I write it all. From a lot of original works, to long ongoing RP stories, to deep and insightful fanfiction that my friends thankfully love. I have Doctor Who stories published as well. I have a following on Archive of Our Own. My best friends (who I met elsewhere) are @strangeseawolf, @QuokkaMocha, @doctorwanderer, and @DoctorMonkey2. I have a paranormal podcast too! (Link on profile!)
I need to find the #WritersCoffeeClub and/or #WordWeavers questions, but everyone else seems to be answering a question about writing plans for the year.
So,.
finish or abandon all of my unfinished short stories and move forward.
polish my stories related to a particular theme and make a new collection/chapbook out of them.
Attend and volunteer at WorldCon in Glasgow 🚀 :cone:
make myself finish the first draft of The Trovador, even if it's bad.
#WritersCoffeeClub 1/25: How do you feel about writers who write outside of their gender/sexuality/race?
Flip the question: how would you feel about a writer who ONLY ever wrote inside their gender/sexuality/race?
(They're not exactly stretching themselves or developing their art, are they?)
Yes, it's easy to mess up writing the other. "How not to" isn't a topic I can answer in a toot. But it's important for writers to try to see the world through other eyes.
Moving to France. Surrounded by people with little or no English, my French was good enough to get by, but I lacked the stimulus of deep conversations. I turned to writing to express complex ideas I could not explain in French. I chose fiction to avoid the "Do you really believe that?" question. No, but my protagonist does.
As an adventurer, it's hard to stay indoors during this time of year because the weather here in Kansas is gorgeous. But as a writer, the hashtag prompt challenges make life interesting.
I need help, dear #writingcommunity, fellow followers of #writerscoffeeclub, #wordweavers, #TimeTravelAuthors, #pennedpossibilities.
It's been some time since I was a teenager. Things have changed. I need a place for my kids in #JulesNVera to hang out in a small town. I chose this place to be a mall. I haven't specified the country in which my story takes place for numerous reasons, but is this still something kids do these days? Or is it completely out of date?
#WritersCoffeeClub Jan 1: What are your writing related New Year Resolutions?
I don't really do resolutions, but let's try this: I'll actually send my work out more this year. Get serious and make a list of agents, and just go through the list.
I had an idea for a story come to me while I was brushing my teeth. I wrote it. It was super fun and actually good. I had just come off 8 years of DMing online, so writing an hour of adventure fiction every day. I had the skills, and I had the habit of looking for plots. The door opened in my head. Now the stories crowd in all the time, and if I don't let them out, my skull will crack open.
#WritersCoffeeClub 15: Should writers be honest about their politics or keep quiet?
You have politics—I have informed opinions!
(Insofar as fiction is the examination of the human condition by means of discourse with imaginary friends, and insofar as the personal is political, it's impossible to keep personal politics out of fiction. But there's a huge difference between letting it inform the world-view presented by a story, and battering the reader with ideological talking points.)
#WritersCoffeeClub Oct 1 - Shameless self-promo. What's your WIP? What's it about?
It's the Jedi Academy from a terrified youngling's point of view. A young teen is essentially kidnapped into the order and quickly clocks how deeply screwed up it is. Also, the force drives you psychotic. That's the "dark side." And if you turn, they genuinely believe that it killed you, you're dead.
Thematically, it's about self-appointed heroes creating the violence they claim to protect us from.
1/5 Got tagged by @madikonrad over at Tumblr for the 'Questions For Your OC'!! – answer 3 questions as your main OC(s) – since we’re #writers, we can write this as a narrative, first-person, or RPG style - anyway we wish.
When done, provide 3 new questions to pass on to the next creator. (you then tag others with 3 new questions)
My main OC’s are Aedan the Ancalite and Lucius Scipio Servius, and the following questions are from sapphic author, Madeline Konrad.
#WritersCoffeeClub 27 April Have you ever written a section and subconsciously plagiarised another work?
Not a whole section, just an idea. Do you recognise this?
‘Are you happy?’
It’s the only question she asks these days. I have never lied to my mother.
‘In our own way.’
She reaches out a thin hand. ‘You can’t be happy in your own way, only unhappy. I want to know about you.’
‘I am happy.’
It’s the first time I have ever lied to her. She smiles her disbelieving smile.
#WritersCoffeeClub 1.1: What are your writing related New Year Resolutions?
To keep chipping away at my cool, secret project, but also to finish and release my next book—hopefully by fall. I'm definitely on track for it right now, and I can't wait to get the ball rolling for real!
#WritersCoffeeClub 11.16 — What ancillary writing apps / sites do you find the most useful?
I've written about 20 novels and several novellas using Scrivener. When I need a word processor with formatting I turn to LibreOffice. But that's increasingly rare these days and I mostly compose text in Markdown using neovim.
Pet hate: Microsoft Word, which I pay a license fee for because I get to check the tracked changes on a copy-edited novel ONCE A YEAR and can't risk tripping over a bug in LO.
I'll see if I've got a second daily prompt in me this month. Hi #WritersCoffeeClub!
1 Oct: Shameless self-promotion. What's your WIP?
I'm currently editing "The Way of the Mountain Witch", a YA fantasy novel about queer witches and found family, set on a remote island and in the coven embedded in the island's mountain. The main characters are Feya, a shapeshifter who's always in trouble, and Tani, a healer who accidentally discovers a coven secret that affects the course of both of their lives…
I don't do resolutions, I'm more liable to be upset I don't stick with them versus be pleased if I do. Plus in Dec I learned Covid can derail everything.
Really hoping to be into edits of "Time Untied" by end of year though. It's over 175k words and has been in progress since 2017.
Writing routine, not really, but I have a drawing one : after breakfast, I start my day with about one hour of drawing as warmup before starting my daily job.
#WritersCoffeeClub Sept 2: On a scale of plotter to pantser, what are you?
Fwiw, I Ike GRRM's metaphor better: architects and gardeners. Anyway, I start with a concept and then let myself discover as I go. Once/if I find something interesting, I write down outlines and character sketches, but they're mostly a record of what I found than they are a plan that I intend to follow. Basically, I plan to wander.
#WritersCoffeeClub 1: Intro
Living in France ten years, now retired to full-time writing.
The Woman Who Found Herself, now published, is the first in a dual timeline French historical fiction series where a family meet the ghosts of their former selves.
Death does not close the book; it only turns the page.
If you would rather support your local bookshop than Bezos, give them the ISBN 978-2-9589454-0-4, and they will order from Ingram Spark
I suppose some version of don't give up. Old stories can be revived, the next rejection might be an acceptance, one more attempt at publicity might be a tipping point.
Even if we never truly believe it deep down, it may fool us long enough to keep moving forwards.
My fantasy novels begin with short poems, partly to get my head in the right space, also to echo a theme or foreshadow something.
A sub-plot of Miasma is Emi trying to translate the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam from Persian. I don't know Persian. I had to find a literal translation of some of them, pick one, re-express it as a tanka (5/7/5/7/7) and then use it in the story. insane linguistic overthinking, barely worth it.
I refuse to set up an account to use ChatGPT even for my own amusement, because sooner or later their customer database will be leaked on the internet.
I'm trad published by Tor and Orbit. Author/publisher contracts include a clause asserting I am the sole author and have the right to license the work for publication. Any hint that I used an LLM for my writing without my publishers' knowledge could be fatal to my career!