Misty Writes

Writers read. 

Writers have hilarious conversations.

Writers cry.

Writers come up with amazing plotlines.

Writers dream.

Writers tell everybody in sight about their stories.

Writers think.

Writers notice little, interesting things to fit into their tales.

Writers smile.

What is it about characters from literature who are awful, miserable, hideous people? What makes them so awesome?

The answer is: Brilliant writing.

(That and the fact that they’re fictional, as opposed to being the people who live next door!)

Writers who ask readers to pal around with hideous characters—especially when said characters are MAIN characters—are asking a lot. So there must be a serious payoff to make the reader invest in the misery of hanging around with unlikables.

What techniques do authors use to create characters and antagonists we LOVE and HATE with equal fervor?

Words and References:

Massive Dictionary for Writers

Writing a Series

Visual Dictionary

Grammar Definitions

Glossary of Book Terms (2)

Literary Terms

Some Words About Word Count

English Grammar (with Russian translation)

Pronunciations of Words from All Languages

Punctuation Guide

Plot Terms and Definitions

Plot & Structure:

Plot Development

Developing Events in Your Story

The Hero’s Journey

Four Essential Plot Points

Basic Plots in Literature

Ten Simple Keys to Plot Structure

Plot vs Exposition

Plot Checklist

Exposition in Fiction

Balancing Exposition

Easing Exposition

Setting or Exposition

3 Rules for Writing Endings

Writing Powerful Endings

Successful Endings

Writing a Story Middle

Beginnings, Middles, and Ends (2)

Three Parts to Every Story

Subplots:

Subplots

7 Ways to Add Great Subplots to your Novels

The 7 Shoulds of Writing a Subplot

Who Needs Subplots?

Subplots

Knowing Your terms: Subplots

Weave Subplots into your Novel

Understanding the Role of Subplots

Plot, Plot Layers, and Subplots

Plot and Subplot

Subplots - Chicken Soup for your Novel

How Many Subplots are Acceptable?

Subplots by Word Count

Too Many Subplots?

World Building:

World Building Links

World Building Questionnaire (2)

Planet Maker

World Building 101

World Building for Science Fiction

Fantasy and Science Fiction Worlds

The Seed of Government (2)

The Magic of World Building

Characters:

Story Guide Worksheet

How to Create Great Characters

Character Arc 101

“Hero” is a Four Letter Word

Character Questionnaire (2) (3) (4) (5)

Character Justification

Conflict Can Limit Your Characters

Creating Characters from Plot

Character Bio

Guide to Writing a Villain

Eight Female Archetypes

Sixteen Personality Types

Charahub

Fixing Unlikable Characters

Offensive Mistakes Well-Intended Writers Makes (2)

Character Sheet

Morality Alignment

Morality Alignment Test (2) (3)

Creating Compelling Characters

Consistency is Key 

Desires and Conflict

Mary Sue Test

Mary Sue Villain Test

Writing Lycanthropy

Body Language (2) (3) 

Dialogue:

Character Conversations

How to Write Dialogue (2) (3) (4)

Speaking of Dialogue

Ten Tips

Character Dialogue

Believable Dialogue

25 Things You Should Know About Dialogue

Witty Dialogue Reference Post

Dialogue Tips

Writing Really Good Dialogue

Writing Good Dialogue

Dialogue

Point of View:

Types of POV

Point of View

Third Person Multiple POV

First Person vs. Third

Third Person Omniscient vs. Limited

Using Third Person Omniscient

Writing Exposition in the First Person

Writing in First Person

First Person POV (2)

First Person or Third?

How to Write Winning First Person Stories

Genre:

Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories

Crime Fiction Sub Genres

So You Want to Write Crime Fiction

How to Write Crime Fiction

Smut Writing Guide Master List

Adding Sexual Tension

How to Write Sexual Tension

Literary Genres

Genre Index

13 Horror Writing Tips

Classic Horror Novel Structure

10 Laws of Good Science Fiction

Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy

Names:

Irish Names (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)

Irish Surnames (2) (3) (4)

Scottish Names (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

Scottish Surnames (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

Welsh Names (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)

Welsh Surnames (2) (3)

English Names (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

English Surnames (2) (3) (4) (5)

Brittany Names (2)

Gaelic Names (2)

Cornish Names (2) (3) (4)

Cornish Surnames

Celtic Female Names (2) (3)

Celtic Male Names (2) (3)

Bible Names (2)

Find Names by Sound

Medieval Asian Names

Medieval Islamic Names

Medieval Names & Titles

Middle Eastern Names

North American Indian Names (2) 

French Names (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

French Surnames (2) (3) (4)

German Names (2) (3) (4) (5)

German Surnames (2) (3) (4) (5)

Western African Names (2) (3)

Northern African Names (2) (3) (4) (5)

Latin American Names (2)

Traditional Hispanic Last Names

Chinese Names (2) (3) (4) (5)

Asian and Pacific Names (2)

African and Middle East Names

Italian Names (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)

Italian Surnames (2) (3) (4)

Name Generator (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (Fantasy (2) (3) (4)) (Sci-fi (2))

Jewish Names (2) (3) (4) (5)

Jewish Surnames (2) (3) (4)

Russian Names (2) (3) (4)

Russian Surnames (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)

Scandinavian Names (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)

Scandinavian Surnames (2) (3)

Spanish Names (2)

Pagan Names

Nook of Names

What a Lovely Name

List of Names from Around the World

Etymology Dictionary

Name Playground

What’s in a Name?

