Category Archives: Writing Tips

Writing, Writing Tips

How to Make a Custom Brush (PHSH Effect #38)

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Making a Custom Brush is one of those early PHSH effects that I actually ended up forgetting about because I always just ended up finding a work around. Sure, the work-around usually took more steps and more time, but for some reason my brain just completely dumped the Custom Brush file, so I thought it was the only way.

That was, until this year, when I was finally doing a project that I couldn’t find a work around for and had to use a Custom brush – then I got frustrated because I didn’t have a Customized Brush for the thing I was doing, and was actually mid-frustrated thought when I remembered I already knew how to make one.

Cue the embarrassment.

Luckily, I work from home, so the only person who got to see that particular fail was my computer. (And now, you guys)

Also luckily, making a Custom Brush is nowhere near as complicated as some of these other Effects I’ve shown you, and I will probably be creating all kinds of them for my work moving forward.

Step 1

Step 1 of this not-so-complicated process is to either open the picture or draw the design you want to use for the brush. Make sure you do this on a white background and have the foreground design black. This way, all the white space will become transparent, and the black will be the opaque part of the brush.

To keep things simple for this tutorial, I’ve chosen this design:

Which is supposed to look like falling snow, or possibly even rain drops.

Step 2

Once you have the design you want to use, use the Selection tool to select the area of the design, then go up to Edit then Define Brush Preset.

After clicking the button, a little pop-up box will appear, prompting you to give the Brush a name.

Once you’re happy with the name, click ‘Okay’. Then you can check that the Brush has been added to the Brush List by selecting the Brush Tool and going up to the menu at the top of the page, then click the little drop-down arrow to open the Brush Selection menu. Scroll through the menu until you find your Brush – usually it gets added to the very bottom of the list.

If you don’t see your Custom Brush listed, double-check the rest of the list and – once you’re positive it didn’t get added to the middle of the list, for whatever reason – try the first half of this Step again.

Sometimes, for whatever reason, Photoshop just… don’t do the thing you ask it to do the first time around. I have no idea why, no idea how to fix it and yes, it does annoy me, too.

Step 3

Now you should be able to paint with your new Custom Brush!

If you chose a fairly easy/simple design, congrats! You’re done. You can now go out and use your Custom Brush on any/all projects you need.

For example, as I said, I wanted to use this Brush to create snow or rain, so I can use mine to paint over pictures like:

In using my brush on this picture, I realized it’s a tad too neatly speckled for realistic snow, but the good thing about knowing how to make Custom Brushes is that I can always delete and make another one.

Or, we can just play with the settings, instead.

Step 4

You can customize the Brush Settings by opening the Brush Properties menu, which should be a dialogue box openable from the right-side panel. (The bar that’s just in front of the space with the Layers Panel and Adjustment Panel)

Once you have this panel open, you can change things like the Size Jitter and Angle Jitter of the brush so that you aren’t just painting a single line with it, as well as things like Scatter, Hue Jitter and Brightness Jitter, so you end up with a multi-coloured Brush stroke that is anything but a straight line.

To demonstrate this, I’ve gone ahead and made a new Custom Brush that started with a base of a piece of confetti, so it’ll give you the best visuals for what all the custom settings can do. I’ve also chosen a new background image to work with.

This is the Confetti Custom Brush before changing any Brush Property settings. (I also re-closed the Brush Properties Panel so it wasn’t in the way)

This is the Confetti Brush after changing the Size and Angle Jitter. My brush just ended up getting smaller when I changed the Size Jitter, so I turned that setting back down to 0% because the original size worked for my needs.

I also realized at this point I was still using Black, so I erased and re-did this part with a more appropriate colour. Which is a good reminder to always paint/add your effects to a different layer instead of the background image when you can, so you can easily undo dumb mistakes like this.

This is the Confetti Brush after changing the Scatter options. I also changed the colour to pink, so you can see what things were changed.

Also, because I’m doing this in pictures, I think it’s important to note: Thus far, the black and teal confetti bits were added individually by me. I was essentially using the Brush as a stamp, just clicking on one spot and then moving to the next.

Changing this Scatter option allowed me to add all those bits of confetti with one click. Playing with the Count setting changed how many confetti bits appeared at once and the Scatter changed how close together they were.

If you’re ever unsure of what you’re changing, check the box at the bottom of the panel, it’ll show a preview of the changes you’re making.

This is the Confetti Brush after changing the Hue and Brightness Jitter from the Colour Dynamics section. (I’ve also changed the colour again)

Changing the Hue changed the colours of the bits and the Brightness changed the white balance of them.

This is the most fun part of creating your own Custom Brush, so don’t be afraid to really play around with these Settings and experiment to see what’s possible.

Step 5

Once you’re done having fun and you’ve got the Brush Settings adjusted to the way you’d like, click on the small arrow at the top right of the Brush Properties Panel, then click on New Brush Preset from the drop-down menu to create and save the new additions to the Brush. You’ll also need to give a name to this brush – be sure not to confuse it with the original!

You’ll also want to make sure the Capture Brush Size in Preset box underneath the Name field is check-marked, so that the saved brush actually captures all the settings you just changed.

And once that is done, you have your new-new Custom Brush!

To double-check that this one also saved, go back up to the Brush Menu at the top of the page and scroll through the list until you find it. In most cases, it should be saved next to the first Custom Brush you made.

You can also go ahead and test out the brush to make sure it works as intended, and if you want, you can also delete the first Brush.

Now that you’ve saved all the dynamic settings for your new Brush and made sure it worked, you can go forth and use your Brush in any/all projects you need it for. Go have fun!

Also, if you’re unhappy with any of the settings, you can always go re-open the Brush Properties Panel and change any of the settings you need to until you get the results you want.

Like this tutorial? Check out more here!

Writing, Writing Tips

Re-Publishing Books

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Now that I’m just over halfway through re-publishing my first three books, I wanted to take a moment to reflect and share what I’ve learned from the experience.

The first thing I want to share is more of something I remembered than ‘learned’:

I’m fucking insane.

I mentioned it a little in the Author’s Note in Melting Hearts, but publishing 3 books in 1 year is crazy. Even with them being re-writes, I’m still writing, editing, making the cover, marketing and everything else that goes into publishing a book.

And I chose to do it three times.

In 12 months.

I took a look at my Big Project for the year – y’know, the thing that I do around everything else – and went, ‘yeah, that’s not hard enough. What if I tripled it?’

I was crazy back in 2016 when I decided to do it the first time and I’m apparently still equally insane now. Who says you calm down with age?

Oh yeah, and just in case you’re new around here, or thinking something like, ‘well surely you are not that insane! It’s your publisher’s/boss’s/etc.’s fault!’ you’d be wrong. Just like all the work that goes up on the website, I’m an indie book publisher, too. It is literally just my fault. No one forced me into this deadline, there was no gun to my head – I actively chose to do this to myself. (Twice!)

