New Voices Good Stories discussion

Okay, we can go two ways with this topic, but what I really want to know is if anyone makes any effort to add smells to their character descriptions? Yeah, I know, you're going to have the occasional bum smell like an old onion and the drunk is going to reek like a vineyard. But what about your main characters?

I'm a guy, so I usually mention the heroines perfume, or shampoo (I like the green apple scent - probably passe', but I like it) but do female authors waft a few manly breezes about as a matter of routine? And when wearing your reader shoes instead of your author shoes, do you like to get a whiff of the hero - figuratively speaking, of course.

Just curious. And wondering if I should be making my heroes more smelly.Dave Gehrke

LOL

haha. I never even thought about it.

Just found this thread, so thought I'd resurrect it as I found the topic interesting.

I've described some of my characters smell/odour.

One of my 'villains' smells of "raw sweat, stale cigarettes, bad teeth, alcohol".

Another character (a dairy farmer) smells of "milk, cows and excrement" (quote has been sanitized :) )

My leading lady has been noted to have clean, fresh smelling hair.

I like that green apple scent too, Dave. Used to buy that shampoo regularly, but haven't seen it for ages now.

LOL that's funny!

My main character was at first vociferous
And lived among the pines coniferous.
Had I known that he would stink
I'd have brought him to the brink
And killed him before he was odiferous.

That's funny!

One of the sexy romantic interests for the my main characters in "High Strung" smelled like mint. It seemed fresh and unusual, and I thought it spoke of how close the two people were standing to each other.

Janice wrote: "One of the sexy romantic interests for the my main characters in "High Strung" smelled like mint. It seemed fresh and unusual, and I thought it spoke of how close the two people were standing to ea..."

Ooh! Good point about the proximity thing! Subtle whiffs - within sniffing distance; ergo tantalizing, tempting. Sharp scent - too heavy on the lavender - keep at double arms length. Overpowering odor - dead guy draped across the garbage can - stay as far back as possible, hold nose, send in the junior detective.

To illustrate my last post, I found this in "The Naughty Librarian".

"I glanced surreptitiously around the table, as if I feared being overheard, then leaned close to her ear. “I’m a crasher,” I whispered, lingering long enough to steal a whiff of her perfume."

And this:

"The skinny guy slammed on the brakes and leaned his knuckles on the steel table so he could glare at me from five inches away. “If we want you to talk, we’ll ask you a question,” he growled. He had bad breath. The dreaded halitosis."

Proximity test: Close, but no cigar?