stop and smell the starfish

First, go beyond something “smelled good” or something “stunk”. How did it smell good? Like honeysuckle or fresh breeze fabric softener or chocolate chip cookies just out of the oven? How did it stink? Like rotting vegetation or vinegar or dog crap on the bottom of your shoe?

Next, what is the point of pointing out the smell? Are you adding to the setting – the smell of perfume in a bachelor pad? Adding to the plot – always a hint of brimstone at the scene of a crime? Indicating something about your character – why does her coat reek of cigarettes if she said she gave up smoking two years ago?

And lastly, something to play with – a smell as a link to a memory. Is it a good memory, bad memory, or long buried memory of a forgotten tragedy?

Giles: “Books smell musty and-and-and rich. The knowledge gained from a computer is a – it, uh, it has no-no texture, no-no context. It’s-it’s there and then it’s gone. If it’s to last, then-then the getting of knowledge should be, uh, tangible, it should be, um, smelly.”
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 1, “I, Robot … You, Jane”