Luckily though, it seems the 2nd time’s the charm because I am never doing this again. Not for the 20th 30th, 50th or 100th anniversary – never again. The only multi-book release years in my future will be if they’re non-fiction, like word-search or similar ‘game’ books. (I’ve had some very vagued half-baked ideas for getting into non-fiction books, but that’s another post)

Don’t get me wrong, I love my job and I wouldn’t trade it for anything else in the world! But sometimes I get a glimpse of just how difficult it can be – whether from my own hand or not – and need to take a step back and just say, ‘damn’.

I still think it was a cool idea to kick off my writing career this way. Publishing multiple books was an ambitious goal to set (not to mention advertise!) for my writing debut and I like that it got my name on more than one book quickly so I would be – or, at least, seem – more established.

Back then, I hadn’t even had my website set up, I was strictly posting on DeviantArt. (I wasn’t even on Archive of Our Own yet!) Wanting to transition to a professional space seemed big and I wanted my debut to reflect that – and, I think I did a pretty good job, if I may say so myself.

It’s been a lot of fun reflecting on not only where I was in my writing journey back then, but also who I was as a person.

It’s funny, 10 years both feels like it wasn’t that long ago and like it was a million years back. I’ve done so much and come so far since then… it’s crazy to think about.

I was just starting my adult life: I was in my first year of going vegan, was only 2 years into a long-term relationship and was just starting to enter the job market, too. I was a little lost and looking to find my footing.

It’s also crazy to think about where I am now and how it’s not that far off from where I was back then, funnily enough. Right now, I’m still vegan (10 years!), am a little over 2 years removed from what turned out to be a 9 year relationship and was feeling a little lost at the start of this year.

Re-publishing these books has allowed me to find some stable footing in my life again, just like they did back then.

Revisiting these stories has also been really fun!

Being able to not only look back at my old writing but improve it so I can better communicate what the stories were supposed to be to you guys has been great, if not, a little cringe-inducing in the process. It’s been cool to see that I’ve actually come a little ways since then, despite not feeling like it on a day-to-day basis.

Also, if I’m being honest? I’m glad I’m finally removing my old editor’s fingerprints from the first two books.

They didn’t do anything bad or ‘wrong’ per se, we just… had different creative directions for how the stories went and how the books themselves should look (formatting/styling-wise). It’s probably not something anyone else noticed, but it’s irked me for 10 years when reading my books that I could clearly hear their voice in places instead of my own. It was frustrating because on the one hand, I knew they only helped – they were quite literally just doing the job I asked them to do! – but on the other, it made the stories sound choppy and disjointed to me, so I’m glad I’ve finally been able to rectify that.

It’s like I’ve been living with a splinter in my finger for the last decade and I’ve finally been able to remove it.

If revisiting some of your old work is something you’ve been thinking about, despite what I’ve said above, I’d recommend it! It’s been a fun, interesting experience and I think you might be able to learn a lot about your own style changes, your growth, old tropes you’ve forgotten about or any number of other things. Just don’t do multiple books in one year. (For the love of God please learn from my ‘this would be cool’ vs ‘that’s not how time works’ mistake)

And, don’t worry, I don’t have plans to re-write any of my other books. And even if I did eventually want to, it would become boring because eventually, there’d be a point where all I’d be doing is re-writing old work instead of creating new ones, and I know that would drive me further insane then I am now.

This three books in one year thing is truly a once-in-a-career moment and I’m glad I’ve got to have the experience twice – even with all the additional stress. (And yes, I know exactly how that sentence sounds, I think it’s funny and it’s 5am so I’m not changing it)

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Writing, Writing Tips

10 BEST Things About Working From Home

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10. No Commute

You don’t have to wake up an hour earlier, rush out the door and then squish yourself into an over-crowded bus/train, or sit half-asleep in traffic.

No crowds/excessive noise right when you wake up and there’s no mad-dash to get home at the end of the day, where you do that entire process in reverse, because you’re already home!

9. You Save Money!

That’s right, working from home can actually save you money. You don’t need to pay for as much gas or a public transit pass and, you’re less likely to feel the itch to exit the office for a breather since you’re, y’know, not actually in the office – which means you’re less likely to hit up the vending machines in the hall and/or run out and buy lunch or a coffee.

If you’re hungry throughout the day, you can just raid your own kitchen and make your coffee at home.

8. No Dress Code

Uncomfortable shirts? Poke-y underwire bra? Slacks that are a little too tight around the middle? Those are all problems of the past! Now, you can roll out of bed and work in your pj’s/sweats, if you so choose.

Even if your job requires you to be on-camera for a portion of your shift, you can still where whatever you want out-of-frame. And, you can rip it off and swap it for comfier clothing the second that part of your day is over, instead of having to keep it on longer because you have to commute home.

7. No Annoying Co-Workers

Stealing your lunch from the break room fridge? Stinking up the communal bathroom? Getting roped into unnecessary water-cooler talk?

All problems of the past now that you’re working from home!

Sure, you might still have to listen to them during calls, or internal IM messages, but one good thing about this is that you can either ignore their message completely until you’re ready to deal with their bullshit, and/or, mute/lower their volume in a call if they’re truly grating on you.

Just be sure you don’t miss if they say anything actually work-related.

6. More Productive Breaks

No need to wait until after work or the weekend to toss a load of clothes in the washing machine, or to wash a few dishes. Already being home means you can easily cross off a few chores from your to-do list – or at least, make a dent in them – while you’re on the clock!

5. Cleaner Bathrooms

Does anyone actually like going to the bathroom in public? I’ve yet to meet someone who does.

Being home means you get the luxury of using your own bathroom the whole day, so you’re arguably more comfortable taking bathroom breaks. Which is great, because having that comfort might also spur you on to stay more hydrated/eat more regularly, since you’re not attempting to avoid food and drink in a bid to escape needing to pee – or otherwise – in public.

4. You Can Work From Anywhere

Depending on what your job actually entails, you can basically work from wherever you want: your bedroom, a park, cafe or even a friend’s couch!

As long as you have internet – and, let’s be honest, almost everywhere a person can go nowadays has internet – you can work to your heart’s content.

Granted, technically this means wouldn’t actually be working from ‘home’, but your boss doesn’t need to know that. If you get your hands on a VPN, you can work from wherever you want without issue.

Just be sure not to get too distracted if you choose to bring your laptop to a beach.

3. Less Sick Days

I know, this one actually sounds bad, but let me explain. When you’re sick, usually, all people want to do is stay curled up in bed until they feel better – working from home allows you to do this!

Sure, you’ll have to get up and grab your laptop, but it sure as hell beats getting all dressed up, commuting to an office where the lights are suddenly too-bright and dealing with overly-chatty coworkers all day.