7 Rules for Picking Names

How to Invent Names

Nickname Lists (2) (3)

Latin Place Names

Name Dictionary

First Names Reference Database

Slave Trade Names Database

History:

1920’s Reference Post

1920’s Setting

History of Childbirth

1920’s Slang

Medieval Reference Post

Medieval Scotland

All About Scotland

World Myths, Creatures, and Folklore

Knighthood and Orders of Chivalry

National Heraldry

Titles in the Elizabethan Era

Titles Explained

Peerage Basics

National Museum of the American Indian

American Indian Tribes and Languages Master List

Historical Resources

Query Letters:

How to Write a Query Letter

The 10 Dos and Don’ts of Writing a Query Letter

Anatomy of a Query Letter: A Step-By-Step Guide

Successful Query Letters for Literary Agents

Query Letter FAQ

Master the Art of the Query

Writing a Solid Query Letter

Writing a Query Letter that Sells

Dos and Don’ts: How to Write the Perfect Query Letter

Query Letters

Rachelle’s Query Tips

How to Query a Literary Agent

Query Letters

A Pitch is a Pitch

Make the Perfect Pitch: The Novel Query

How to Write Great Queries

How to Write a Query Letter

How to Query an Agent

How to Write a Dynamic Query Letter

Writing a Good Query Letter

Sample Query Letter PDF

Sample Novel Query Letter

Ten Ways to Hook a Literary Agent

What Not to Put in Your Query Letter

What (Not) to Put in Your Query Letter

Query Letters - What, Why, How?

What (Not) to do Before Querying

What to Write in the Bio Section of your Query Letter

How to Write a Bio Paragraph in your Query Letter

The Last Paragraph of your Query Letter: the Author Bio

Writing the Hook for your Query

Query Letter Dos and Don’ts

Agent Reveals Pet Peeves

How to Write a Query Letter

Query Letter Mad Lib

How to Format a Query Letter

15 Reasons Agents Pass Over Query Letters

The Right Way to Write a Query Letter PDF

Query Letters

Writing a Query Letter

The Query Letter

How to Write a Query Letter

How to Write a Kick-Ass Query Letter

How to Write a Great Query Letter PDF

Query Letter to Agents

Writing a Killer Query Letter

15 Resources for a Better Query Letter

25 Reasons Your Query Letter Sucks

Query Letters: My Personal Journey

How to Write a Query Letter

A Bit of Regurgitated Query Letter Advice

Query Letter Advice: Let Someone Else Write It

Writing a Query Letter Part One: The Hook

Part Two: The Setup

Part Three: The Conflict

Part Four: The Consequence

Part Five: Everything Else

The Importance of Voice

The Query Letter that Won Me an Agent

How Not to Write the Perfect Query Letter

FAQ The Query Letter

Query Letters

Editing and Revision:

Editing Checklist

List of Freelance Editors

Tighten Your Manuscript

Editing Recipe

7 Editing Questions

How to Rewrite

Revising a Novel

Editing Tips

Self Editing

How to Edit a Novel

Software:

Tip of my Tongue

Liquid Story Binder

Q10

25 Writing Softwares

Jarte**

AbiWord

Calligra

Celtx**

Open Office

Scrivener*

Final Draft*

Atlantis Nova

Zoho**

Lit Lift

Hiveword

Story Book**

Character Writer*

Write Room (mac only)

Dark Room

Q10

Liquid Story Binder*

Now Novel**

yWriter 5

Time Toast

Interactive Timeline

Timeline Maker*

Preceden

Tiki Toki**

Time Glider**

Timeline Maker

My Timeline

Timeline JS

X Timeline

Our Story**

Dipity

Timeline Software*

Timelines*

Meograph

Timeline Charts*

Family Echo

Genealogy

Legacy Family Tree Maker**

Family Tree Builder**

XY Family Tree

Bubbl

Cliche Finder

*Not free. May include free trial.

**Includes free and premium content.

Prompts:

Inspiration Finder

Seventh Sanctum

Writing Prompts Generator

Timeline Generator

Writing Prompts

Plinky

Random Story Prompts

Random Prompts

Prompt Generator (2)

Writing Prompts

14 Prompts

Writing Websites:

Galley Cat

Writer’s Digest

Absolute Write

Advanced Fiction Writing

Writer Beware

Chuck Sambuchino

Nathan Bransford

Novel Rocket

I’ve always been a big nerd. To others it’s been clear for a long time, but I’ve only recently been able to admit it to myself. I mean, the signs were all there: I read a ton. I love playing Boggle. I get upset when others use “who” when they mean “whom.” I don’t own a pocket protector but it wouldn’t shock me if 10 years from now I had one … made out of leather … and embroidered with my initials.

But for one shining moment, one GLORIOUS MOMENT, when I finished writing my book, OH BOY, YOU’RE HAVING A GIRL: A Dad’s Survival Guide to Raising Daughters, I felt like a complete and utter badass. Here’s why.

1. Writing a book is hard.

If I had a nickel for every time I heard someone say, “I have an idea, I’m going to write a book about it” and then watch as they never did it, I’d have—well, I’m not sure exactly how many nickels I’d have because I’m terrible at math, but it’s safe to say I’d have a ton of them. Many people don’t write a book because it’s extremely hard. Forcing yourself to sit down, brainstorm, write, edit, rewrite, edit, cut, add, rewrite, workshop, rewrite and rewrite some more until you’ve got somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000 words is grueling work. Most can’t do it. When you’re one of the few who can, it really makes you feel good about yourself—an important quality in a true badass.

