Lately, I’ve been struck by the way smells and sights and sounds bring feelings from the past welling to the surface, even before my mind consciously frames the memory. The whiff of jet fuel as Mélanie and I walked to the gate on our recent trip to New York brought the anticipation of childhood travel. The sight of autumn leaves clustering on trees and lying in drifts on the ground while bare branches make a tracery against the rose gold sky (in Ashland, in New York, at home) evokes thoughts of pumpkin lattes, crisp days at football games, evenings by the fire, and a whiff of anticipation of the holidays, along with the more grown up reminder that there’s a lot to get done before the end of December. Lately, whenever I walked downstairs in the morning, the cool air combined with the heat rising from the ground floor instantly conjures up the wonder of Christmas morning.
I try to weave in all of the five senses when I write. Sometimes I even make lists of what sights, sounds, tastes, touches, and smells I can use in a particular scene (I did this a lot years ago when I was consciously making an effort to do more with the five senses to evoke my settings). But I don’t know that I think enough about how the five senses can evoke memories from my characters’ pasts. Without consciously trying to, I did use a scene in the theatre in my forthcoming The Berkeley Square Affair to bring up Suzanne’s childhood memories:
Even an almost empty theatre had its own smell. Sawdust, the oil of rehearsal lamps, drying paint, the sweat of active bodies that could never quite be banished. After all these years, it still sent an indefinable thrill of magic through Suzanne. Jessica seemed to sense it from her mother, for she gave a crow of delight in Suzanne’s arms and waved her hands.
I’m going to try to do more of this, evoking memories specific to different characters’ pasts. The autumn leaf image could translate to many historical settings. So could the cold air and warmth of a banked fire. What would evoke the excitement of travel? The jangle of bridles? The smell of carriage leather or horses? The thud of portmanteaux being loaded?
What specific sense memories evoke the past for you? What conjures up thoughts of autumn and the holidays? Writers, do you try to use the five sense to evoke your character’s pasts?
Tracy Grant - Novelist 
November 24, 2013 at 4:27 pm
For me, memories of travel are associated with getting up so early that it was still half dark outside; my parents liked to get an early start whenever we took a trip. Autumn is associated with the taste of very crisp and fresh apples, bought at the orchard, and the smell of the furnace when it gets turned on for the first time each fall, and the smell of a woodstove or fireplace. I grew up near a beautiful outdoor pool surrounded my woods, and I occasionally still visit there. The feel of the cool water on my skin and laying on my back, looking up at the trees, and the water dappled with sun and shade, brings back strong childhood memories. Memories of my grandmother and mother are always attached to the smell and taste of certain foods that they used to cook. In fact I cook them myself as comfort foods, to bring back that feeling. Hearing certain music that my parents used to often listen to reminds me of them. As I’ve mentioned before, my family is German/Austrian, and I grew up around a lot of German speakers, so hearing the language, or hearing English spoken with a German or Austrian accent, especially with that Viennese lilt that they have, brings it all back. I hope some of these associations are useful for you!
November 24, 2013 at 9:11 pm
I think that smell is the most evocative sense. Certain smells will make me feel a certain emotion, and sometimes I’m not sure why. But usually a smell will take me back to a specific time and place.
Sounds can also be important, although I think the type of sound is important. Music is one which often evokes specific memories or feelings.
Temperature is key too – feeling too cold or too hot can affect the way a person will react and behave.
November 24, 2013 at 11:46 pm
Karin, I love your descriptions – so evocative! I too have comfort associations with foods my mom cooked and music I listened to with both my parents. When I saw the wonderful production of “My Fair Lady” at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival this year I burst into tears (happy tears) during the overture, all three times I saw it. I think it was the childhood memories evoked – we went to musicals a lot.
November 24, 2013 at 11:47 pm
I think smell is one of the most interesting ways to evoke a setting or feeling, Helena. Sight is obviously the sense we tend to use most as writers but there’s something about smell that can really bring a scene to life for me. And it’s a good point about temperature – I should do more with it.
November 25, 2013 at 4:30 am
Karin’s comment about early morning starts brought back fond memories of my dad – if we were driving he thought a 6am departure was just about right. Too bad his daughter and wife were not morning people. And Tracy, your comment about “My Fair Lady” really hit home. Most music makes me sentimental and brings on those “happy tears”. Musicals were such a part of our lives when I was growing up and I loved them. (And just to get this out on the table…the theme from Downton Abbey makes me teary-eyed now, as well. Stop laughing, girls…) The sound that gets to me most is a train whistle – a wonderful sound in the distance. Our family took a lot of train vacations (Dad was a white-knuckle flyer) and I love the feel of a train. But that whistle in the distance late at night is just special…can’t tell you why.
November 25, 2013 at 6:40 pm
I once spent a Xmas in a small Austrian ski village. I will never forget the smell of the incense (and there was a lot of it) at the midnight mass at the local church. The church was packed with locals and visitors, filled with candle light and very cold. But magical. Now every time i smell incense i think of that timeless experience.
November 26, 2013 at 12:18 am
Oh, yes, Lynne. There is something so soothing and wonderful about a train whistle. Also foghorns. You also just made me think of an ocean liner’s whistle, as they are about to leave the harbor, so nostalgic for me. Back when I was a child, we used to see people off in New York Harbor, on their way to Southampton or Cherbourg, and visitors were allowed on the ships till they blew the whistle and made the “all ashore that’s going ashore’ announcement”. Even then I had the travel bug and fantasized about stowing away.
November 26, 2013 at 4:53 am
Yes, Karin, to the ocean liners. I live about 300 miles inland from Seattle so each time we were on the waterfront we’d watch the ferries sail. But when I went to Vancouver , BC for the first time and saw a real liner – I was probably 12 or 13 – I was sure I was in heaven.
November 26, 2013 at 12:32 am
Totally understand the Downton Abbey response, Lynne :-). Train whistles can be so evocative – the excitement of travel or of people coming to visit. Fortunately my family is pretty united in not being morning people. When Mel and I take a road trip, I feel good if we’re on our way by 9:00 am :-).
November 26, 2013 at 5:02 am
Hooray – a woman who agrees with me! My girlfriends think 9am is a late start – and we’re all retired. Who wants to get up early when we had to all our working lives. Train Mel now, Tracy, and she’ll never know the difference…we hope.
November 26, 2013 at 12:37 am
What a magical Christmas memory, Maureen! The details you mention – the incense, the cold, the candles – really bring it to life!
November 26, 2013 at 12:38 am
Fascinating how “travel sounds” stir thoughts of adventure and the exotic. I think in a way that’s what the jet fuel smell does for me, though it isn’t nearly as elegant.