Smells and Similes Part 2

Last week I wrote about fall, and I still have this beautiful season on the brain--especially the smells of fall or autumn, or whatever you like to call it. 

As I wrote about before, smell can be one of the hardest things to describe in our writing. It can help to use a simile--a comparison with "like" or "as." 

For example.

• The squash soup smelled like a sunny day at the end of October. 

• The crisp air smelled like a newly ironed shirt. 

Try using a simile to describe the smell, scent, aroma, or odor of the following things:

• Dog breath
• The inside of your refrigerator
• A banana peel on the sidewalk
• An old pizza box
• Your cat's fur
• Chocolate chip cookies just out of the oven
• A baby's hair
• A rubber band found in the back of a drawer
• A bag of Halloween candy

Smell adds texture to our stories. Similes add new layers of meaning. Combine the two, and you'll give your readers a double dose of reading pleasure--no matter what the season. 

A Smelly Alphabet

What is a smelly alphabet?

It's not stinky ABC blocks that fell into the sewer.

It's not a page from a skunk's beginning reader. 

A smelly alphabet is one we create ourselves, using words from A to Z that refer to our sense of smell.  

For each letter of the alphabet, think of something that has an aroma, scent, fragrance, stench, odor, or bouquet. Whatever we call it, smell is a powerful sense to include in our writing. 

Here's the start of my smelly alphabet: 


Argyle socks found in the garbage can
Bread fresh from the oven
Cauliflower soup 
Dirty T-shirt in the laundry basket
Elephant poop

You get the idea. Create your own smelly alphabet and remember to use scents and odors in your writing. 

Whether smells are "good" or "bad," they can bring up vivid emotions. Just think--your smelly alphabet could make someone laugh or cry! 

Smells and Similes

Maybe it's the smell of wet leaves in the air, but I always think November has great smells.

Smells, scents, odors, aromas--whatever you want to call them--are one of the hardest things to describe when we write. Sometimes it's easier if we use a simile: a comparison using the words "like" or "as."

Try to describe what the following things smell like using a simile. Go wild with your imaginations!

I'll get us started.

• Dirty socks: Her dirty socks smelled like five-day-old fish.
• Salsa: Mom's homemade salsa smelled like the best vegetable garden on Earth.

Now you try some:

• Burning rubber
• Clean sheets
• Peanut butter
• The inside of our car
• The inside of my desk
• An eraser
• My dog's ears
• A tree trunk
• A rusty fence
• Already-been-chewed bubble gum

Have lots of fun with smells and similes!

Our Sense of Smell

I love the smell of freshly baked bread, chocolate chip cookies, pine cones, my cats' heads (weird, I know), sheets just out of the dryer, grass after it's been cut, the pages of a new book, and mint tea.

I'm not crazy about the smell of overcooked broccoli, dirty socks, dog breath, wet wool, cheese that's been left in the refrigerator (ugh), burned toast, and car exhaust.

What smells do you like? What smells do you dislike?

Our sense of smell is a powerful way to connect with our readers. I don't mean our readers will actually smell US. I mean we can use the sense of smell in our stories to draw our readers in.

An example:

When you smell freshly cut grass, what does it make you think of? The time you walked in the park with a favorite grandparent? The time you hit a home run in Little League? The time you got grass stains on your jeans and your mom was mad?

We all make emotional connections through our senses when we read. Smell is one of the most powerful of the five senses. We make a connection between a smell in a story, and an emotion we felt when we encountered that smell in real life. The smell in the story takes us right back to that emotion, even if the event happened three years ago.

Try this. Write a scene with two characters talking. (Any two characters: a police officer and the driver he's giving a ticket to; two worms in a garden; or a boy and his martial arts teacher.) Can you include a smell in your scene? Maybe the police officer smells the thick exhaust coming out of the old car. Maybe the worm smells the wet dirt. Maybe the boy smells the sweat in the classroom.

Most readers have smelled car exhaust, wet dirt, and sweat. Readers will remember those smells and make an emotional connection to your story.

Try using smell in your stories. What will it be? Overcooked broccoli? Or freshly baked chocolate chip cookies?