CloverReef

what i would recommend, is pick the name of the character as a test, make sure it fits your world then do this, just to test it out.
“James walked into the …… and looked around the dark room, his eyes adjusted and he could see …..” 
“Thor walked into the …….. and looked around the dark room, his eyes adjusted and he could see …….”
“Tiny walked into the …… and looked around the dark room, his eyes adjusted and he could see …….”
make it longer than what I did, but used this as a test to your character name, does the name you have in mind as you run the first parts of the story fit, does it have the feel that you want?
does “James” sound like the name of your character for what they are going to do, in the world they live in.
it might help you find the name that you want.

This is AFF, assholes are appreciated
 

Concur, PenStoryTeller. 
Thinking back on it, I think I tend to use deus ex’s to get my characters into trouble, not out of it
Also, a deus ex might be a symptom of an issue with POV.  Something is happening behind the scenes that isn’t being communicated to the reader, which might be a deliberate handicap given the POV the author wished to explore.
 

I don’t know. I partly agree and disagree. Like, I see what you’re saying. As a reader, I usually don’t go around checking into the meaning and etymology of a character’s name. But for me personally, names hold power the same way words hold power. Sometimes I’ll avoid reading a story just because the naming is too generic or too indulgent. And it can be an interesting extension to a character if you make a statement with their name, such as a timid little mouse of a character named Butch lol. There’s also the emphasizing or expressing some aspect of your character’s background or personality through naming, but that kinda thing is so subjective. It has more to do with sound for me than meaning. For others, meaning is very important. 

very true, but a name can help make the character memorable, for better or worse.

The Deus Ex Machina is typically a trope born of poor planning , tight deadlines and frustration as much as it is lazy writing. A Deus Ex Machina like any writing tool, can be used to great effect. The greatest rule I’ve heard is that. COincicdeence and Chance should never solve problems. They may change the problems but if they solve the protagonist’s problems. It invariably trivializes the struggles of the protagonist. Worse,coincidence, chance, happenstance and deus Ex machina’s occur too frequently… it jettison’s the reader out of the experience.
Too see deus Ex Machina done well. I’d recommend Reading A Spell for Chameleon by Piers Anthony.   But let’s take Tolkien’s The Hobbit. Bilbo finding the ring could be seen as Deus Ex Machina right there. But note. The ring does not actually unilaterally solve Bilbo’s problems. It merely gives him a tool to assist him in figuring out solutions to his problems. By itself the RIng is as much a risk as it is a boon.. One might also see the ruscue by the eagles as Deus Ex Machina, but again it doesn’t really solve their issuesso much as deliver them from one problem to another, and initially Bilbo isn’t certain if the Eagles are helping.   See how that works?   One trick is to make someonthing seem like Deus Ex when actually  it’s something that you’ve been subtly dropping clues about:   The protagonist is told about the age of the buildings in a particular part of town.  ANother chapter someone off handedly remarks that a great fire in the cuty destroyed all but a few of the oldest wooden buildings.   IN another chapter, mention the unusually rainy and humid season, they;ve had the last few months.   SO when the wooden roof of the old chapel collapses during the climactic chase scene, allowing our heroes to escape. An astute reader will probably remember those tidbits, or pick them up during the second read through. Of course, the Chapel must have been one of the buildings that was spared in the fire, so the wood was very old, worse still, the ususually rainy and humid conditions would promote or accelerate rot in the old wood. STill random that it chose then to collapse but it';s not like a tree branch announces that it’s going to fall on your car during the night.   If you need too use a Deus Ex Machina. Use it early in the story. Let it be part of the inciting incident. If you write your characters into a situation that you need to use a deus ex machina to get them out… then you’re not playing fair with the reader. The reader’s mind will shift from, “How will they get out of this situation” to “How will the writer get them out of this situation.”

One thing, whenever I see “Lol, I suck at summaries just read” or similar I don’t. Because if you can’t even put that effort in to write something then it doesn’t bode well for the story.
And now I must fly off mysteriously.

I suppose a corollary of what y’all have been saying about hooking the target audience is that different types of stories call for different types of summaries. The summary for a funny story ought to be at least a little bit funny itself, whereas the summary for a mystery ought to be mysterious. 

