Inspired by Nature: Blood-Sucking Insects

The air turned into mosquitoes. Every evening, we'd breathe them in. Going anywhere required wading through a fog of biting insects. I'd douse insect repellent on every half hour, but I still got bitten. This was at a camp in Austria... an area with a temperate climate and lots of waterways.

Fantasy likes to avoid that reality. Most mosquito attacks happen at one time in fantasy novels: the hapless party has strayed into an area of tropical swamps. Mosquitoes aren't a problem when ambling down the side of the average river in summer.

Even when the characters are getting bitten, it never shows. There will be minor complaints about the insects. The next time they need to look stunning, they'll still look awesome... despite the fact they should be covered in red marks. Bites can take weeks to heal.

Using some form of insect repellent is for the weak. They just suffer the pain, because they're rough and tough adventurers. Who don't care about catching malaria apparently.

It's a minor detail perhaps, but a detail that readers notice. Mosquitoes live in most places. Where they don't, other biting insects are likely to take their place. People know what it's like. They know it's unwise for your hero and heroine to strip off by a lake on a summer's evening. There's nothing less sexy than being eaten by mosquitoes.

It's always good to know your enemy before you write about them. This is also helpful if you're writing a non-Earthlike setting. Chances are, something will be chomping down on your characters. If it's not a mosquito, it will fill the same niche*.

• Diet: They don't just drink blood. Mosquitoes live mainly on nectar. This is true of other blood-suckers, including most midges and horse flies. How did this come about? It's the female who sucks blood. She needs extra nutrients for making eggs.
  
  I've never seen a story where a peaceful mosquito guy feeds on flowers. If you'd like to do something to address this gender discrimination, here's your angle.
• Mouthparts: Based on diet, you might expect all blood-suckers to have one of those needle-like straws to stick in you. This works nicely for blood and nectar. And it is true for mosquitoes and midges.
  
  It's not true for horseflies. They chop down on you with a hefty set of jaws. Nature doesn't always go the way you expect.
• Habitat: They all like wet places, but some more than others. Horseflies lay their eggs on vegetation. They need it moist, not soggy. Mosquitoes and midges lay them in the water (though some mosquitoes lay them where there may be water in the future... the eggs wait for the water to hatch). Mosquitoes and midges are found in most habitats, including very dry ones. Even a desert has some water.
• Time of Day: Different species like different times of day. However, the clouds of insects by waterways are more common at dusk in many places.
• Finding Prey: Smell is the main method of the mosquito. They can fly long distances, so they will find you. There's no escape. The horsefly takes a different approach. They have good eyesight and will lie in wait for prey. When something comes into visual range, they'll attack. This means horsefly attacks are more localised, though you might get numerous bites where they're found. Mosquitoes are wider ranging, because of the distances they travel looking for food.
• Repellent: Insect repellent isn't a new idea. The old way was to crush plant sap on the skin. A number of the herbs used have a lemony scent (including lemon grass and lemon balm). There will be something your characters can do to keep insects away, no matter how primitive their medical technology.

That doesn't mean the extreme is a good idea. Take ten pages to discuss insect bites and your reader is asleep. But it wouldn't hurt to mention the use of some herbal gunge to keep the pests away, or the solid mass of insects you get by waterways on summer evenings. It's a small detail, but one that makes it clear you don't live in a hermetically sealed bubble**.

-

* This post is about the small and flying blood-sucker niche. Things like leeches aren't being considered.

** If you do live in a hermetically sealed bubble, considering writing a memoir about it.

[ Inspired by Nature Index ]