Firlefanz

Firlefanz, 1 month ago to random

And Valheim...

I am so freaking proud of my new base. It's really lovely and I had so much fun building it.

This game has such potential for creativity. The building blocks are much like Lego, really. And playing it helps me gain more confidence with problem solving, project management and tenaciousness. Never thought I'd get that much out of a simple game.

Have a look at my base. No, it's not perfect, but it's mine, as they say.

#Valheim

Firlefanz, 29 days ago (edited 28 days ago) to random

EDIT: It's closed. Almost 600 entries. 300 will be randomly picked.

Today is SPFBO day.

Doesn't mean a thing to you?

It's the biggest indie fantasy award, and you can submit your book today. Only today. It's open for 24h, starting at 1pm GMT.

And yes, maybe it is foolish to up the competition and invite even more authors, but I believe in sharing. I believe we're all in it together.

So check it out here:
https://mark---lawrence.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-official-self-published-fantasy.html

#WritingCommunity
#SPFBO10

Firlefanz, 4 months ago to random

It hasn't really been making international news, and even our German media have been lazy about reporting this - but I wanted to let you know that hundreds of thousands of Germans are out in the streets and towns, protesting against the right-wing extremists here in Germany.

I was out myself today, along with 15,000 others in my town, for Holocaust Memorial Day. 100,000 in Düsseldorf alone, plenty more across the entire country. More protests are planned for tomorrow.

1/3

Firlefanz, 4 months ago to random

Guten Morgen, Freunde!

Sky Falls is published! 😍

Of course, there's a bit of a catch. Yes, it's up on Amazon, Google and Kobo, but the other stores are still taking their sweet old time. (Looking at you, Apple and Tolino.)

Which means that the link below isn't yet as fully functional as it will be in a couple of days. Apologies!

Even so, I want to start the celebrations!

Sky Falcon is flying live! happy dance

https://books2read.com/SkyPillarsEmpire

#WritingCommunity
#EpicFantasy

Firlefanz, 3 months ago to random

#WordWeavers March 2/3 Do you prefer writing series or stand-alone books? Why?

Series.

I like revisiting worlds, often my stories need more than one book to be completely told, and sometimes, characters just demand more.

From a purely business standpoint, it's also very obvious that series sell better than stand-alones.

For me, it's a no-brainer. Both points align.

#WritingCommunity

Firlefanz, 7 months ago to random

So I'm starting so share good things. And I want to create a new hashtag or so to use when you want to jump into sharing hopeful news.

Below is an article about how to change cities so they heat up less. We'll need this in order to survive the heatwaves that will happen more often and become stronger.

These things are doable.

https://grist.org/project/cities/extreme-heat-resilient-city-design-urban-planning-climate/

(You could also do worse than subscribing to Grist.)

Let's unite around building a better future.

#BuildingHope

Firlefanz, 6 months ago to random

Gute Nacht, Freunde.

No writing today.

I feel rebellious, angry and disappointed. Maybe desperate. Can't shake that feeling.

I did take a nap this afternoon and I think I have the story plot down now. I'm also realizing I'm not putting in enough Christmas elements. (GAH!)

Book sales have been the worst in probably over a year. Very frustrating, especially since I had a paid promo at the first of this month. grumbles

Back tomorrow.

#WritingCommunity
#AuthorLife

Firlefanz, 7 months ago to random

#phantastikprompts 9.11. Was bedeutet es für dich, mit dem Schreiben erfolgreich zu sein? Wie definierst du diesen Erfolg?

Ich habe zwei Definitionen von Erfolg, eine kurzfristige und eine langfristige:

Kurzfristig: Für mich ist es ein echter Erfolg, wenn Leser eine gekaufte Geschichte mögen und mir das mit Glück auch sagen.

Langfristig: Ich werde den Erlös von Buchverkäufen brauchen, um meinen Lebensstandard im Ruhestand (unter Armutsniveau) einigermaßen zu halten.

#WritingCommunity

Firlefanz, 1 month ago to random

Dictionary.com laid off all its lexicographers this month.

Presumably to replace them with AI. (My opinion.)

Sadly, thesaurus.com and dictionary.com are two of my most important resources when writing. I will look for alternatives now, because they basically decided to stop being a good service.

Enshittification is spreading at an ever increasing rate. It makes me sad. I thought we were headed towards a good future. Instead, it's turning... brown. 😬

#WritingCommunity
#AuthorLife

Firlefanz, 4 months ago to random

Okay, my lovely Mastodon friends, I was told to try new covers for my Zell series (The Franssisi Four Chronicles).

It's basically colony SF, with humans fighting for freedom, polyamory, enemies to friends/lovers trope, really spicy and somewhat epic.

I have no idea what that cover should look like. And to be completely honest, I also don't have a lot of money to throw at them.

Can you give me suggestions for designers? No AI, please.

#WritingCommunity
#CoverDesign
#HelpMeFediverse

Firlefanz, 4 months ago to random German

#phantastikprompts 30.01
Was denkst du über Fanfictions? ( @AnnaSaultron )

Ich liebe Fanfiction wenn sie dem Original treu bleibt. Es ist einfach wunderbar, wenn man mehr in einer geliebten Welt erleben kann.

Ich hasse sie, wenn es nur darum geht, irgendwelche Lieblingsfiguren zusammen ins Bett zu kriegen. 😬

Und Fanfiction zu meinen Welten wäre... großartig, solange sie zu der ersten Version gehört. Auf das andere kann ich verzichten.

#WritingCommunity

Firlefanz, 3 months ago to random

This morning, someone bought four of my books. Bought, not downloaded a freebie. This will get important.

I was really happy. It meant that the month was off to a good start (yes, €10 do mean that much).

Two hours later, all books were returned.

