Sensory comfort

It’s great when ideas just pop into your head – the free associations we make every day. The key is to figure out how they might work in a novel.

A co-worker gave me an idea this week. Well, he didn’t give voice to it, but rather, he sparked it in my head. Cologne. Smell. What if Heather, when Robin isn’t there watching her/stalking her, needs comfort? What if she has a panic attack and Robin isn’t there, over the road, and needs to feel comforted? What would she do?

Maybe Robin wears a particular kind of cologne, or perhaps his anti-perspirant is distinctive. Maybe Heather goes out in search of it, smelling everything in Boots. So that when she’s freaking out, she can have something – a cloth, handkerchief, whatever – that’s doused in something that reminds her of Robin.

Something to consider over the weekend when the writing gets done…