Pheremone Manipulation?

Pheromones are pheromones. If she can manipulate them, she'd be able to affect everyone and perhaps multiples all at the same time.

Reminds me of A Spell for Chameleon, by Piers Anthony. Good book btw

Why not check out the actual science on pheremones, instead of what other writers think about them?

That will not only give you a clear grasp of what they do - it might suggest possibilities that you hadn't considered.

Start with Wikipedia.

If you don't mind erotic romance, I also suggest Sydney Croft's Seduced by the Storm. A male character has this type of ability.

While i also recommend checking up the actual science, afaik you're going to be disappointed. Pheremones aren't nearly as effective as necessary for a story such as this. (At least not on humans). But heck, that's artistic license.

Anyway, one thing for consideration is kind of basic physics. I.e. it really would be impossible to direct where the pheromones float once they're in the air. Not targeting specific people, and wouldn't work upwind.
Also, not all people react to the same thing, so a pheromone that attracts one persone might "smell" repulsive to another. Would be interesting to imagine what happenes when your MC tries to influence several people at once with incompatible pheromones and all the stuff mixes in the air into some strange cocktail.

shokadh said:

Reminds me of A Spell for Chameleon, by Piers Anthony. Good book btw

Click to expand...

He also wrote a very adult sex/horror book called Firefly that had a very similar premise (a shapeshifting monster who uses pheremones to delude the prey).

Piers is great, by the way. #1 favorite author for several years of my adolescence. We've corresponded, and he reviewed my book in his newsletter. Very friendly to fans and aspiring writers, even after all these years and successes.

Buy Piers Anthony books.

It might be worth a look at Patrick Suskind's 'Perfume' (which is worth a read even when not necessary for research).

There was also a Roald Dahl short story that dealt with pheromone manipulation (and the potential for accidents) but it isn't for the faint-hearted. I think it was in his 'Switch Bitch' anthology. Really incredibly not a children's book!

Hope this helps