How to Concoct Powerful Descriptions with Smell
From foul to fragrant, smells evoke emotion and reaction
I was reading Julie Orringer’s novel, “The Flight Portfolio,” the other day, and several of her descriptions made my nose flare. I was brought to full attention with the power of her olfactory descriptions:
A boat:
“The smell of it was a tonic, that particular tang of salt and wet wood and sailcloth.”
A man:
“He smelled, he discovered, of sandalwood and mint.”
A prison:
“…ripe piss, ancient cabbage, dead and rotting rat — was on Danny's skin, in his hair, in the fibers of his suit; Varian inhaled that scent like a penance.”
A public bathroom:
“He waited all night at the Brigade des Rafles, and at dawn, he washed his face in a lavatory reeking of ammonia and dead mouse.”
New York City in the early 1940s:
“A great roaring, like the rush of water down the Niagara; a great glimmering, thousands upon thousands of windows pushing up into the sky; the smell of garbage, smell of roasting nuts, ammoniac stink of tar, sweet cloud of gasoline, burning leaves from the park, popcorn scent from the open cinema doors; here was that…