Hi, stranger :) 
Sounds so logical now, but never thought of it that way.  Admittedly, I'm strange when it comes to books; I usually read the flyleaf after I've skimmed over the first chapter(s) (from which I make a judgement call...), so the summaries, in my case, are more an afterthought.  Which is probably reflected in how my writing is…
You...  Hate...  Writing...  Summaries?  <holds fingers in shape of cross...>  Blasphemy!
I agree.  The two important/interesting elements work and would certainly blend in with what BW said.  The set target audience would, consequently, be determined by those; for example, a SciFi romance would likely have the romantic elements outright listed, allowing the intended audience to know.  Not only that, but, because of the main themes and elements being presented, you have, hopefully, a hook in the summary that draw people in (...which is exactly what a summary should do and what BW said already...).  
Obviously, something called Attack of the Killer Lizard Blob People From Planet 672 is not likely to have "Killer Lizard Blob People attack!  Bob milks his cows.  Joan walks the dog.  It's an interesting day."  (Although, I'm kind of interested, in a strange way, at why Bob and Joan are doing mundane things as Lizard people are attacking...) 

Man I haaaate writing summaries. It was easier when I was just beginning and didn’t put any thought into it. Back when my writing was terrible but my fandom was great at stroking my budding ego anyway. Over the years I’ve tried many ‘techniques’. Mostly those techniques involved trying to read the readers’ minds, and putting in what I thought they’d want to hear (in M/M my best guess was stuff about the main pairing). 

Now, though, I tend to pick the two most important parts of the plot to focus on, and try to mention something specific and/or personal about the main char. Ideally, I’d mention the love interest too, since it’s still M/M, but that’s not always doable. 

So yeah, I’m very interested in this topic as well. Can’t wait to hear how other people tackle this beast. 

::peeks out from the frenetic RL stuff::
Think about those little bits you read on the flyleaf of a book, or the back of a paperback, which give you a quick hook into the story. It’s a bit of who, and bit of where, and a bit of “Wait, wtf happened to them?”
At least that’s how it was explained to me when I was pondering cancelling a contract with a publisher because I found out I was supposed to write my own summary. I mean, isn’t that what editors do? (Turns out they only read the summary you write, and then tell you to fix it...) But, while trying to come up with a way to make people want to read my book, it occurred to me the first person I needed to sell it to was me. Would I want to read the book based on my summary? Or would I cringe and put it back?

Man I haaaate writing summaries. It was easier when I was just beginning and didn’t put any thought into it. Back when my writing was terrible but my fandom was great at stroking my budding ego anyway. Over the years I’ve tried many ‘techniques’. Mostly those techniques involved trying to read the readers’ minds, and putting in what I thought they’d want to hear (in M/M my best guess was stuff about the main pairing). 

Now, though, I tend to pick the two most important parts of the plot to focus on, and try to mention something specific and/or personal about the main char. Ideally, I’d mention the love interest too, since it’s still M/M, but that’s not always doable. 

So yeah, I’m very interested in this topic as well. Can’t wait to hear how other people tackle this beast. 

I go with word counts because page counts are so easy to manipulate (font size, page size, font type, spacing, etc) – I remember playing with those back in school when a teacher would specify “X” pages and I’d come up otherwise short. 
I’ve tried 3Kwords, I’ve tried 25Kwords, and I’ve settled on a general rule of thumb for 6k-8k.  However, I’ll tolerate less/more if the chapter/circumstances demand it.  At 10k I’m generally looking to see if there’s a good way to divide it.  Below 5k, and I’m considering whether the chapter should be condensed with another, or something should be added.  Too short, and nobody gets engaged to click that “next” button, and too long, well, both makes it more daunting to me as an author and gives fewer natural “resting points” for the reader to set aside and come back later (I mean, if it’s a really long story, they need breaks).
 
 

I was gonna ask if the multi-appendaged people jumping school girls are female multi-appendaged people, but I’m afraid we may have gotten off topic. Um, so yeah… Diversity is good. 