2. Editing is painful.

All the effort and time put into writing a scene can all go for naught if it doesn’t mesh just right with your story. It doesn’t matter if it’s your favorite scene: If it’s not right for your book then it’s not right for your book—and has to be cut. Deleting your writing, especially words you’ve sacrificed so much to create, can be incredibly painful. But you do it in spite of the pain because, deep down, you’re tough as nails and you know your book will be better off for it.

3. Knowing when you are “finished” is impossible.

Is your Chapter 1 strong enough? Are you doing enough showing and not telling? Should your main character be walking or sauntering in this one particular scene? You’re on draft #17 and, after reading it again, you think an 18th draft may be necessary. (There’s one sentence in OH BOY that I rewrote every time I reread it!) Finished may be a definitive term when it comes to the end of a baseball game or a Broadway show, but it’s relative when it comes to writing. After all, in writing there’s no clear sign that your manuscript is perfect. At some point, every writer needs to take a leap of faith and have confidence in his or her work. It’s not easy to do, which is why it’s a form a badass-ery.

4. Cold-querying agents is scary.

Cold-querying agents is like knocking door-to-door in an unfamiliar neighborhood and trying to convince people that they should not only appreciate your haircut, but they should invest in your haircut. It takes a lot of guts to put yourself (and your manuscript, which you’ve been working on for who knows how long) out there for the world to judge. Not many people have the courage to do that, but badasses do. [Like this idea? Tweet it!]

5. Rejection is everywhere (and yet you still carry on).

Whether the rejection is from an agent, a publisher, a writing group critique partner, your inner critic, or a family member who doesn’t believe writing is a good use of your time, you still battle forward to accomplish your dream of completing a manuscript and having it published. Persistence and determination are necessary traits in a writer (as well as a badass).

6. Getting paid for your work is harder than ever.

We all daydream of seven-figure advances and splurging on something we’ve always wanted, like a fancy car. But the truth is a majority of advances are so small that they aren’t even enough to buy a used car whose heyday was nearly a decade ago. If you’re writing a book, you face difficult odds and little reward—and yet you press onward because writing is what you were born to do. Sounds like the same mantra of a superhero—and a superhero is just a badass in a costume.

7. Accomplishing a dream is rare—and awesome.

Many people try to write a book but only a few ever succeed. Whether it’s because they didn’t put it in time, make the difficult sacrifices, were too scared they weren’t good enough, gave up when the going got hard, etc., they didn’t do whatever they needed to do to make their goal a reality. If you’ve finished your manuscript (or are on your way to completing it), you’re part of a small, select group of people in this world who have. And anytime you’ve worked hard to accomplish a difficult-to-achieve dream, you are, without a doubt, a badass … and no one can ever take that away from you.

______________________________________________

A few reasons you should feel good about yourself this weekend…and why you should strive to finish your novel.

I felt like adding a few:

No one can write your novel like you can. Even if you’re sharing a similar idea with a popular novel, what you write IS YOURS. Don’t be discouraged when someone says your novel sounds like something else. They won’t be the same.

A lot of writers never finish. You probably shouldn’t be encouraged by this fact, but you should feel good about finishing a book. It’s very hard to do and it’s extremely satisfying. Once you do, you’ll be able to encourage other authors to do so.

You stayed on track and you accomplished something you promised yourself you would. That’s reason enough to celebrate.

The sword is one of the most iconic weapons you can give your character. Unfortunately, this also means swords are very contextual; depending on your setting, your sword will say a lot about the character you give it to, regardless of your intent.

This post’s going to be a little different from our normal fare. Usually, when we’re doing a write-up of a style or weapon, we just talk about how you use it in combat, and how it behaves; with swords, we’re going to also need to talk about what they mean for your settings and cover some of their history.

That said, you should not be citing this for historical accuracy. I’m going to be condensing thousands of years of history into a very short primer. What this means is, I’m glossing over some historical idiosyncrasies. If you’re using an actual historical setting, and not an amalgam of an era, then you’re going to need to do more research on the people and weapons of that time.

The Shortsword:

Shortswords are among the earliest examples of the weapon, dating back to the Bronze Age. These started out as simple blades between 12 and 24 inches in length. The length of a shortsword was limited by the available forging technology. Early Iron Age shortswords were single bladed, while later ones, such as the Roman Gladius were double edged.

The shortsword itself lacks a lot of the subtlety and grace that we usually associate with swords. The characters were likely trained to use the weapon in tight formations with other soldiers, with a focus on chopping strikes. Duels between character wielding shortswords are more like writing knife fighting.

The Greeks, ancient Egyptians, and Romans all used shortswords as standard military weapons, supplemented with spears. If your setting is patterned off any ancient Mediterranean culture, the shortsword will probably be viewed as the weapon of a soldier or a veteran. There is a catch here, single bladed shortswords doubled as machetes in climates where they were needed, so depending on your setting there may be a distinction between shortswords that are tools and those that are weapons.

The Longsword:

Longswords are dependent on more advanced forging techniques. The first longswords emerged late in the first millennium AD. By the 1100s they had evolved into the European longsword we’re familiar with. Unlike the shortsword, the longsword was, for the most part, rare and expensive in Europe during the medieval era.

As with most weapons, how your character has been trained will massively influence the way they wield a longsword. Most longsword combat you see in films is built off of dueling schools; which differs from most sword combat in the use of parries. Blade on blade parrying is very destructive to a sword. While this isn’t an issue for an aristocrat who won’t be fighting another duel this month (or was using a rapier), for a soldier or knight, it is a critical issue. Their training was to evade incoming attacks, rather than to block with the sword.

