Smells and the description of odours can be used to good effect in fiction writing and similarly to sound, can invoke a wide range of emotions. The smell of fresh bread baking can invoke childhood memories of a much-loved grandparent, or it can emphasise that the character is in a supermarket.

As writers we arguably underestimate the usefulness of the description of smell. A well-used description can place ideas into the reader’s mind, effectively creating so many blanks for the reader’s mind to fill in. For me the term “fresh-cut grass”, just three words long, invokes spring. My mind will fill in the rest: sun shining, cool breeze, flowers blooming, bees, lazy sunday afternoons in the garden sipping my drink of choice.

Similarly to my example of a baby crying in the post about sound, smell can be used to dramatic effect. The most obvious is a fire which…