Another thing about writing a diverse cast I really like, is that research GeorgeGlass mentioned. It kinda forces you into learning about other types of people, and learn a little about things you’ve never experienced before. If you do it well, it’s an excellent lesson in empathy. 

Fuuuuck yeah! Ppl who do that should be stoned to death! Long live the Matriarchy!

I’d totally love to see more autistic or aspergers characters. Or aliens! Aliens are fun too. Tentacle monsters with deep, multi-faceted personalities need more representation in erotica. 

I’m sorry! What do your people prefer to be called? Tentacled gentlemen?

This is actually something I think about a lot. Like way more than I should: word count. I really do obsess over it. I have a certain number range in which I try to keep most of my chapters (though some deviate if there isn’t a natural scene end within the range). And as a reader, I get intimidated easily by long chapters. 
As readers, what are your thoughts about word count (or page count)? What’s the ideal length for the first chapter of a story you’re reading for the first time? 
As writers/readers, do your preferences when you write differ from your preferences when you read? 

That is helpful. It’s good to know not everyone gets intimidated by a longish page of text like I do. 

Umm I’ll have you know good sire that “tentacle monster” is a racial slur! My ppl deserve respect god damn it!

Personally I hate short chapters. When I see that a story has like 20 chapters and get super excised to read that shit and then discover that all the chapters are like super short I get pissed! So I’d take a longer chapter any day. But I get it, super long chapters can be a pain in the ass for a reader and sometimes intimidating. So honestly medium is the best. Now idk how much this is when it comes to word count, so the words “long” and “short” are subjective. So I don't think I helped much here...but I gotta get that post cred! #thuglife

You’re probably right, DP, but that made me shudder a lil bit. I try to make my characters so vastly different than me or anyone I know so it’s more fun to explore them and get to know them lol. 

Anyway… TCR, I totally used to do the all-white cast thing. Which is weird, because I grew up in a neighbourhood with like 50% plus of plains cree. But I guess since my experience was of a white person, my view of the world was pretty white-washed. It never really even occurred to me to put in a diverse cast in my first few years of writing. Even when I wrote a story that took place in the Louisiana bayou, they were all white. I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing, but it sure does leave a lot to be desired. So in the last 10 or so years, I’ve been enjoying creating more diverse casts. Trying to make my worlds seem more real, and my characters more varied in all aspects. 
I don’t really try to steer away from stereotypes, though when I do use stereotypes, I want them to be so well rounded, they don’t feel like a stereotype, you know? Because when you think of a stereotype for gay men, one of the first that comes to mind is effeminate. And effeminate gay guys do exist, and shouldn’t be excluded just because they’ve been treated like the butt of a joke, you know? So when writers use stereotypes, I just expect them to put a lot of love into developing them. Same would go for cultures. If you’re going to use a negative cultural stereotype, I’d definitely hope there’d be something in their character to balance them out. 

For significant characters, I try to make sure they have hobbies, phobias, and perhaps an allergy or two.  (Like names, I’ve got a random picker app that makes suggestions.)   Culture/ethnicity is simply one piece to the character, not the full picture.

Capitalisation usage.
 
There’s a lot of rules for the use of capitalisation, but as in most cases regarding English, there are always going to be examples that seem to contradict the established rules. Also, what was once correct capitalisation usage can eventually stop being correct. But here are some rules to help you along.
Firstly, though, a quick lesson that will be useful for this document.
What is a noun? A noun is a word that identifies a person, place, thing or idea. You can find various examples all over the internet.
What is a proper noun? While a noun identifies a person, place, thing or idea, a proper noun actually names them, and they’re always capitalised. A person’s name is a proper noun. The name of a street, river, city, country, etc., are all proper nouns. Companies, institutions, churches, are also proper nouns.
 
Rule 1a. The first word of a document and after a full stop is always capitalised.
Example:
Holmes was certainly not a difficult man to live with. He was quiet in his ways, and his habits were regular.
 
Rule 1b. The first word of a quotation is also capitalised, but only if the quote is a complete sentence.
Examples:
Aldus Huxley once said, “Chastity – the most unnatural of all sexual perversions” (This quote is a complete sentence and so is capitalised.)
 