You still won’t feel like working, but you’ll probably be more likely to rally enough to open your laptop in bed.

2. Less Likely to Get Sick

While we’re on the subject of sickness, working from home means you’ll be less likely to even get sick in the first place!

You won’t be forced to get packed in with a bunch of strangers and all their who-knows-where-they’re-from germs and/or their hygiene standards that might not match your own – if the pandemic taught us anything, it was, unfortunately, that people in general are a lot grosser than we initially thought – which means you’re less likely to pick something up and bring it home.

1. You’ll Be More Productive

Without all the distractions of coworkers, weird building noises, screaming customers and excessive meetings that absolutely could’ve been an e-mail, you might find that you’re better able to focus on the tasks on your to-do list, which means you’ll be able to get them done faster.

Faster task checking-off means you’ll get more done in a day, and getting more done in a day gives you the potential to knock off work earlier than you would if you were sitting in a cubicle in-person.

No one is around to see if you take an extended lunch break, or go sit on your couch to eat dinner at 4pm instead of 5pm – and as long as you got all your work done, nobody will care, either.

You might even find yourself competing with yourself to see how much work you can get done in a shorter amount of time, to give yourself the gift of more relaxing time.

This is something I actually found myself doing at a previous job. The boss loved it because I was seemingly being super-productive, and I loved it because I got so good at out-competing myself, I was eventually only working half days.

The pay decrease stung a little, but I loved clocking in at 9am and being done for the day by 12pm. I used the rest of the day to focus on my passion projects, which meant I was being more productive on two fronts.

You can essentially give yourself the gift of time… how cool is that?

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Writing, Writing Tips

Diamond Word Effect (PHSH Effect #37)

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The next step in showing you guys how to complete the diamond sticker I’m using for my 10 Year Re-Writes is to actually show you how to make the diamond-studded words!

If this is the first tutorial you’re reading (or even just forgot because it’s been a while), this tutorial will be building on the last one from March, so if you haven’t read that one or need a refresher, go read/play around with that tutorial and then come back.

Okay, you good? Great!

Now we’ll get into today’s tutorial!

Step 1

Using the Type tool, type out some example text, or whatever text you want to use the effect on. For the purposes of keeping things simple, I simply chose Diamond Words. Once you do that, go up to the Font box in the top-left and change the font of your text to one that looks like a bunch of dots.

The specific font I’m using is called Fortuna Dot.

After you do that, Duplicate the layer. There’s a couple ways you can do this.

The first way, you just select the layer in the Layers Menu, then right-click and choose Duplicate Layer from the drop-down menu that opens.

Or, the other (and one I use most often) is to select the layer in the Layers Menu and then hold down the ALT key on your keyboard and drag your mouse either up or down until you see a small double mouse pointer appear. Once that happens, you can stop dragging and stop pressing the ALT key.

Used a purple background so you’d be able to see both the black and white mouse heads

 

Once you stop dragging, you should also notice a duplication of the layer has appeared in the Layers Menu.

Once you have the Duplicate Layer made, go up to the Fill box, and change it from 100% to 0%.

Step 2

Clicking back onto the original layer, bring up the Blend Mode options and apply the below values/settings.

Bevel and Emboss:

Style: Inner Bevel
Technique: Smooth
Depth: 100%
Direction: Up
Size: 10
Soften: 0

Angle: 120, 30 (check Use Global Light)
Contour: Cone – Inverted (the fine-peak triangle picture, un-check Anti-Alias)
Highlight Mode: Vivid Light (White)
Opacity: 75%
Shadow Mode: Multiply (Grey #a6a6a6)
Opacity: 75%

Contour:
Contour: Keep on the / grey bottom slope
Range: 25%

Texture:
Pattern: Metal Mesh
Scale: 100
Depth: +100

Pattern Overlay:
Blend Mode: Normal
Opacity: 100%
Pattern: Diamond (This is the pattern we made in the last tutorial)
Scale: 10

And, finally, we’re adding a Drop Shadow.

Drop Shadow:
Blend Mode: Multiply (Black)
Opacity: 50%
Angle: 120 (Check Use Global Light)
Distance: 10
Spread: 15
Size: 5

Step 3

Then go back to the copy of the text layer, and change these Blend Mode options:

Bevel and Emboss:
Style: Inner Bevel
Technique: Chisel Hard
Depth: 100%
Direction: Up
Size: 6
Soften: 0
Angle: 82, 53
Contour: Cone – Inverted (fine-peaky Triangles)
Highlight Mode: Linear Light (White)
Opacity: 75%
Shadow Mode: Multiply (Black)
Opacity: 0

Contour: Keep on / grey bottom, check Anti-Alias

Texture:
Pattern: Change to the Fine Granite
Scale: 100
Depth: 500
Check Link with Layer box

Inner Glow:
Blend Mode: Screen
Opacity: 75%
Noise: 49%
Colour: Grey-ish Yellow (#b3b694)
Technique: Softer
Source: Center
Choke: 0
Size: 16

Contour: Default / grey bottom
Range: 50
Jitter: 0

And then finally, add a Pattern Overlay!

Pattern Overlay:
Blend Mode: Soft Light
Opacity: 45
Pattern: Use Diamond patter from last tutorial (yes, again)
Scale: 100

Step 4

The last piece of the puzzle for this effect is to add some Lens Flares to give the studs the illusion of shining!

You can add as many or little as you’d like.

One thing I learned that can help make the Lens Flares look more believable as shines, is to rotate some so they’re not all facing the same direction and, vary the size a little. This’ll help make them look less added-on and more natural.

For example:

Above are all the Lens Flares in the same position and sizing, versus:

What it looks like when you add in some variation. Do you see the difference it makes?

Once you’re happy with the size, quantity and placement of them, you’re done!

Don’t forget to save both a PSD and JPEG/PNG version of your work, so you can go back in and change elements if you feel like you need to later.

Also, since I did the tutorial on a black background, you might be wondering what the point of adding the Drop Shadow was, so…

That’s what the effect would look like on a different-coloured background.

Like this tutorial? Check out more here!

Writing, Writing Tips

Book Titling Tips

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So, you’ve got a cool idea for a book. Or, maybe, you’ve just finished spending months or years of your life pouring your ingenious idea out of your head and down onto paper. You’ve shed tears, bashed your head against the wall and finally, finally nailed down a satisfying character arc. You’re ready to share your baby with the world!

There’s just one problem.

You don’t have a title.

Your baby, is nameless.

You can’t start bragging about – I mean, showing it – to people until you come up with a name. But, you’re a writer! How can you be expected to perfectly encapsulate the epic highs and lows of your definitely-over-the-minimum-word-count baby in just a few words? Or worse, one word?

It takes you paragraphs and countless pages to paint a picture.! Trying to downsize your epic idea for the back blurb was bad enough, but now you’re expected to downsize it again?