Most longswords are double bladed, allowing the combatant to rapidly reverse a hew (slash); this allows for rapid flurries of multiple strikes. Most combat with the weapon focuses on quick strikes, with as much efficiency of motion as possible. Wide heavy strikes have a limited place in combat, while spinning strikes (what you see from Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings films) is almost exclusively an exposition technique.

Depending on your setting, a longsword can say a lot about who your character is. If your setting is patterned off of a Viking or Celtic themed era, then the longsword is a fairly normal weapon for raiders and warriors.

If you’re using a realistic medieval setting, then swords are very rare, and the purview of nobles, their knights, and the rare elite mercenary. If you’re using a variant of the standard medieval fantasy world, then the longsword becomes a sign of nobility. Giving a peasant a sword to subtly hint that they’re really the long lost true heir to the kingdom is, well, cliché. Even Star Wars does this, accidentally.

Fencing Swords:

Unlike other swords, fencing blades began as civilian weapons. They doubled as a sixteenth and seventeenth century fashion statement, and a weapon for dueling.

Fencing weapons are one of the easiest to study, if you have an interest, the foil, epee, and saber are have all been preserved as sport styles. With a very important caveat: unlike most sport martial arts, fencing reduces its lethality by blunting the weapon, and armoring the combatants; the underlying style is still incredibly lethal. Remove the armor and the blade caps, and a fencer’s training is as dangerous as a practical martial style.

Fencing is where we get most of the blade on blade parrying from. Rapiers are, in general, much more focused on stabbing, rather than slashing, so the blade is, somewhat less critical than the tip.

Fencing is also (probably) where we get the concept of dual wielding swords. As early as the sixteenth century, it was fairly common to pair a rapier with a shortsword or buckler. The shortsword was used to parry incoming attacks, rather than as an offensive weapon.

Fencing blades are one of the easiest weapons to justify training in, for a modern character. Fencing schools still exist throughout Europe and America. It’s viewed as an elitist sport and is usually in the domain of the rich, much like horseback riding in urban and suburban areas. It’s a very expensive hobby. (Michi Note: I looked into fencing once when I was younger, Stanford ran three to four week summer courses. For reference: it cost 400 dollars, this was in the late 1990s and didn’t cover the cost of the equipment. My martial arts lessons cost less than that to pay up for the whole year.) Part of this is because fencing is a very difficult sport to spectate; matches are fast, and the scoring is very complex. Most modern fencers are trained in styles that originated in the nineteenth century.

They’re also one of the easiest weapons to see some actual sword work with. A lot of old Hollywood films, used fencing coaches for all of their sword fights, so, there’s a large body of work out there. It’s not perfect, but it’s a good starting place. (Michi Note: the old swashbuckling films, particularly the Errol Flynn films that star Basil Rathbone such as Captain Blood or the Adventures of Robin Hood and the old Zorro movies are pretty great. But really, any of the old Hollywood swashbuckler films from the 1920s to the early 1950s.)

If you’re using a renaissance era setting, and your character’s family is wealthy (either because of nobility, or as a merchant or artisan), the Rapier, Foil, or Epee is a reasonable choice. It doesn’t carry as much baggage as a normal longsword would. This is the weapon of a fop who wants to pretend they’re a warrior, the weapon of a noble who wants the world to see his status, the weapon of an actual professional duelist, or some combination of the above.

Cavalry Swords:

Cavalry swords, like the scimitar and saber are long thin curved blades designed to be used from horseback. These are primarily slashing weapons. The blade is curved to avoid getting caught in an opponent while rushing past them on horseback. The crossguard is contoured with the same goal. These started filtering into Europe from the Middle East around 1200, about the same time the first firearms made their way into European warfare.

As European powers transitioned to using firearms as their favored weapon of war (roughly the 1400s to the 1700s), the sword, along with other melee weapons started to fall out of favor.

Probably because of the difficulty of reloading on the move, cavalry kept their swords. As with other combatants they would start with a volley of gunfire, but then switch over to swords during the charge. This disrupted enemy infantry, who were trying to reload.

Also, early firearms weren’t accurate; rifling wasn’t invented until the 1700s, before that it was incredibly difficult to hit specific targets, as the bullet would tumble randomly once it left the barrel.

This led to another significant change on who would be carrying a sword. If your setting is based on the Napoleonic era onward, the saber was the badge of office for a military officer, or cavalryman (or cavalrywoman). For that matter, the saber actually still exists as an optional part of an officer’s dress uniform in a number of martial services, and was a common as an officer’s badge of commission up into the First World War.

If your setting is an Age of Sail style world, then you’re looking at a variant; the Cutlass. It grew out of officers being given swords to indicate their rank, and wandered off on its own. It isn’t completely historically accurate to give all your pirates and sailors swords, but, because of the nature of boarding a ship at sea, cutlasses and pistols were common weapon choices. At this point, I’d say, you’re within the expectations of the genre, and have fun.

Idiosyncrasies:

I’m going to point out a couple of those idiosyncrasies I skimmed over, before anyone asks. The longsword didn’t get more expensive in the dark ages, the economy of Europe changed, and the sword became comparatively more expensive. I’m not going to do a full write up on medieval European economics, I’m sorry. (There is a very good write up on D&D economics here: http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=10821 which can be applied to most medieval fantasy settings.)

The saber is, historically, both a fencing blade and a cavalry blade. Actually the introduction of the scimitar into Europe might be part of where the fencing blades originated from, I’m unsure.

Finally, there were longswords before the Vikings; they date back to the seventeenth century BC. They also were a vastly different weapon in combat from the longsword that evolved from the Viking Sword.

Here are some simple yet amazingly effective steps that will insure you start and finish your epic fantasy novel. You just need to understand what epic fantasy really is and why you want to write it.

