I’m reading the novel Early Riser by Jasper Fforde. It’s a weird one. I’m not sure exactly when it takes place — maybe the 90s or 00s? — and it took me a while to wrap my head around the changes in the world from our current one.

One thing I noticed, however, is that whenever our main character Charlie gives or receives the “winter embrace” (a close, long hug), they (Charlie’s gender is not specified) catch three distinct scents. I believe it was Poul Anderson who once said you should include at least one scent every three pages (this may be apocryphal; I heard it 13 years ago in passing from another author), but this is a little much. And the three scents almost never work together; they’re so disparate so often. It creates a vivid image for sure, but it’s also repetitive.

If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you know how I feel about repetition. Which isn’t to say that I don’t use it sometimes myself, but I try to change up the repetition I use so it doesn’t feel like you’re reading the same thing over and over. As I write my sci-fi novel, I find myself repeating things, and then going back and changing the way I write the scene. I try not to make my writing noticeable; if you notice the writing, you’re not noticing the story. It doesn’t always work — I’m not perfect — but I’m trying.