Before you turn your anxiousness into a full-blown panic spiral, I want you to listen to me: breathe. It’s going to be okay.

I’m going to tell you some hopefully helpful tips that have helped me in my titling-things journey.

Sit back, relax, and take a read.

1. Don’t Overthink It

I know, I know, ‘titles are the first impression of your book anyone will get! The title is how people find/recommend/talk about your book to others!‘

Listen, I’m not saying that titles aren’t important. What I’m saying, is that getting all twisted up in knots over finding one perfect word or phrase is only going to drive you insane. Obsessing over it will only actually stall the process and get you more frustrated – not solve the problem.

Take a breath, slow down, relax.

You can’t poop out a good title, and trying to force one out when your brain isn’t in the right state either won’t get you anywhere, or worse, will saddle you with a title you actively hate. But then you’ll be stuck because you can’t think of a good title because now you’re so twisted up with fear and panic and there’s no more time before your deadline…

That wouldn’t do anyone any good, so I need you to close your laptop.

Yes, I’m serious.

Go for a walk, watch a movie, call a friend, vacuum, do your laundry, paint your lawn – I don’t care. Just go do anything other than staring at your untitled work. Try to take your mind off it. Give your subconscious time to mull things over, and then come back to it in a few hours, or hell, even a few days. (Assuming your deadline allows that)

2. Try Picking a Title First

Leaving titles to the last minute was something I used to do all the time back when I was in school. I thought they were so important, they deserved the most amount of my attention, and how could you properly title something if you weren’t finished writing it, anyway?

If you’ve been a writer for any length of time, you know why that line of thinking is dangerous.

Instead of taking all the time I needed to focus on finding the perfect title, I ended up scrambling at the last second to not-hand-in something with a shit/clearly-last-minute title like Story for English 37, or worse, Untitled.

To avoid spinning my wheels in the last few minutes before a deadline, I started making myself title the short stories we had to write for English class first. Before I was allowed to write one word of the story that was already forming inside my head, I had to title it. The page would stay blank until I thought of a title.

And, do you want to know what I discovered?

Titles came to me a lot faster than when I used to leave them until the end!

By forcing myself to think of a title first, I had managed to hack my brain into not-over-thinking because of my eagerness to get passed that part and actually start getting the story out of me.

It sounds fake, I know – I thought that it would stall all my work forever when I first came up with it – but just, trust me.

Try it and you might be surprised how well it works.

What have you got to lose by trying it just once? Either it’ll work, or you’ll be stuck in the exact same title-less boat you’re in now.

3. You Can Always Change The Title Later

I know generally for marketing purposes, people don’t like when things change their name. You’ve spent time, money and effort into getting this one name recognized, why would you want to tear that all down by changing it’s name?

Well, just like editing your book, you are in charge!

If the title you chose just no longer feels right, you can absolutely change it! Call it a second edition, an update, the Author’s Version, whatever – if you don’t like the title, you have the power to change it.

Sure, resubmitting for a new ISBN and/or a new copyright patent might be annoying, but isn’t a small annoyance a small price to pay for you to have a title that you’re actually happy – and, dare I say – proud of?

Also, sometimes just knowing that changing something is on the table can bring a kind of relief to your brain. Just like knowing cancelling plans is on the table, it might give your brain the little break it needs to actually slow down and breathe.

This isn’t a runaway train, you can stop, rewind and change directions at any time.

Do you want to know something funny?

Since I started telling myself changing the title was an option, I’ve never actually felt the need to.

I don’t know if it’s because my subconscious secretly picks something that works based on the story that’s already in my head, if all my ideas are just easy to find titles for, or hell, maybe I’m just insane enough I can find the logic in any title I end up picking – but I’ve never once actually gone back and changed a title once I’d already picked it and finished writing.

Ever.

4. Your Title Can Be Anything

A random word, a line from a song you were listening to when you were writing it, an in-joke, your favourite colour, your dog’s name… There’s no rule that says your title has to perfectly encapsulate everything your book is trying to say in one word or phrase.

Hell, there’s not even a rule that says it has to be on-theme at all!

Just look at some emo/alt songs! Over half of them are really long lines ripped from poems that appear to have nothing to do with the actual subject matter. And a lot of them are still great hits and beloved by millions!

Don’t believe me?

Look up some of these song’s lyrics the next time you have a few minutes to kill:

All Time Low:

  • Keep The Change You Filthy Animal

  • Get Down On Your Knees and Tell Me You Love Me

  • The Irony of Choking on a Lifesaver

  • The Girl’s a Straight Up Hustler

Panic! At The Disco:

  • Build God, Then We’ll Talk

  • I Constantly Thank God for Esteban

  • I Write Sins, Not Tragedies

  • Lying Is The Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off

  • Nearly Witches

  • She’s a Handsome Woman

  • The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide is Press Coverage

  • There’s a Good Reason These Tables Are Numbered, Honey, You Just Haven’t Thought of It Yet

Yes, those are all real songs and their actual titles.

Granted, you can argue some of the above titles match the general vibe or do match the over-all theme of the songs, if you squint and tilt your head a little. But the rest? Don’t match at all – and that’s okay!

A matching title isn’t a requirement for people to enjoy your work. Sure, it can be beneficial to have a title match the themes of the work, but hey, we’re crazy creative types, right?

Our ideas can’t always be confined to conventional rules.

Also, sometimes you can pick a title that you know is relevant, but other people won’t ‘get’ it right away – that’s okay, too!

Not every book is meant for every reader. It might take you some time to find your true audience, but I promise the readers who do get it, will love it!

Back in high school, one of my English teacher’s submitted one of the short stories I’d written for class to one of the writing contest things they had. A different teacher was in charge of gathering the submissions and organizing them into a collections book, so we’d have something to take home and marvel over one of our stories was in print.

What I didn’t know until I was handed the book and asked to read my story outloud to the group, was that that teacher had apparently not only changed the title, but she’d also rewritten a few of the sentences and changed one of the character’s names!

Needless to say, I was not happy.

I asked her after the presentation part, and she flippantly told me she didn’t understand the title I’d chosen, and thought the one she’d chose ‘fit the material better’. She said absolutely nothing about the other edits she made.

My English teacher had found me a little after that and she asked me about the story. I don’t remember exactly what she said, but it was something like, ‘your voice seemed a little… lost, in this one. Is everything alright?‘ I told her what happened and then asked if she wanted to read the original – which I had on me because that notebook never left my bag – she agreed, read it and then told me she was confused as to why the teacher felt the need to change the elements she did!

I still have no idea why she changed them, either.

At least the title I could kind of see – it was a little bit of an in-joke between me and my English teacher – but it also actually goes with an element of the story! It’s not an overtly obvious element, unless you really like numbers, but it goes nonetheless.