The key to writing a real epic fantasy novel lies in the word “epic”. But this doesn’t just mean big in scale, scope, and size. An epic fantasy novel doesn’t have to be a thousand page doorstopper. It has to be epic in its ambitious reach for finding answers to the big questions in life. This is the true and hidden goal of epic fantasy. It is a vehicle for understanding what life is about. And even though the story may have dragons, and take place on an unbelievable world that doesn’t really exist it needs to be applicable to the human condition.

So this is the first thing you have to do when writing an epic fantasy novel. Decide what you want to say about life or what important topic you want to explore. Write this down and keep it in mind throughout your whole novel writing experience. And remember that you don’t have to come right out and explain your theme. It is usually better, and more rewarding for the reader, if you reveal the theme slowly and allow him or her to discover it.

Some common themes you may want to explore in epic fantasy include the examination of the nature of good and evil, the ultimate meaning of life, the quest to understand oneself, or the challenge of making the transition from childhood to adulthood.

DID SOMEONE SAY

SMELLS?

My time to shine. 

Okay, so. No fair making fun of me, but I’m pretty good at smells- I mean, I can tell all my friends apart by smell. On one memorable occasion, my mother asked me if one of my friends had left a coat at the house- I sniffed it, and told her no. (I was correct). My excuse is that like half of my cast are canines or part time canines, and so knowing the smells of things is Important Research.

Ahem. Without further ado, let’s talk smells!

Quick warning, though- not all of these are nice smells. You might not want to read this while eating? You can be the judge of how much described smells get to you. You were warned.

Basically, everyone has a personal smell- that’s what they smell like under all the stuff that clings to them. It’s how they’d smell if they took a through shower without soap or anything, and then you smelled them. It doesn’t smell like a whole lot, basically- it smells like skin, and clean hair and human. Which is actually pretty pleasant, clean human is a nice smell. It does vary a bit person to person, but PEOPLE DO NOT EXUDE LIKE LILAC SMELLS AND BULLSHIT LIKE THAT, LET ME TELL YOU. FLOWERS OOZE OUT FLOWER SMELLS. PEOPLE DO NOT. IF YOUR CHARACTER SMELLS REALLY FLOWERY OR NICE AND IT’S NOT PERFUME, YOU NEED TO REEVALUATE WHAT YOU’RE DOING WITH YOUR LIFE. Ahem. That brings us to

Additional personal smells: People do not exist in a perfect bubble of cleanliness. Our bodies make smells. Probably the biggest one is sweat. There are a few kinds of sweat smells, actually- some more attractive than others. There’s your sour or stale sweat smell, a favorite of people who don’t bathe often enough and cook in it. Old sweat is nasty. Newer sweat doesn’t smell as bad, particularly if the person’s wearing the right kind of deodorant. Someone who’s pretty clean, but has just worked out will smell like sweat- but it’s an earthier, less sharp smell. It can still be pungent, but it’s not as bad. Fear sweat stinks- it smells warm and wet and sour. Sweat from being too warm (like sitting in the sun, or getting worked up) doesn’t smell like much- just like stronger, damp human. Sweaty feet are a bit scary. How hot your feet get without being able to breathe determines how much they’ll stink- so dedicated barefooters have unsmelly feet, and people who’re wearing thick socks in boots in the winter will stink like crazy.People will give off some smells too, that likewise get more pungent the longer they go without bathing. For example, sometimes vegetarians have lighter, less rich and irony smells. Teenagers smell worse, because hormones are petulant little bitches. If teenagers don’t shower often, they’ll get a greasy, weird smell. Kids smell nicer, and adults either smell alright, or bad. Babies in particular have soft, sweetly milky smelling skin, which almost makes up for the fact that they’ll be letting out all kinds of weird stink (spit up smells like violently spoiled milk, baby pee pretty much smells like any urine, and their feces smell really sharply bad, like… I’m sorry, that’s probably not something that you need. I know because I worked childcare for years. Eventually, you make it past the wall and things stop being as gross to you.) Elderly people also have a smell. You know the smell. Menstrual blood has a smell- it’s very different from fresh blood (meatier, and less metallic- which is because it’s working on becoming placenta), and you can sometimes smell it on someone if they’re using pads and need to change theirs. Fresh blood smells kind of coppery- the closest I can find to it is if you get a handful of change (I checked once, and I think quarters are actually closest? Might have been dimes), and let it heat up in your pocket, then smell it. People do actually fart. How bad that smells depends on what they’ve been eating. And breath is a thing. If the person hasn’t eaten anything lately, it just smells kind of neutral, damp and spitty. Foods and drink add smells- some are distinctive (coffee, garlic). Mints and toothpaste will freshen up a mouth, but they don’t last forever- so someone that smells of toothpaste has just brushed their teeth. Gum comes in a lot of flavors, and it will sweeten someone’s breath, too. Alcohol doesn’t have much smell in the glass, but once it’s in a person, they produce a smell as their body processes it. It’s not a super pleasant smell, but it’s not awful if they’ve been drinking lightly and are going to shower before it really sets in. You can actually tell if someone’s drunk or going into a diabetic coma (they act similarly), based on their scent- drunk people smell like booze, diabetics will smell fruity. Some illnesses have a distinct scent, it’s worth checking out. 

