A Writer's Secret: Smell

 

 

 

"Each day, we breathe about 23, 040 times and move about 438 cubic feet of air. It takes us about five seconds to breathe—two seconds to inhale and three seconds to exhale—and, in that time, molecules of odor flood through our systems. Inhaling and exhaling, we smell odors. Smells coat us, swirl around us, enter our bodies, emanate from us. We live in a constant wash of them."—Diane Ackerman in A Natural History of the Senses

Can you recall the smell of your mother's kitchen or imagine the smell of the grass after a spring rain? How about fresh buttered popcorn, garlic sizzling in a pan, ripe blackberries in a pie?

Writers know that our sense of smell is powerfully connected to memory. It is the sense that connects us most powerfully to the past, but not only that, it also connects us with our audience.

Add smell to your writing and connect your memories with those of your readers!

 

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