I don’t understand why she didn’t just ask me to explain if she didn’t understand, or at least give me a heads up that she would be changing elements!

Anyway, if anyone would like to read that original short story, I published it – exactly as I intended – in my book First Try. It’s the short story titled 500.

If you don’t understand the title, I’ll understand. No hard feelings. I know what it means and the people I actually wrote it for know what it means, and that’s enough for me.

And hey, who knows? Maybe one day you will get it, and then you’ll end up gaining a deeper appreciation for it.

Just like your audience might with your not-on-the-nose title.

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Writing, Writing Tips

How to Add a Preset Pattern (PHSH Effect #36)

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I’ll admit, I’ve been using PHSH for a long time now, and Patterns have been one of those things I haven’t needed to use very often and am not 100% sure how exactly they work, so I’ve been a little afraid to attempt using them.

But then this year, I finally used one for the 10th Anniversary Re-Write of my first three books (at this point in time, only the first book is available to buy, the second is coming out in June!) to create the diamond effect for the sticker I used on the covers, and it wasn’t nearly as difficult as I thought it’d be, so I’ve decided to share it here!

And it’s only, like, 60/40 so I don’t end up forgetting how to do it myself later.

So, let’s get into it!

Step 1

Okay, so the first thing you need to do is decide what you need to add a pattern to and decide what kind of pattern you want to add.

Since I’ll be using the diamond text from the updated covers, the pattern I’ll be adding/using for this tutorial is going to be a diamond pattern, but you should be able to do this with any pattern you need.

Before we can add a pattern, we also need to pick an image to be the pattern.

The one I chose, was this:

If you want to follow this tutorial exactly, feel free to save the image above to work with. Or, if you prefer, find your own image.

The only requirement that’s needed for this image, is it has to be clear, and repeating.

Or, if you find the perfect image and it doesn’t repeat, you can always make it repeat yourself.

And if you don’t know how to do that, it’s super simple! (If you do know how to do this, just go ahead and skip down to Step 2)

All you have to do is set your PHSH document size to whatever you need – I usually like to start mine as a square, just because I find them easiest to resize in projects – and then line up your image in the top-left corner. Also, you can resize it, depending on how big/small you’ll need it to be.

Once you’ve done that, hold down ALT on your keyboard and then you can either click and drag the image or the image’s Layer in the Layers Panel to duplicate it.

Then, just use your arrow keys or drag the image until it’s next to the first, and so on. Do this as many times as you need to get the image to repeat along just the top line of the document. If you need to, use a Guide to help with keeping the images in-line.

Once you’ve got the first line done, go to the Layers Panel, select all of the images from the first line, then hold ALT to quick-duplicate all of them. Then repeat this until you have enough to fill the whole square.

To help keep things looking less-insane in your Layers Panel, I always like to create Groups for each line. I find this helps, especially if you have to return to a project later, in keeping things less confusing.

Once you’re done that, you can go ahead and save the project as both a .PSD and JPEG/PNG file. (The .PSD is the Photoshop file, which will leave all the Layers and such editable/intact, if you need to come back and change some things later)

Now, we can get back to the regular part of the tutorial!

Step 2

Now that we’ve got our pattern, we’ll need to convert the file to a .PAT.

Why didn’t you just save it as a .PAT to begin with?

Great question!

I tried to do that straight from Photoshop, but I didn’t have it available as an option. If you have that as an option, then great! You absolutely could’ve done that, instead, and will know for next time.

Fortunately for us, the internet is full of fast/free/easy convert-file websites.

The one I usually go with, is this one.

Unfortunately, that site doesn’t have a .PAT convert option, so for the purposes of this tutorial, I actually ended up using this one.

I use that purple site for almost all of my other file converting needs, and recommend using it, if you need to convert files often.

Just go ahead and upload the file, click Convert, wait for it to finish, and then download/re-save it to your computer.

For ease, I usually name it Whatever File Name CONVERTED so I can easily distinguish it from the other one.

Step 3

Okay, now comes the actual reason you’re reading this tutorial: turning this image into a Pattern.

Are you ready?

All we have to do, is go up to Edit, then click the Define Pattern button.

Give the Pattern a name in the dialogue box that will help you distinguish it from the other patterns you already have, then click Okay to add it.

Yes, that’s really it.

Step 4

Okay, now all we have to do is apply the pattern to the text!

To do that, right-click on the text to bring up the Blend Mode options, scroll down to the Pattern Overlay option in the left-side menu.

Now, just select the pattern we added from the list of thumbnails, and hit Okay to apply it.

I also changed the Scale of my Pattern Overlay to 10% to line it up with the dots of the font I used, but that step is only required for the rest of this specific diamond effect, not for every pattern overlay.

And that’s it!

The text doesn’t look 100% the same yet, but that’s because this is only the first effect we needed to know to create this diamond text effect.

But don’t worry: I’ll be showing you guys how to complete the diamond texture effect over the next few tutorials!

Like this tutorial? Check out more here!

Writing, Writing Tips

Fire (PHSH Effect #35)

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Important: This is the 5th last article of 2025. I’ll be taking the last half of December and first half of January off from posting. I’ll be back January 19th, 2026 with the first article of the new year!

The time is here for the end of this PHSH Effect trilogy – just in time for Halloween! (Almost like that was planned…)

Since this is the last tutorial in this mini series of effects, you’ll want to make sure you’ve completed the first two so you have the appropriate base to work on today.

Step 1

The simplest way to add fire into a Photoshop picture, is to get some free images of fire from a royalty free site, and drag them into your current project. It’s a good idea to get a few different images, so the amount of flames, size, etc. is a little varied. Yes, we can (and will) be manipulating the images to fit them into our project, but it’s always easier to start with a picture that’s closer to the end result.

Alternatively, you can also always just screenshot the images above, crop and save them to your computer. (I recommend keeping a folder of stock images around, so you won’t have to go searching for them every time you want to create something)

Once you have the fire stock images you want to use, drag some into your current project so we can start getting to work. If you’d like, you can also rename their Layers to something identifying, like ‘Flame’ or ‘Fire’.

I also went ahead and moved all the previous tutorial burn/ember effects into their own folder, so we can start the project more ‘clean’.

Once the flames are actually in the project, hide all but one of the flame layers, and then re-size it to fit the part of the image you want it to be on. Also, change it’s Layer Mode to Screen. This will make it see-through, so we’ll be able to see the rest of our image through it.

My first flame picture has a reflection on the bottom, so I also had to Erase that from the image, before changing it’s Layer Mode to Screen. Since I was already erasing things, I also erased part of the background, since it stuck out a lot from where the flame was. You can do this too, if the flame pictures you’re using are similar, or, if they are already just the flame, feel free to skip this.

