The scent of imagination

[sathari]

Over in the welcome post, synecdochic  and I had a bit of a discussion about scent and imagination/synaesthesia, as a result of which I promised to post the following questions for the comm to play with!

- Do any of you have synaesthetic effects around your perfumes and other scented things? (For those who aren't feeling like clicking links, synaesthesia is when you have two or more senses that overlap or interact--- some of the most common ones are associating colors with letters or numbers, although just about any combination is possible--- the link is to a book called The Man Who Tasted Shapes, in which an MD was inspired to research synaesthesia as a result of a friend who could tell that chicken was undercooked because "it didn't have enough points on it". In this case, we'd be talking about sounds, colors, textures, etc., that your perfumes and other scents call up for you--- or other scent-related overlaps: did you buy a perfume because it smells like your favorite song, for example, or your favorite color?)

- Relatedly, do any of you associate particular scents with fictional characters (ones you follow in others' work, ones you work on yourself, ones who are both, etc.?)

I'll post my answers down below as an example, if anyone's curious.

(Suggested tags: meta; maybe something related to "things we relate to scents" or "ways we experience scents")

Comments

[dejla]

Actually, I do associate scents with fictional characters. Whenever I'm setting up a character, I think of things like: usual perfume, favorite food, favorite color -- all of those, I think, help me define a character as a person.

[sathari]

That's cool that perfume is among the "basic info" about a new character for you!

[elialshadowpine]

I've definitely had scents bring back memories of a place/time. I also have music do that, especially if it's something I was listening to a lot during a certain time period. Tori Amos's From the Choirgirl Hotel and Boys for Pele make me actually re-live the summer I spent writing like a madwoman, down to being able to smell the humid summer air.

Some of the dragons blood scents bring back memories of the first year I was with Storme and I was burning a lot of dragon's blood incense for ritual work, and it brings back all the emotion of us being first together and desperately madly in love and the manic highs and depressive lows and augh. It can be almost overwhelming, but I love the scent so.

[elialshadowpine]

I do the same thing! I spice by scent. :D

[dejla]

It puts a frame around a character. Jordan wears Shalimar. Michael wears Old Spice. McCall wears something with leather and wood, very expensive and very exclusive.

[sathari]

Definitely--- not all the characters I write have scents associated with them in some way (whether it's "cosmetic" or just a result of something they're around a lot), but there is something very grounding or embodying for me about it when they do!

[kore]

'back when the first Iron Man movie came out I amused myself imagining someone telling Tony Stark about BPAL and him promptly trying a variety of the scents with sexually suggestive names, especially names that he would see as letting him introduce the topic of his own sexuality into the conversation, like Casanova and Golden Priapus'

aahaha oh God that is beyond perfect

[kore]

There's at least one BPAL RP comm on LJ, altho I don't remember if it's been updated recently.

[kore]

Writing prompt is a great idea!

I've ordered from them recently -- the shipping times have improved a lot, and they do still send frimps, altho they seem to send fewer now.

[sathari]

I've ordered from them recently -- the shipping times have improved a lot, and they do still send frimps, altho they seem to send fewer now.

That is awesome to hear! *has just placed an order and would rather have faster shipping with fewer frimps*

[sathari]

:D :D :D Thanks! (He just would. Because any excuse for him to introduce sex, and specifically the possibility of sex with him, into a conversation is obviously a good one in his mind.)

[lunabee34]

I ordered 12 imps and ended up getting 4 frimps. I was super pleased with that. :)

I'm glad you like the idea of writing prompts. I am having a lot of fun with them.