#PennedPossibilities 317 — What clothing materials or outfits feel the most comfortable to your villain?
Stuff like this. White woman who's spent decades studying various martial arts, but kalaripayattu and HEMA-style fencing form the basis of her practice.
#PennedPossibilities 319 - MC POV: Where did you grow up? What was your childhood like there?
"I'm Cascadian, so I grew up in an arcology. They are the best! All my cousins were around all the time, and we are together and went to school together, and everyone was from everywhere. They were floor cousins. I miss them all so much."
#PennedPossibilities 321 — Did your SC once admire their parents? Who else did they admire growing up? What about today?
She loves her parents. She loved growing up on a farm, and she's still a kid really, so she's not done growing up on a farm. But yeah, she gets all her values and sense of safety from her parents. They're good people.
#PennedPossibilities 322: What piece of advice, as an author, did you once receive but hadn’t followed? Looking back on it now, you might wish that you had.
"Read writing manuals." I haven't. I can't bring myself to do it. Maybe I should! But I know that I'd get obsessed with following the "rules," and I just don't need the joy sucked out of my writing process.
#PennedPossibilities 324 — SC POV: If you could relive one day of your life without changing anything that happened, which day would you choose?
"One day, I remember we got together with our friends from Sto:lo and had a big party. There was food and music. They showed us some of their dances, the ones outsiders are allowed to do. It was so much fun. I miss them."
They're at home, wondering how they could possibly have let their little girl die like that, even though she's very much alive, trapped, a long long way away...
#WordWeavers May 1: Introduce your setting as if it’s a character in your story.
The Greater Cascadian Megalopolis was born from the need to house the population of the Pacific North West but leave the bulk of the continent free of humanity,"re-wilding." The fetal megapolopolis started as superblocks and then arcologies,multiplying until they formed an urban organism that now stretches from the middle of British Columbia all the way to the California border.
#WordWeavers May 17: Have you ever written for other age groups? (MG, YA, A)
My WIP is YA. I didn't set out to write that, but the premise lent itself to YA--superpowered teenagers in space learning martial arts--so I'm leaning into it.
#WordWeavers May 21: Do you consider how your MC's appearance may contribute to stereotypes?
Yeah, of course. To do less would be unethical. Especially for me, a white man. I deliberately steer away from stereotype, and the result is a story that's lively and unexpected. I don't rehearse the same old thing, at least not when I can help it.