans lose their sense of smell, it can have devastating effects on their well-being.

Anosmia (smell-blindness) is the term, and it can result from exposure to certain chemicals, the formation of nasal polyps, or head injuries (particularly hard blows to the face). It can also be genetic, present at birth. In addition, some individuals have this difficulty only with specific odors...but they can readily smell everything else.

While some persons are able to cope well with this limitation, for many it has profound impact on their emotions and sense of life-satisfaction. In the long term, depression and mood disorders are more common in those who have lost the sense of smell, than in those who have gone blind.

(Interesting note: Depression is commonly seen in Parkinson's patients, and the loss of smell can be one of the early symptoms of Parkinson's.)

The reason for this connection between smell and emotional well-being seems clear: Humans are hard-wired that way.

The same neural structure of the brain--the limbic system--is responsible for interpreting olfactory signals and for activating emotions. In fact, one of the names for this part of the brain is the Rhinencephalon (literally, the "Nose-Brain").

Within this limbic system, the hot-spot of olfaction and emotion is the almond-shaped amygdala. Using brain-imaging technology, we can see that when we experience a scent, the amygdala activates, helping us both to the identify the smell, and connect it with emotions.

Researcher Dr. Rachel Herz, in her book The Scent of Desire (William Morrow, 2007), says this: "No other sensory system has this kind of priviledged and direct access to the part of the brain that controls our emotions."

A few applications for writers to consider:

1) When describing scenes, characters, objects, etc... Don't neglect the sense of smell.


2) Sensitivity to smell (or not) is a character trait. Some persons have very keen noses, others (Anosmics) cannot smell at all. This ability (or lack) may be another element you can use to differentiate characters.

3) If want your characters (and therefore, your readers) to feel emotion, understand the power that fragrance has to impact this. Show your characters reacting emotionally to good/bad smells.

More on the psychology of how we perceive smells, next time...