The witness described the vandals as “morons”. (This quote is not a complete sentence and so is not capitalised.)
 
If you’ve ever read stories online then you’re bound to have come across someone who insists on never using capitals. They usually do this because they want to come across as ‘individuals’ and ‘cutting edge’, etc. A more accurate description that I have come across for this is ‘pretentious and attention seeking’. I would totally agree with this. Never, ever do this! Not if you want to ever be taken seriously as a writer.
 
Rule 2. Capitalise proper nouns and adjectives derived from proper nouns.
Personal names (whether real, fictitious, or nicknames, or even substitutes for a name, animal or thing) are capitalised. Titles, whether official or religious, are capitalised, but not generic names, such as ‘uncle’ or ‘aunt’.
 
Examples:
The Sydney Harbour Bridge
A French novel (French is derived from the noun France and so is capitalised.)
That’s a picture of King Henry
The Great Wall of China
 
Rule 3. In general, all large words of the title of a story, movie, etc., should be capitalised, but small words (of, a, an, the, as, if, nor, and others) are not capitalised. But this is another fairly grey area in English.
Examples:
The Silence of the Lambs
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
A Game of Thrones
Note that words like ‘a’ and ‘the’ would not normally be capitalised, but if they’re the first or last word in the title then they are capitalised.
 
Rule 4. Words for calendar items, such as days, weeks, months, are capitalised, but not seasons.
Examples:
In Australia, December is the start of summer, which means no white Christmas for us.
Next year, New Year’s Day falls on a Monday.
 
Rule 5. Capitals are used in geographical names but not the points of the compass (north, south, east and west), unless they’re a part of a distinct region.
Examples:
The tourists were mostly from South East Asia, but some also hailed from Europe.
Jeff grew up in the state of Queensland, Australia, but moved to New Zealand.
You need to follow the trail north and then turn east when you come to the intersection. (‘north’ and ‘east’ are not capitalised because they’re not part of a distinct region.)
 
Rule 6. Capitalise titles when they come directly before a name, or when the title replaces the use of a name (But only if the title is used as a direct address)
Examples:
I remember watching President Obama’s inauguration speech.
The president of the club is Jeff. (‘president’ isn’t capitalised.)
“Hello, Doctor. I need your help.” (The title ‘Doctor’ replaces a name and so is capitalised.)
The doctor arrived late at his practice. (‘doctor’ isn’t capitalised as it’s a description rather than a title replacing a name.)
I’m sorry to report, Captain, that we’re taking on water. (The title ‘Captain’ replaces a name and so is capitalised.)
The captain went down with the ship. (‘captain’ isn’t capitalised as it’s a description rather than a title replacing a name.)
 
Note that occupations are not the same as titles. So you would not write: “That’s the Actor Tom Hanks”.
 
Rule 7. In general, don’t capitalise the word ‘the’ before proper nouns.
Examples:
We visited the Eiffel Tower.
Jeff loved playing the Grand Theft Auto games.
 
There are exceptions, though. For example, ‘The Hague’ in the Netherlands would always have the word ‘the’ capitalised’, because this has become the historically accepted way to spell it.
 
Rule 8a. Don’t capitalise the first word after a colon.
Examples:
Bring the following items with you: a donkey, lubrication, and some pain killers.
Get these from the supermarket while you’re there: eggs, milk, bread.
He finally got what he most the wanted: a promotion.
 
But here’s where the English language falls over itself once again. If a complete sentence follows a colon, and it’s not a quotation (see below), then authorities are divided over whether the first word after the colon should be capitalised.
 
Example:
Remember the old adage: Be careful what you wish for.
 
Depending on who you talk to, some would say the above is correct, others incorrect. So I’ll leave it up to individuals to decide on that one.
 
Rule 8b. Capitalise the first word of a complete sentence quotation that follows a colon.
Example:
The teacher made an announcement: “You’re all staying back late.”
 
Rule 8c. Capitalise the first word after a colon if the information following the colon requires two or more complete sentences.
Example:
My uncle once gave me valuable advice: Word hard. Play harder.

s whaa I love u