Sooo, a lot of what you smell on someone is actually what’s been added to their own scent! We’ll start with products that go on people. Soap: Most people do use soap. YOU WILL KNOW if they don’t. Soaps have different smells, but generally, they’re mild, and smell pleasant and clean. Cheap soap smells a bit more like kitchen cleanser. Some soaps are scented- and they come in a dazzling array of flowers and spices and extracts, basically whatever you can imagine. Good scented soap will have a nicely balanced, not overwhelming scent that smells like the thing that it’s supposed to, and clings to skin in a way that you have to lean in a bit to get a good whiff of. Cheap scented soap smells like fake extracts, and can be too strong, or not smell like much at all. Soap is something that you can smell on someone from about hugging range. Shampoo/conditioner: Again, shampoo comes in an array of scents. You’ll be smelling someone’s shampoo if you’re close enough to smell their hair, which is pretty close. Shampoo can smell like anything from apples to some fake ‘ocean breeze’ shit to plain soapy-but-creamier-than-soap smell. Go to the store, sniff some shampoo. There are a lot of kinds out there. Other hair products, like gel and hairspray, across the board have an artificial, peculiar scent.Deodorant: Deodorant is one of those things that are gendered, when I don’t know why they need to be. The point is, women’s deodorant generally smells more flowery and perfumey, and men’s smells kind of spicy and darker. In my experience, women’s deodorant is a backstabbing and tricksy lot- let me tell you, sweat mixed with flowers is NOT a pretty smell. On a hot day, you end up smelling kind of putrid and rotting. Most of the guy deodorant smells (not axe stay far away from axe don’t go there Simba) go better with sweat. I could go on. I feel nearly as betrayed by women’s deodorant as I do by girl pockets. (Btw, if any of you wanted to know, Arm and Hammer makes deodorant that smells like absolutely nothing at all, is cheap, works well, and is nongendered. Because baking soda is god. Incidentally, you can also use plain baking soda to scrub with and to wash your hair with. So people camping might smell of baking soda, because it’s a good outdoors trick.)Perfumes/bodysprays/aftershave: Again, they come in most smells that you can think of- flowery, candyish and sugary smells on products intended for women, spicier and muskier smells for men. The good stuff actually smells like it’s supposed to, and is nuanced and not overpowering. The poor quality stuff smells sharp, with an alcohol-y bite, and the scents smell like extract, or are too sugary sweet, or smell sour. All of these will interact with a person’s personal smell, so scents smell differently on everyone. Maturity is a thing when it comes to scent, too- if you’ve ever been in a locker room with young teens, you’ve had tears brought to your eyes by people spraying clouds of this stuff. When you have a good scent and restraint, all you need is a dab or a splash. Poor application means that you can smell this on someone a mile away, good application means that you’ll smell this once you enter someone’s personal space. Lotion: Lotiongenerally has a softer, creamier base, and then has a scent over top. Again, it can be very pleasant, or really overpowering and bad. Lotion is a spreading smell that dissipates, to where you’d have to be close to someone to smell it.  Detergent: People’s clothes contribute to their overall scent. There are many brands of detergent, and there are a few different smells. Fabric softener has a smell, too- it’s soft and sort of powdery. Clean clothes have a fresh scent, and they’ll smell like the fabric they’re made of (cotton has a crisp scent, artificial fabric doesn’t smell like that much, wool smells like sheep (kinda doglike)), and clothes that have been worn a bit smell like their owner. If someone’ll let you, you’ll be able to tell the difference between a clean shirt of theirs, and a shirt they’ve worn all day. Some people do things to give their clothes some smell- like putting their clothes in aromatic cedar chests, or hanging bits of cedar in their closet, or hanging little packets of scent, like lavender. Clothes are something that you’ll smell around hugging distance, usually, or within that person’s personal space. Unscented things: There are many reasons why people wouldn’t want to wear a lot of added scent. Some people are very allergic to artificial or natural scents, or work around people who are (there’s a scent ban at my uni, because some of the staff are pretty allergic). Lots of people who work with animals find that animals don’t care for a lot of scent, and leave it off (in particular, I know a lot of equestrians whose horses don’t like smelly stuff). Some people just prefer smelling like themselves, or have sensitive senses of smell, and find scents cloying. 

 Environmental smells!: People will have smells stick to them, in addition to what they put on themselves. So, consider what your character does all day. A baker might smell like flour and cinnamon. A janitor will probably smell like cleaning fluids. Someone who trains horses will smell like horse after a long day (which is a distinctive, large ungulate smell, mixed with sweet hay), and someone who has pets might smell a little like dog (all that hair on your clothes has a net effect). A bookshop worker probably smells like books and paper, and artists smell of their medium. Smokers, and people near smokers, will have a stale, smoky scent to them. Incense clings, and so does pot. Basically anything that has a smoky form clings like nobody’s business. Think about where they are, or what they do most of the day, and add some smells accordingly. 

Finally- a word about how smells are perceived by other people: You mentioned romantic scenes in your ask. Based on some sciencey stuff, it is a thing that you’ll like the way someone that you like smells. It has to do with like hormones and pheromones and stuff. Personally, I generally like how my friends smell, because I’m fond of them. Generally, if you’re close enough to get a good whiff of someone, you’re in each other’s personal space. If their smell reaches you from outside that bubble, it’s either tempting, or an invasion of your space. If you’re really close to someone, it can be nice, or torture, based on whether they smell like light soap and cedar and a bit of shampoo, or if they smell like sour, unwashed human mixed with urine. Be sure to describe the effect the smell is having on the smeller- does the putrid scent of someone who hasn’t showered make them gag, or does smelling their lover make their back muscles relax as they breathe in? Some people have better senses of smell than others- but because we, as humans, don’t have that great a sense of smell, we usually smell the dominate, strongest scent of a person, and can sometimes make out other smells if we work at it. Non human characters might be able to glean even more interesting information- dogs smell the way that we see, which could make for some very interesting descriptions. 

