At times, I’ve talked about various things that help me focus on writing, like having the proper mood music in the background and that kind of thing. But here is something I hadn’t considered. What if you could help set your mental scene by a sense of smell?
I discovered this in my wanderings: The smell of steampunk
Interesting, eh? It’s supposed to bring the scents of wood, 19th century lacquer, and gunpowder. Other available candle scents from this merchant include…
Personally, I could see that ex libris being a nice smell. There is something satisfying about old books. Maybe that would work to burn during a fantasy writing session, and you could imagine yourself in the study of an aged wizard and his many tomes of power. What kind of scent candle would work for science fiction? Something vaguely metallic with the hint of rocket fuel? What about Westerns? Romance? People could start dabbing their favorite perfumes or deodorants over their memoirs and biographies (though, again, there are some people you just don’t want to smell).
Give me some ideas on what smells match up to different genres, or even specific books. Does anyone out there actually go this length in setting the mood for your writing?
I see that smile.
Well, I can’t really say I’ve ever gone to that extreme to get in the mood for writing. Usually I just sit on the floor with my back to the wall and my laptop and I’m good to go. For some reason it’s harder for me to write when I’m in a chair.
Scents for SF? Hmmmm. Well, though I’m not one of the smelling community, maybe the scent of screws? Occassionally I smell something when I’m walking down aisles in a hardware shop where they’ve got screws and nails out. Something like that.
If you ever listen to the Dragon Page podcast, one time Michael Meninga said that his family always puts some kind of weird dish in the over when they’re reading Pern novels.
….And that’s all I can think of right now!
Like the smell of a car shop, perhaps? All the grease and oil? I never thought about what screws of nails smelled like, though now that I think about it, I know what you mean.
My book on late-in-life motherhood comes out August 1st. Appropriate scents?
Desiten diaper rash ointment, dirty diapers, baby drool…and whatever an exhausted, old mother smells like.
Distilled love, in otherwords?
You are too kind–but I’ll take that.
:O)
*reads and grins*