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Marianela Nunez and Federico Bonelli in rehearsal for Acosta’s Carmen

Zapotec Bride from Juchitán de Zaragoza - Pieter Hugo

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220 Scents

This is a companion resource to Words To Describe Scent.

Arguably our most evocative sense, the sense of smell is an underused tool in writing descriptions and settings. Nothing transports me into the book I’m reading as effectively as the memory of some familiar scent, or some distant one awoken from the deepest parts of my brain. This is simply a list of recognizable scents, categorized by the “type” of scent or the kind of environment where it might be found:

(1) Natural scents are those that your character may expect to find in relatively undeveloped areas like while hiking a mountain, on a quest through a dark forest, or during an epic faceoff with their arch nemesis on a beach in the rain. These may also be found in more developed areas like a local park, and even in a peaceful oasis in a highly industrial area.

(2) Fruit/Vegetable scents are useful in many settings, so your character doesn’t have to work on a farm to use this list – though it certainly would come in handy for a farm setting! Our characters encounter these scents in the homes of loved ones, in inns where they rest for the night during a long journey, and while running through the palace orchard to warn the King of an impending attack.

(3) Florals, Herbs & Spices – perhaps the most fragrant and versatile category. Floral descriptions may be used for bouquets at an old flame’s wedding, or for a lover’s perfume left over on the pillow. Your character may encounter herbs & spices anywhere from a busy street market to a witch’s brew in an isolated mountain house.

(4) Industrial scents are those, in general, associated with humans, civilization, and development. These will typically be found in cities or wherever there are people. You may also notice that most of these would be generally considered unpleasant. That’s not to say pleasant scents don’t exist where there is development, just that the development itself usually doesn’t smell great. The beautiful scents from any of the other four categories can be, and often are, found in developed areas… especially those of the last category:

(5) Food! Your character’s favorite café, their mother’s kitchen when they were a child, the lunch their best friend used to share with them, the last Christmas meal at their ex-lover’s home, the cocktail they were drinking when they met their arch nemesis – the list is endless and endlessly evocative.

Use wisely and enjoy!

Quilters. Photographs by Henry Groskinsky (1971)

Merata: How Mum Decolonised the Screen (2018) directed by Heperi Mita

polynesians: have oral history that references a faraway land of andes-like mountains in the east, cultivated sweet potato (a plant native to central america, not the pacific), literally call sweet potato by the same word used by the quechua and aymara people indigenous to the andes, left physical remains on islands a few km off the coast of chile, have genetic links with native south americans

white academics: hmmm it's very doubtful polynesians contacted south america.. they probably just stopped permanently at easter island for some reason after systematically navigating the entire south pacific. the sweet potatos floated to them across the ocean

Louise Glück, from “Marathon”, Poems 1962 - 2012