Alright, there you are! I hope that helped.

Hello fellow writers! Alright, this is my first try writing something like this, but I’ve personally had a hard time finding any tips on this sort of thing, so I decided I’d try to fix that! This is going to be a really watered down tip sheet on writing and creating non-human characters, and all the fun little extra bits that come with it. I’m going to focus on writing a non-human character in contexts where they will interact with a human, though, because it’s easiest for me to focus there.

Editing Software:

StyleWriter 4 is fantastic. It’s an add-on for Microsoft word and has a 14-day trial period. It goes through your text, picks out “glue words”, misspellings, long sentences, homonyms, passive tense, shows your reading grade level, and more.

Editminion *FREE* checks for adverbs, weak words, passive voice, cliches, and homonyms among other things.

Pro Writing Aid is another online editor. It is mostly free, but offers more features if you pay.

AutoCrit offers free analysis for under 500 words, otherwise you have to pay for more text and more editing features.

Paper Rater offers a free service for editing, but it is designed for essays.

Formatting Checklist: This follows the general guide of formatting a manuscript in Microsoft word. However, some literary agents and editors have their own requirements.

Under the paragraph option, change the special indentation to first line at .5”. Change to document to double spaced.

There should be no spaces between paragraphs.

When showing a scene break, center # on a blank line.

Font should be easy to read. Courier New and Times New Roman are preferred at size 12.

All margins should be 1”.

Start chapters on a new page and put the chapter title 1/3 down the page. Write the chapter like so: CHAPTER ONE - CHAPTER TITLE. Press return 4 - 6 times before starting the text of the chapter.

For the header, put YOUR NAME/BOOK TITLE/PAGE NUMBER in the upper right-hand corner. Start this header on the first page of the first chapter.

The cover page of your manuscript should have your name, word count, and contact information in the upper left-hand corner.

The title on the cover page should be in all caps. Your name should be underneath in all caps. If you use a pen name, write YOUR REAL NAME (WRITING AS PEN NAME).

At the end of the manuscript, start a new page and write END.

Self-Editing Checklist:

Spelling:

If you are using Microsoft word for your word processor, use the spell check. After that, go through the manuscript line by line to make sure everything is spelled right. You may have used “form” instead of “from” and skipped it because Microsoft word did not see it as misspelled.

Printing out your work or viewing it in another way (such as a pdf on an ereader) helps find these mistakes.

Beta readers can find what you missed as well.

Use editing software to check homonyms or look up a list of homonyms and find them in your document using ctrl + f. Check these words to make sure you used the right spelling.

Grammar and Style:

First use Microsoft word’s grammar checker, but be aware that it is not always right. Check grammar girl if you are unsure.

For dialogue, you can always pick up a professionally published book and look at how the dialogue tags are used, where commas are placed, and when other punctuation is used.

If you’re in school and your English teacher isn’t too busy, have them take a look at it.

Look out for prepositions. Most of the time, you can omit these words and the sentence will still make sense. Beginner writers use a lot of these in their writing and it slows the flow.

Check for adverbs. You’d be surprised at how many you use in your writing, sometimes up to five a page. Using a few in narration is okay, but only a few. Delete adverbs you find, especially those that end in “-ly”, and rewrite the sentences in necessary.

Delete gerunds and forms of “to be” if writing in past tense. Instead of “were running”, write “ran”.

Check subject-verb agreement.

Use correct dialogue tags. People don’t bark their words. They shout.

Two digit numbers should be written as words (twenty-seven) while numbers with more than two digits should be written with numbers (123).

Avoid passive verbs.

Vary sentence length.

Show with the five senses rather than telling.

Most of the time, you can delete the word “that”.

Avoid using “unique” or “significant” words too often.

Consistency:

Make sure all your font is the same size and type.

Make sure you have no plot holes. Use the comment feature in Microsoft Word to track these plots.

Make sure your time line is consistent.

The tone should fit the scene.

There should be one POV per scene. Unless you’re a brilliant writer and can pull off third person omniscient.

Verb tense should be consistent.

Keep track of the details you release of people, places, and things. The reader will remember if in one chapter you say your protagonist has blue eyes and in another you say green.

Pacing:

The whole book should flow in and out of fast paced scenes to keep your reader interested and slow scenes to give them a break.

The middle should not “sag”.

Sentences should flow smoothly.

Plot:

Keep track of all your plots and sub-plots. Readers will remember them.

There should be a beginning, middle, and end.

Is the initial problem at the beginning of the manuscript?

There should be at least one antagonist. This does no have to be a person.

Is there enough conflict?

There should be a resolution.

All scenes should have something to do with plot.

The climax should be the most exciting part.

Character:

The protagonist should change by the end of the book.

Make sure all characters who come in contact with one another have some kind of relationship, whether good or bad.

Characters must have motivation for everything.

The protagonist must want something right from the start of the conflict.

The protagonist needs to be captivating. The readers wants to root for the protagonist. This does not mean the protagonist needs to be likable all the time.

The readers likes to relate to characters. Make sure your characters are diverse enough that readers can identify with one.

Know who your protagonist is. The main character is not always the same. For example, Nick in The Great Gatsby is the main character, but Jay Gatsby is the protagonist. This is important to know while writing your query letter.

If you can delete a minor character from a scene and nothing changes, then delete that character.

Sometimes you can make two minor characters one without losing any essential parts of the story. If you can, do this.

All characters react and act.

Each character has his or her own life.

Dialogue:

Dialogue should be believable. Read it out loud.

Don’t go overboard with phonetic spelling if a character has an accent.

