# Has this been done before?



## srebak (Jan 7, 2014)

In the WIP book i'm writing, i just came up with a key plot point within the story:

The main character possesses a unique ability to sense when someone is coming via three of their five senses: The character hear a specific sound, smell a specific smell and even taste a specific taste completely at random.

Has this been done before?


----------



## Noma Galway (Jan 7, 2014)

I've never read such a thing. It sounds unique to me


----------



## Zero Angel (Jan 7, 2014)

I'm not entirely clear on what you are saying. Does each person have a different trigger? Or is it completely random? If it's random, I hope they never go to a city! Talk about sensory overload! Even if it's not random, that's a lot of sensing. 

This sounds somewhat like the Highlander when the Immortals had a strange feeling whenever another was nearby, which was translated to the audience by a particular sound.


----------



## srebak (Jan 8, 2014)

What i mean is; whenever a specific type of creature is nearby, the main character gets a strange feeling before hearing a specific sound, getting a specific taste in his mouth and smelling a specific smell. Now that i think about it though, it does sound like Spiderman's Spider-sense and Danny Phantom's Ghost sense


----------



## James G Pearson (Jan 8, 2014)

srebak said:


> What i mean is; whenever a specific type of creature is nearby, the main character gets a strange feeling before hearing a specific sound, getting a specific taste in his mouth and smelling a specific smell. Now that i think about it though, it does sound like Spiderman's Spider-sense and Danny Phantom's Ghost sense



I can see resemblances, but at the same time - it's completely unique. I quite like the idea. Although, as Zero Angel said, sensory overload if that person goes into a city.


----------



## Super Fun Pop (Jan 8, 2014)

In Dragon Age, Grey Wardens can, because of a blood connected ritual, sense when a Darkspawn is close, even to go as far as sensing an 'archdemon" who was leading the Darkspawn horde from hundreds of miles away. 

Don't let the quest for 'originality' bog you down, it's inevitable that most things have been done before. That's why they become 'tropes', they aren't a bad thing until they're over used and no one will think less of you for having a not so original idea or two. Though you can expand this idea until it becomes indistinguishable and beyond compare to others of this trope.

Ever watched dragon ball Z? They sensed power levels.


----------



## A. E. Lowan (Jan 8, 2014)

Everything has been done before.  Ideas are cheap.  Where you will find your uniqueness is in your execution of the idea.  So, think it through, make it plausible, and then make it work.


----------



## Super Fun Pop (Jan 8, 2014)

A. E. Lowan said:


> Where you will find your uniqueness is in your execution of the idea.



You said this much better; it's very true. The worst thing you can do is discard an idea because 'it sounds too much like _____'... tweak it and make it yours, you'll probably find a way to do it better. I'm totally with A. E. Lowan on this though.


----------



## Saigonnus (Jan 8, 2014)

srebak said:


> In the WIP book i'm writing, i just came up with a key plot point within the story:
> 
> The main character possesses a unique ability to sense when someone is coming via three of their five senses: The character hear a specific sound, smell a specific smell and even taste a specific taste completely at random.
> 
> Has this been done before?



I would say there would have to be some sort of mental training involved... a frame of reference for what the character would detect and know by using said senses. Let me explain. He/She would likely not know what an "Orc" smells like until He/She smells one for themselves, they wouldn't know what the unsheathing of a sword sounds like without having heard one. The same would go for taste... unless you go around licking things, the character would probably not associate a distinctly bitter taste with the above "Orc". I think the idea is a good way to add sensory depth to the story, since you'd almost always have to focus on the senses other than sight.


----------



## wordwalker (Jan 8, 2014)

One thing that's more specifically like it is the anime Canaan, where the heroine uses synthesia (the ability to perceive one sense as another) to pretty much perceive everything to an invincible degree. 

But like people said, "originality" shouldn't be your first goal.


----------



## skip.knox (Jan 9, 2014)

What A.E.Lowan said. Or, as some other person said, there is nothing new under the sun. So don't worry about it.

But I have to ask, have you actually written a scene using this? Have you written five or six such scenes? I'm wondering if describing the MC hearing this and smelling that and seeing some other might not get a bit ... wearing.

Also, why three? Is there a solid reason for this? Why not two? Why not four?


----------



## psychotick (Jan 9, 2014)

Hi,

For me it's the completely at random thing I don't understand. Like an orc is nearby one day and he tastes metal in his throat. The next day another orc and he hears bells. Am I missing something here? As it stands yes this is something I've never heard of, but for a reason. It would be a disaster. You'd never know what was coming if it was always different. And cities as has been said, would be a nightmare.

Can you flesh this idea out a little bit more please.

Cheers, Greg.


----------



## srebak (Jan 9, 2014)

@skip.knox - So far, i've only used it once, and i decided to leave out sight and touch out of the equation, since seeing visions and feeling pain have been done to death.

@psychotick - The way i'm starting to see it, it's the smell and sounds that would decide what type of creature it is; e.g. if it's a water-based creature, the MC would hear what sounds like loud water and smell things like fish or seaweed. The taste helps to give the MC an idea of what said creature's intentions are; e.g. if he tasted salt water, that means the water-based creature is planning to drown him. Also, i'm pretty sure this isn't the kind of feeling that a city could make worse.


----------



## Letharg (Jan 10, 2014)

srebak said:


> @psychotick - The way i'm starting to see it, it's the smell and sounds that would decide what type of creature it is; e.g. if it's a water-based creature, the MC would hear what sounds like loud water and smell things like fish or seaweed. The taste helps to give the MC an idea of what said creature's intentions are; e.g. if he tasted salt water, that means the water-based creature is planning to drown him. Also, i'm pretty sure this isn't the kind of feeling that a city could make worse.



I haven't heard of anything like this ever before but I must say it would probably be kind of hard to pull of. I think it would be hard getting the reader to understand how the character knows how to interpret these tastes and sounds. Look at the exampel you have with the water creature, how did you character learn to associate the taste of salt water with being drowned. I don't think any normal person would immidiately think they would be drowned if they tasted saltwater in their mouth. The character would probably need to have been put through it before if he could do the connection. 

Let's take an exampel, say a earth creature was about to attack your character. Would he the hear the sound of falling stones? and then taste dirt in his mouth to know he would be attacked? Seems a bit far fetched for me as a reader to understand the connection.


----------



## srebak (Jan 24, 2014)

How does these ideas sound to anyone:

1. A race of creatures being spawned from the blood of a greek monster that was slain

2. Leprechaun gold needing rainbows to stay as gold, otherwise they turn into lead

3 A race of goblins being born from the dead bodies of regular goblins

Do any of these sound remotely original? 

On that note, once used an idea i learned about in a computer game based on Greek Mythology (and Egyptian and Norse Mythology, but that's beside the point) in my story. I thought that it was apart of actual Greek Mythology and therefore up for grabs (nobody owns the rights to Greek myths), but then it turns out that it was likely the creation of the game makers. What do i do now?


----------



## Jabrosky (Jan 24, 2014)

srebak said:


> On that note, once used an idea i learned about in a computer game based on Greek Mythology (and Egyptian and Norse Mythology, but that's beside the point) in my story.


I think I know which game you're talking about. It's _Age of Mythology_ right?


----------



## srebak (Jan 24, 2014)

Jabrosky said:


> I think I know which game you're talking about. It's _Age of Mythology_ right?



Right, and the idea i'm talking about is the myth unit Colossus


----------

