A Lesson from Perfume-Making

Layering your writing

I would love to learn how to make perfume – although I understand producing the perfect scent can be a life-long quest.

I was thinking the other day how a good perfume can be like a good scene in a novel. Let me explain myself. In scent, so I’m told, there are three main elements: top notes (sometimes called head notes), middle notes (or heart notes) and base notes.

A section of a novel, if well written, also has layers. I suppose the top notes are the essential action of a scene. Sometimes it doesn’t really matter what your characters are doing – going for a walk, playing tennis or just washing up. The action is there to give them something to do whilst you filter in the other elements. In perfume, top notes disappear quickly (apparently they are only around for 5-15 minutes), possibly like the superficial element of a scene. The middle notes of a perfume last for two to four hours. I think it’s interesting they are sometimes called ‘heart notes’ as the literary equivalent is the emotional heart of a scene. So despite what your characters are doing, it is what they are feeling that really interests your reader, and that will resonate for them a lot longer. You need to give your readers something more substantial to get their teeth into – twists and turns in relationships, tension, drama – anything that satisfies the need for emotional content. The base notes are perhaps the more profound elements of a scene – something revealing about human nature or a deeper understanding of human behaviour.

I wrote a scene the other day that I hope fits the bill. On the surface it concerned a family at breakfast (top notes). On a deeper level, the scene took place in June 1940 so the underlying concerns were focused on the war (mid notes). But I was also writing something about family dynamics and tensions. These were the base notes, the essential elements of human nature that hopefully my readers will identify with as they don’t change over time.

If we can get at least three layers into a scene it has a better chance of being memorable – and who knows, it might become the Chanel number five of the literary world!