The flame picture I started with

The flame picture after I erased the reflection and partial background

 

Step 2

Next, we’re going to go up to the top menu, and click on Images – Adjustments – Curves, and then drag the bottom anchor inwards on the graph that pops up.

Sliding this anchor over will darken the blacks of the image so it helps to remove the background, without needing to spend time erasing around the fire.

This method might change the colour of your flames, as you see above. It’s also faster to use with things that have soft wisps like fire, smoke, etc. instead of the Quick Select/Erase Background method I usually use, because of all the soft edges. Erasing around a selection usually makes hard edges, which is why you go back over them with a softer Eraser, but that isn’t as effective, not only because it takes more time, but the Eraser is only one shape, and if you over-erase, it can give the image a faker feel.

Or it would, if the image you were overlaying the flame onto had a black background. As you can see above, mine does not, so I’ll have to go in with my Eraser tool and erase more of the black background, so it’s even closer to the flames.

I also haven’t completely re-sized the flame to fit my image yet. That’s because it’s easier to erase when the image is still big. Now that I’m done erasing the background, I’ll be zooming into my building and re-sizing my flame, to place it where I want to get ready for the next step.

 

Step 3

Now that we’ve got the flame background-less, we’re going to be Warping it so it looks like it’s actually coming off part of the subject. I didn’t really need to warp my flames on my building, since I chose a relatively square building with lots of straight lines.

But, since this is a tutorial, I’m going to show you how to do this part on a curved object, instead.

I did not add the embers or burns to the chess piece, because I was able to keep in on a dark background, and the Warping part for the flame is the important part, anyway. I did however, erase some of the left part of the flame, to get it a closer fit to the top of the chess piece.

So to use your Warping tool, you’ll want to right-click on one of the squares of box around the flame (the same ones that come up when you go to re-size it) and then pick Warp from the drop down menu that appears.

From here, click Warp, and you should notice the box is now a grid over the whole flame. Carefully, take one of the corners and drag it around, so it looks like the flame is wrapped around the curve of the object.

You’ll want to be careful not to over-warp here, as that can make the flame look fake, or, if you really over-do it, you’ll end up stretching the flame picture and it’ll just look distorted and weird, like bad pixel art.

An example of over-warping

 

Step 4

Once you’re happy with the warp job, we’re going to use our Smudge tool and again, carefully, drag the bottom edges of the flame, so it’s wrapped a little more around the curve/object. Make sure the Smudge tool is set to less than 100% Strength for this. Remember: you can always smudge more later, but it’s harder to undo a too-hard smudge. (Yes, even with the CTRL + Z/Undo options)

I personally used 50% Strength, and left the Hardness of the brush 100%, but feel free to play around with these values to get the best result for your image.

 

Step 5

After that, you just need to repeat these same steps on everywhere else you want to add flames to your image.

If needed, you can also go in with a soft Eraser to clean up any edges or weird bits on your flames. Then, once you’re happy with all the contouring/warping, you’re done! Don’t forget to Save the PHSH file and picture version of your new work.

As I said in the first tutorial of this mini-series, this effect will work on basically any picture, so you can light basically anything on fire!

Obviously some pictures will come out cooler than others. But, there’s never been a better time to explore, especially with Halloween only a few days away!

Like this tutorial? Check out more here!

Writing, Writing Tips

Embers (PHSH Effect #34)

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Happy October, everyone!

Are you in the spooky spirit yet? Not to worry if you’re not, today’s tutorial will get you there!

Like I said in the previous tutorial, the effect I’ll be showing you this week will be building on that one, so if you haven’t checked it out, now would be the time to do so.

I’ll even wait!

…

You back? Okay, cool!

Then let’s get started on this week’s tutorial: Embers.

This tutorial only has 4 steps but it is time consuming! We’re going to be painting in the embers by hand, so, fair warning. Also, I’ll apologize now for any (inevitable) frustration.

The finished product should be worth it, though!

Step 1

This week, we’re actually going to start in last week’s tutorial document, not a blank one. So, go ahead and open up your Photoshop file version of last week’s Burn effect. (It will be the .psd file, not the .jpeg or .png)

Or, if you prefer, you can create a new project and name it Embers, then drag and drop in your picture file of the Burn effect. Just keep in mind if you do this method, you won’t be able to change, add-on or alter the burn pattern, since it’ll be part of the image. If you end up wanting to tweak it, you’ll have to go through all the Burn tutorial steps a second time.

If you’re wondering: no, you’re not crazy. This is a different burn pattern from what I showed last week. If I haven’t mentioned already, I always do the effects at least twice: once when I’m experimenting/playing around, and the second time is a ‘live’ version I do when I write out the tutorials. (This is the one all the screenshots come from)

It’s the same picture and over-all concept, but if you ever notice the patterning doesn’t exactly match the tutorial pictures, this would be why. Also, despite my initials, I am in fact, not a robot, so I can’t replicate the patterning/brush strokes to look 100% the same between the versions. (Depending on the effect)

 

Step 2

On a New Layer, go to the Blending Options menu (right-click on the layer) and turn on and fill in the following values:

Inner Shadow:
Structure
Blend Mode: Normal (Make the colour a Light Orange, I used #ff8d03)
Opacity: 100%
Angle: 30 (Check the Use Global Light box)
Distance: 0px
Choke: 0%
Size: 3px

Quality
Contour: Make it the top-right to bottom-left straight diagonal White and Black option (the one that looks like this / )
Anti-Alias: Make sure is un-checked
Noise: 0%

Outer Glow:
Structure
Blend Mode: Screen
Opacity: 100%
Noise: 0%
Colour: Make sure the Solid square is selected (not the Gradient) and set it to a Red-ish Orange (#fe7801)

Elements
Technique: Softer
Spread: 0%
Size: 18px

Quality
Contour: Make it the same as Inner Shadow
Range: 50%
Jitter: 0%

Drop Shadow:
Structure
Blend Mode: Colour Dodge (Set the colour to Red, #fe0000)
Opacity: 100%
Angle: 30 (Check Use Global Light)
Distance: 0px
Spread: 0px
Size: 18px

Quality
Contour: Make it the same as the Outer Glow
Noise: 0%

If you have a check box at the bottom that says Layer Knocks Out Drop Shadow, make sure it is check-marked.

If you’d like to preview the effects, you can do so by going over to your Brush tool and selecting one of the ‘grungy’ brushes from the list, and then – while using a colour of Pale Yellow (#f8ec92) – make some brush strokes on the image.

The ‘grunge’ brush options – I don’t know why they’re called that, but in my PHSH quest, it usually just refers to the charcoal, chalk and pastel brush options

Or, you can set a Solid Colour background to preview the effect, like I did below:

It may take some experimenting for you to figure out which brush you like best for the effect. I personally, ended up choosing a Charcoal brush. I also wanted to show you how using the brush differently will change the effect:

The furthest right pattern is what happens when I just clicked the brush once before moving to a different spot. (In my head, I call this ‘stamping’ because of the one-and-done method, but I’m not sure if it has a different name) The brush I chose also randomly changes directions, that’s why some of the pattern is horizontal and some are vertical.