Dialogue should be informal and natural. It does not have to be grammatically correct.

Prose:

Avoid purple prose. I’ve never met anyone with “emerald eyes” or “hair of fire” (except for the Flame Princess).

Don’t use too many adjectives.

Avoid cliches.

Other:

Don’t info dump. Pace information through dialogue and narration.

The first sentence should spark interest, or at least the first three. If it does, the first paragraph should be the same. And the first 250 words. The goal is to get the reader past the first page.

Let your story rest. When you’re ready to edit, start at the end. Writers tend to get lazy at the end of their story whether they are writing it for the first time or revising it after revising the rest of the story.

Grammar

NOTE: Your grammar doesn’t have to be perfect as long as you get the message across clearly. 

Know your parts of speech. You can brush up on them here

If something sounds or looks wrong, check it. Something is wrong but you can’t identify it? Read this. Still don’t know whats wrong? Try this

Punctuation is important! Know how to use them! Punctuation list. 

Genres 

You might be thinking “I’ve got that covered” but there are tons and tons of genres and subgenres, and they go far beyond what you find in the library. Here is a list of non-fiction genres, and here is a list of fiction genres. I’ll also throw in a link to here, which has the main four styles of writing.

Spelling/Word usage

Spell it write! Here is a huge list of common spelling errors

Write below your reading level. Keep in mind you can use context clues while reading but not writing. Be absolutely sure you are using a word correctly.

The dictionary and Thesaurus are your friends! Use the dictionary to look up words, use the Thesaurus when rewriting to find a more accurate word. Use the reverse dictionary  to look up words by their definition. 

Research

Be 100% certain you know what you’re talking about. wikiapedia is your friend. Also make sure to take full advantage of google. There are plenty of tips on how to optimize the google search here

NOTE: You cannot trust all the information given to you on the internet. Make sure that the found information is well sourced. 

Also Libraries are your friend. Libraries tend to have their own search database for web articles as well as all the good old fasion books. If you’re serious about writing then i would highly recommend heading down to your local library. The librarian will help you find any information you need and direct you to credible resources to find more

 Apps

If you have an Ipod/iphone/ihonestly don’t care what you use, then here are some helpful apps

Novel idea: This app is one of the best I’ve found. It helps you organize your potential novels, characters, locations, and scenes. It is very plot focused and will want you to know more about your character than his appearence and quirks. It asks for things like internal/external conflict and so on, so have your plot in mind. 

Google Drive: I’m not even gonna link to this cause its pretty self-explanatory. 

NOTE: Never be afraid to start a new document.If you get stuck somewhere in your story, refer to an outline, pick a new place and start writing that part. Don’t just keep one messy document with everything in it. When you do that it’s easy to get overwhelmed  Similarly don’t spread everything out over 20 million documents, it will be equally stressful if you have 30 tabs open.

Write Chain: This app will let you set goals for yourself and then record how much you’ve written in a day. When you meet your goal you add a link to your “chain” and when you don’t your chain is broken and you have to start over. This can help and be motivational to some but others it can be a source of stress, if it’s not helping you, delete it.

I think thats all for now!

There are two ways to lose your momentum when writing a story: not knowing enough and knowing too much. Here’s how to keep going if either happens to you.

Not knowing enough

Most of writer’s block comes from not knowing what happens next. You have point A down, point B lies somewhere over yonder, and between the two is an infinite wordless chasm.

I find the easiest way to prevent this is to stop and think about what I want in that chasm without my computer actually in front of me. The chasm won’t get filled with sentences; it can only be filled by entire plot points, which need outside planning.

If that doesn’t work, try making a list of all the things you don’t want to fill the chasm. Making the list will help you whittle your options down to what you do want.

When all else fails, try ending the chapter at point A, following a different character, and picking up the next chapter at point B. If A and B are far enough away from each other, you’ll still have to explain what happened, but interspersing backstory is easier than tackling narrative. This is the cheater’s way out, so don’t rely on it too much.

Knowing too much.

If you have a good idea of what each paragraph needs to be, actually laying them out can get tedious. The idea is always more fun than the execution, and sometimes the former can completely clog up the latter with details.

Writing dialogue is one of those key elements of fiction that a lot of writers struggle with. Here are 5 ways to write realistic dialogue.

Never use dialogue as an information dump. Too many writers rely on dialogue for story exposition—that is to say that they relay details about plot or backstory through the things their characters say. The result? Writing that sounds completely fake or is what is often referred to as “on the nose dialogue.” Like this: “As you know,” Dr. Constance said, “I’m a forensic specialist, trained by the FBI in DNA analysis, so I’ll take this sample back to the lab for testing. (For more about writing realistic dialogue that doesn’t sound stilted like the previous example, I recommend this free article from Jeff Gerke [excerpted from his book The First 50 Pages: Engage Agents, Editors, and Readers, and Set Up Your Novel for Success.])

Use simple dialogue tags. Fancy dialogue tags like she denounced or he proclaimed might seem like a good way to show off your writer’s vocabulary, but in truth they draw attention away from your dialogue. She said or he said is almost always your best choice. Let the characters’ words speak for themselves.

Use dialogue beats to help with story pacing and to convey information or emotion. Dialogue beats are brief depictions of character action inserted in between dialogue that help bring the scene to life. Like this:“Nah, I don’t mind,” Dan shrugged his shoulders and grinned as he wiped a dirty bandana across his forehead, “Let’s do this thing.”

Remember that often less is more. When you write dialogue look back and see if there are words you can leave out or there is a shorter way to say what you just wrote. People often say things the shortest way possible in real life.