So I'm thinking that this is not just a reader disliking book 1 (which is actually free) and then ditching the rest.

No, I believe this is a pirate helping themselves to my series for free. That hurts.

#WritingCommunity
#AuthorLife
#NotHelping

Firlefanz, 28 days ago to random

Huge news!

"South Breaks" made it into SPFBO 10.

It was basically a 50% chance, with almost 600 submissions and 300 books in the running.

I'm very excited. Of course, we will wait for the finalized list, and then we'll wait even longer for the reviews to trickle in. Eventually, each reviewer will list three favorites, and the final winner will be chosen from those 30 books.

I doubt South will be among those, but one can dream.

#WritingCommunity
#SPFBO10

Firlefanz, 4 months ago to random

Gute Nacht, Freunde.

Took care of one more frazzling thing today (yes, even though it's Sunday), read through what I have of the spicy shifter story and realized it still needs quite a few more chapters.

shoves it to the backburner again

(We'll see what Writer Brain says about that...)

And since I promised, I did format Sky tonight. I think it looks good, but see for yourself below.

#WritingCommunity
#AuthorLife

Firlefanz, 7 months ago to random

Gute Nacht, Freunde!

Day 5 of NaNoWriMo, and I managed another 2k words. It was great fun, even but...

I wrote 500 words for the Wolves.
I wrote 1500 words for the Mustangs.

This is not good. I mean, I'm happy to have the words, don't get me wrong, but I have a deadline for the Wolves.

I need to figure out some plot tomorrow. Wish me luck!

#WritingCommunity
#AuthorLife
#ShifterTales

Firlefanz, 6 months ago to random

Gute Nacht, Freunde.

Not a lot of writing (~400 words for the Epilogue), but I finished my editing round for the Wolves and wrote the Epilogue.

In other words... the book is done!

Final read-through tomorrow, then formatting. And it will be the first Wolf book in print. I hope to do the others soon, as well.

I have more ideas for Penumbra, but I'm too tired tonight to write more tonight.

#WritingCommunity
#WolfShifters
#AuthorLife

Firlefanz, 7 months ago to random

Gute Nacht, Freunde.

Feeling low. Edited quite a bit today, but no writing.

Read around a little, didn't find what I really wanted. (Read a short comfort book, nice but not enough.)

So much not going well in the world, it weighs on me. Cried for someone killed in Ukraine. (Didn't know him, but read his story. Such losses. Such precious lives lost.)

A friend is buying my books, and that means so much for me. ❤️ Hope I can write tomorrow.

#WritingCommunity
#AuthorLife

Firlefanz, 5 months ago (edited 5 months ago) to random German

EDIT: Danke, ich habe jetzt eine Adresse und eine Website. Super!! ❤️

Ich habe hier neulich von einer Ärztin am Dreiecksplatz gelesen, wo man sich relativ problemlos gegen Covid (4. Impfung) impfen lassen kann.

Wer war das genau?

Frage für mich und eine Freundin.

#Kiel #Dreiecksplatz

Firlefanz, 3 months ago to random

#WritersCoffeeClub 2/13: Do you ever write very short pieces (fifty words, flash fiction etc)?

I haven't in a while, but I used to run a monthly flash fiction challenge on my former forum/message board.

If you're interested, I could revive that on my Lemmy board. (But hey, who am I kidding?)

Flash fiction has taught me the value of finding exactly the right word for something. It always was fun.

#WritingCommunity

Firlefanz, 3 months ago (edited 3 months ago) to sciencefiction

#WritersCoffeeClub 3/3: How much of your worlds are invented versus real? Give examples.

The Cloud Lands: totally invented. With dragons.

The Holy Empire: completely invented. Without dragons.

The Wolves? Our world, with the addition of shifters. I use Google Maps a LOT.

Franssisi Four: Invented planet, terraformed far in the future. With Aliens.

I prefer writing in invented worlds. It means so much less research. 😂

#WritingCommunity
#EpicFantasy
#UrbanFantasy
#ScienceFiction

Firlefanz, 4 months ago to random

#WordWeavers 1/25: What’s the least likely ship between characters in your WIP?

One of my Pillars and a Priest.

Which is why I will do exactly that in Sun Burns.

Yep. I know I'm evil.

But really, even Priests are people. And they can be good or bad, just like Winds or Pillars (not making a bad one an MC, though).

So yeah, writing Sun has already been fun, now I just have to finish his tale.

Sun Burns, Pillars of the Empire 3
(coming sometime this year)

#WritingCommunity
#EpicFantasy

Firlefanz, 5 months ago to random

#WritersCoffeeClub 1/6 — Have you ever entered any writing competitions? How did you do?

I don't often do it.

Year ago, I participated in a contest (Turning the Pages Book of the Year 2013) and actually won first place in two categories with my short story "Sequoia".

Right now, my book "Dragon Prey" is participating in the Indie Ink Awards, not that I expect to win anything.

Most of those competitions are simply a popularity contest, after all.

#WritingCommunity

Firlefanz, 1 month ago to random

#PennedPossibilities 306 — Are there any characters that you WISH you killed off in a series or standalone story?

No.

I try to make even my bad characters personal, with understandable motivations and decisions. Even if they go insane, basically.

That in turn means I don't hate them. I often feel pity or compassion for them. I give them chances to change. But often enough, they dig their own grave - and that matters for their story. I don't waste those moments.

#WritingCommunity

Firlefanz, 5 months ago to lemmy

Does anyone know what happened to the

sffa.community

on Lemmy?

I've been getting error messages for three days now. Feeling a tad worried about my board and all my posts.

#Lemmy

Firlefanz, 5 months ago to random

#WordWeavers 12/11: Who supports your writing the most?

My online friends and my two Mastermind author friends.

Family doesn't quite understand what's going on in my head.

#WritingCommunity