The second in from the right is the same stamping method, but I did the brush strokes closer together.

The almost-solid yellow line is what happens when you use the brush normally. (Click and drag the brush in a direction you want, I made the line not-straight myself)

And lastly, the furthest left pattern is what happens when you combine the stamping and normal methods. For this one, I clicked and dragged in very short distances/spurts before moving on to the next part.

I want to emphasize here that there is no objectively ‘wrong’ brush to use. If you think it looks good and it works for your image, use it! There are a lot of different brushes you can experiment with, but I will say, as with the ash/burn effect, the ‘grunge’ brushes might work better than the plain round ones.

As I said above, I ended up using my Charcoal brush, but here is the effect with some different brushes:


Chalk Brush (I have multiples of these in different pixel sizes and slightly different patterns)


Star 26 Brush


Grass Brush (Apparently I have one of those?)


Sponge Brush Projection Brush


Soft Fur Brush (I’m pretty sure this is the brush I use when I make snow)


I have a range of brushes that are just called Spatter with the pixel size, this is a mix of the brushes in various sizes

and finally, here is what it looks like when using the plain Round brushes:

 

Step 3

Now that we’ve got the style and brush set up, it’s time to add the embers to your image!

To do this, select the appropriate brush Size and Hardness and start painting them in along some of the edges of the burn pattern. Try to think about how fire behaves – in most cases, fire takes the fastest path upwards, so if you chose a building, for example, you’ll want to add embers trailing up toward the roof. I’d also recommend zooming in (CTRL +) to your picture so you have better control over the placement of the embers.

If you’re not super impressed with how it’s looking at this stage, don’t worry. Most effects don’t look that great when you’re zoomed in. To check the actual progress, I recommend zooming out (CTRL – ) so you can see how the embers are looking in the picture as a whole.

If you’re still not happy with them even when zoomed out, you can use the Eraser tool to erase any parts that aren’t looking quite right so you can re-do them. (This is why it’s important we added the embers effect to their own Layer)

Depending on what brush and stroke technique you’re using, this part could take a while, so go slow and try not to get frustrated.

Also keep in mind, you can vary the Size and Hardness of your brush to help keep the embers from looking too monotone.

I actually re-did my ember trails a bunch of times because I just couldn’t get it to look ‘right’. One thing that helped me, was painting in the ember effect and then going back in with my Eraser tool to dirty up the lines and add a tapper to some of the trails.

 

Step 4

Once you’re happy with all your embers, to give it an even more realistic look, change the brush size and shape to one that is close to that snow one I showed above, then paint around the outside of some of the trails. This will make it look like some of the embers are floating off.

I did my floating embers on a different layer so I could easily erase and replace any I didn’t like without having to re-do the ember trails.

This also leads me to a very helpful tool when working with PHSH Effects: If you need to apply the same effect to a different layer, you can do so quickly by holding down the ALT key on your keyboard, then clicking on the FX symbol in the Layers Panel and dragging it to the layer you want to apply the effect to.

You’ll know if you did it correctly if all the Effect Text under the layer and the FX symbol transfers to the new layer.

And that’s it!

Because I didn’t do my char/burn layer super dark, I had to do my ember trails more subtly, so it looks like the building is just starting to catch fire, opposed to being in the middle of burning. I also took out the floating embers, because realistically, I don’t think there would be enough embers to have some floating up around the trails I made.

This means, my finished project, looks like this:

Which is the image I used on social media.

But, don’t worry – up next, I’m going to show you how to add flames to your burning image, so you’ll get to see a much cooler/less subtle version of the embers, just in time for Halloween!

Like this tutorial? Check out more here!

Writing, Writing Tips

Burning (PHSH Effect #33)

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I know I’ve already showed you guys a way to Burn things in Photoshop, but, that was with the Burn tool, which is objectively the ‘easy’ way to add that effect to your pictures.

But, you guys have come a long way since the first few tutorials, and with Halloween coming up, I thought now would be a great time to introduce you to the more complicated way to burn your pictures. This way I’m going to show you allows you to be more precise in your burning, which can be extremely helpful if you’re trying to edit a more detailed photo.

Step 1

As always, we’ll want to start with a brand new PHSH document and an image. I didn’t want to complicate things too much for the purposes of the tutorial, so I chose a simple building.

You can, of course, choose whatever kind of picture you’d like: the image above, a different kind of building, an ex’s face, a car, animal, etc. Whatever floats your boat! This effect should work with any kind of picture.

Once you’ve selected the picture you want to use, we’re going to need to make a Group. To do this, go down to the Layers panel and select the Group icon.

Next, we’re going to need to make a selection of the subject of the image. There’s a couple different ways to do this, so I will say to do whichever one you’re most comfortable with. For me, this means using the Quick Select tool and dragging it around the picture until everything I want is inside the dotted lines. For my specific picture, that’s just going to be the front of the building.

Now, we’re going to add a Layer Mask to the Group. To do this, go down to the bottom of the Layers Panel, and then click on the square that has a black circle in the middle of it. (This is the Layer Mask button)

The Layer Mask should only take on the shape of what you’ve selected. If it doesn’t, deselect (or hit CTRL + Z to Undo the last action) and try selecting the area and creating the Layer Mask again.

If you’re also not sure whether or not you’ve successfully created a Layer Mask because the thumbnail didn’t come up, you can go up to the top menu and then select Layer, then scroll down to Layer Mask and click the Reveal All option. This should make the thumbnail show up in the Layers panel, if it wasn’t already.

Step 2

Once that’s done, we’re going to start adding the ‘burn’ to the picture, which means we’re going to be playing around with the colours.

Before we do this, I’d recommend making a copy of your picture as-is, just in case you mess up/don’t like how things turn out/get confused and need a reminder of what the original looked like.

First thing we’re going to do, is go to Adjustments (which should be sitting on top of your Layers Panel) and add a Black and White Gradient Map and set it to 90% Opacity. The Gradient Map should be the last button in the last row, and looks like a gradual black to white square.

If, like me, your Gradient Map turned your Layer Mask the wrong colour, don’t panic! It applied the last/current colour in your Colour Swatches. (The ones showing in the swatches on the left-hand side at the very bottom of the Tool menu)

All you have to do to change this, is click the drop-down arrow next to the gradient that showed up in the Properties box, and then click a black to white gradient from the list.

Then, we’re going to add a Brightness/Contrast Adjustment (the sun looking icon in the Adjustments panel) and set the Brightness to -50 and the Contrast to 50.

