: Re: How do I define smells I have never experienced? I am a lifelong writer, who was also born without an ability to smell. I have been trained to engage the reader by applying the five senses,

@Eichhorn147

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I once read that if one is writing about the life of a fast food worker, the reader needs to "smell the grease." I'd like to build on the sense of smell being strongly tied to memory. Smell can sometimes be a vital component of an experience. Once, in a scientific study I participated in, I had to sign a waiver warning me that the smell test could trigger traumatic memories.

What you might have more success with is gathering information on what kinds of memories and emotions different smells evoke. Don't be too concerned with objective meanings for smells, but rather the common threads. Sometimes maybe there isn't anything readily apparent. In the Witcher series, Yennefer is described as smelling of lilac and gooseberries. That specific scent means absolutely nothing to me, but does bring to mind an ex that went a bit overboard on perfume.

Think first about what you want your readers to feel, and find a scent that can bring that to the scene. Cut grass is summer, freedom, bright sunlight, or maybe it mixes with exhaust and sweat, and becomes a memory of your father, or of moving away and becoming the father of a new family with a yard that beckons you to tend it for a moment of solitude.

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