Then we’re going to add a Curves adjustment (the 3rd icon in the Adjustment panel, that looks like an ‘s’ on a graph). The Curves adjustment values you change will depend on the initial colours of your picture, so if at the end things don’t look quite right, you can come back to this panel and re-adjust the values to see if it helps.

And finally, we’re going to add another Brightness/Contrast adjustment with the values of:

Brightness: -40

Contrast: 100

Once those are done, the picture should look like a higher contrasted black and white of the original.

Step 3

Create a new Group and name it something appropriate like Burn, Soot, Ash, Char, etc. And drop the first Group we made inside it.

Next, add a Layer Mask to the new group and fill it with Black. You might be able to do this by simply pressing CTRL + I on your keyboard. If not, you can Invert the colours by right-clicking and selecting the Invert Colour option.

Step 4

Now comes the fun part! We’re going to use any kind of Brush you want, and use it to brush the Layer Mask over any/every area of the picture you want to appear ashy/charred/burned. Make sure your brush colour is set to White, otherwise it won’t work.

You might find it helpful to separate the different areas of char into their own Groups. As long as you keep them all under the umbrella Char group, the brushing will work to uncover the black and white. Breaking them into different groups can be helpful if you uncover part of the mask where you didn’t want it and go to Erase. If it’s close to another area, you’ll end up erasing that part, as well, whereas if it’s in it’s own group, other parts won’t be affected.

Step 5 (Optional)

If you chose a picture with a smooth surface, (like a person’s skin) you can make the burn look more realistic by adding some texture to it!

To add texture, you can use any picture of a plain textured surface you may have, or, go to Filter – Texture and then click on the texture you’d like to add.

If using the picture method:

Place and re-size the textured image to fit the confines of your picture. You’ll also want to add it to whichever Group corresponds to the area you’re texturing. (Just so things don’t get confusing)

Once you’ve got it in the correct position, you’ll want to make it black and white. To do this, go up to Image – Adjustments – Black and White.

Next, you’re going to adjust the image’s Brightness and Contrast. The exact values will depend on the colours of your own image, but I’d recommend starting with a Brightness of -93 and Contrast of 100.

You’re also going to want to change the texture Layer from Normal to Overlay, so you can see the part of the image it’s over better. You’ll want to use Overlay here instead of Screen, because Overlay often darkens images, and Screen tends to lighten them. If however, they look the same to you, or if for some reason they are inverted (Screen makes the texture darker) use whichever one you prefer.

Lastly, you’ll need to repeat the texture overlay for every part of the image you darkened with the brush.

If you picked a picture that had a lot of texture already, like I did, you can go ahead and save your project once you’re happy with the results from Step 4.

And that’s it!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, and if you’re looking at your finished image and feeling like something is ‘missing’, don’t worry – the next tutorial I show you will be an effect that builds on this one.

Like this tutorial? Check out more here!

Writing, Writing Tips

Naming Your Characters

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Aside from actually finishing a story, naming your characters is the next bane of any writer’s existence.

Not only are you expected to encapsulate their entire personality into one word, you also have to pick a name that’s unique enough it’ll make readers remember, but isn’t too far out there, lest it becomes a meme (like the ever popular Twilight baby, or Bubblewrap Cumberbun) and, it needs to be a name you actually like. (Yes, even if they’re your villain)

Picking the perfect name for a character can be as hard as naming your child, because… well, characters are essentially the same as your kids. They’re extensions of yourself that eventually become their own people with their own thoughts, feelings and opinions. And so when you’re there, looking down at them when they’re nothing more than a squishy little personality-less blob, it can be a daunting task to slap a label on them. Especially because it’s something they’ll have for life.

No pressure.

Now, I know there’s a ton of different articles out there all telling you they’ve unlocked the only secret ‘right way’ to go about naming characters. There’s everything from mundanefully helpful like looking up common names for the region/country you want your story to take place in, to the way out there, like feeling the name’s aura, or you should pick a certain name because Mars is in retrograde.

Would you like to learn the real secret?

There is no one ‘right’ way to name them!

What works for someone else might not work for you, and that’s okay. It’s called a process because there’s no one way to do it. Every tip others give you can help, but don’t think any one person knows the be-all, end-all of how to write ‘properly’. I don’t care if they’re professors who’ve spent their entire 30+ year careers unravelling the structures of the craft, or the most famous writers in history. No one person knows everything about writing.

No one.

You can take the tips they’ve collected over the years and use it to help your writing, but don’t you dare let any internet trolls – or your imposter syndrome – tell you that you aren’t a ‘real’ writer if you don’t follow what they tell you.

Yes, this even goes for the advice I give you here.

I hope to God you aren’t only following my advice. There are tons of things I don’t know! I just learned this year that ‘spaghetti westerns’ weren’t named because cowboys ate spaghetti, and that you can’t drink salt water even if you boil it first. I am an idiot!

And so is everyone else.

That’s what makes humans the crazy, weird, fascinating beings we are.

You know your characters best, and only you can pick a worthy name.

Doing things like using a baby name website or a random name generator can help your brain get unstuck when you begin to panic-spiral into ‘I need a name to keep writing but can’t think of one, oh my God just pick something already, it’s been 4 months!’ but you shouldn’t just pick the first name you see or one you generate.

Feel it out.

Does this name actually fit your character? Think about it! Let it roll around in your head for a few days, or weeks. Make your other characters say it. Does it fit in their mouth? Does it feel like an anvil that just completely kills the conversation, or does it flow? Does it fit with the other circle of friend names?

It’ll look weird if your story revolves around Molly, Michael, Millie and Gilbert, if that stand-out name doesn’t stand out for a reason.

It’s true, fiction can be whatever you want it to be, and rules are more like guidelines. However, if you are going to break certain ‘rules’, you need to know how it’ll be perceived by your audience. Most people will spend your story waiting for the ‘weird’ name reveal, and will become disappointed if you don’t point it out, or explain why it’s there.

It needs to serve a purpose.

Also, when naming a character, you can test out a few names. Just because you pick one doesn’t mean you have to stick to it! If you’re using a placeholder name, or a name you’re on the fence about, continue writing and re-assess. Now you’ve continued fleshing out the character, are you feeling like a different name would fit them better? Then change it! Hell, give them more than one name. Give them two, or ten!

Does the name you picked lend itself well to nicknames? Are you planning on making it a joke that the character’s legal name is one thing, but their much-preferred nickname is nothing even remotely close to it? Was their name a family relic, so they keep it as a tie to the family they’ve never known? Do they like their name? Do they hate it?

Did you even ask them?

That last part sounds a little crazy, yes, but it’s also effective. You sit there and hallucinate about people who aren’t real talking all day anyway, what’s one more imaginary conversation? Picture yourself asking them if they like the name you chose. What do they say?

How do they react?

Like this article? Check out more writing tips here!